[kelvin]

The other being keeping hot rocks in the chalk bag (if there are enough shakeouts on the route),

A lot of Spanish climbers seemed to do this last winter, up north anyway.

[El Mocho]

I think hand warmers etc can have their place - particularly on longer routes (from Spanish sport to multi pitch) and I have also used them when skiing in Utah at around -20 (in both gloves and ski boots). I imagine on a Kilnsey RP you are unlikely to be chalking up/shaking out that much...

For Grit bouldering I have found the most effective to be to go through a slight 'numbing out' during the warm up but getting moving enough/hands in jacket pocket between warm ups that they recover.

Not done a huge amount of cold sport RPs but done a bit of 'hard grit' HPs in winter. 2 examples: did a route on Burb South, very cold, climbing around f8a+/b so (without knowing Pauls route) probably a bit easier than what Paul is trying but comparable. Pretty quick climbing but with a slight shake out/gear placement spot. Carried a hand warmer in chalk bag. Did a nervous run around in the sun but due to potential knarly fall it was more of a fast walk/gently jog whilst I sorted my head out. Got really numb hands (and feet) on the route.

Another route at Wimberry, again around f8a+/b. Probably an even colder day. Route climbed very much like a sport climb, couple of little chalk ups but not really shake outs. Not so serious so had a proper run around (15-20 mins) and came back to the route really warm, jacket off etc. Put jacket + hat on to tie in and do boots. No cold hands on route, not even a little.

I find if you can get your core properly warm (not just a gentle jog around whilst chatting to people) beforehand, and hands also warm before you start then you have a good chance of hands staying warm for a 2-5 min rp. For longer routes even being really warm before hand won't keep hands warm for 20+mins so hand warmers etc good.

[user deactivated]

I used to let my hands go numb on the way to the crag and once through the hot aches they're proper toasty all day. Tend to wear nice warm gloves in between goes and not climb finger cracks in minus temps these days though.

[Ally Smith]

Some advice from Dave MacLeod; written after a successful RP at -2C, brrrrr!

http://onlineclimbingcoach.blogspot.nl/2010/11/tactics-climbing-in-cold.html

[tomtom]

for alpine rock routes and grit bouldering, I managed best by letting my hands get really cold, go through hot aches and keep my core and arms warm -  numb out the fingers whilst not getting pumped or tired and then get the heart rate up jumping about and doing pressups

no experience on UK limestone in the cold(ish)

All at a hanging belay. Impressive.

[Serpico]

Buy one of those weight vests that are popular with people doing the blues at the Depot and fill all the pockets with heat pads (remove the weight pouches first).
Core temperature is important so don't be afraid to use a heat pad (or two) as a suppository.
Use a blowtorch to warm all the handholds and light a small fire at the bottom of the route.

[SA Chris]

I know it sounds weird, but a mate of mine swears by standing with your arms hanging down by your sides and lifting and dropping your heels on the ground quite hard. Apparently it forces blood to flow down to your hands and warms them up. Or gives you bruised heels.

Getting numb fingers and hot aches is apparently the start of stage 1 frostbite, and the more you get it the more susceptible you become to it.

I like the American name for it - screaming barfies.

http://www.climbing.com/skills/ask-the-climbing-docs-the-screaming-barfies/

[Nibile]

If it all fails Paul, you could still use the numb hand to have a w**k pretending it's someone else's hand.
It's a win/win situation.

[dave]

You want one of those heated velodrome suits an a bike on rollers for between redpoints.

[SA Chris]

You want one of those heated velodrome suits an a bike on rollers for between redpoints.

Or rock an oversize parka like Ellie Robinson

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/1759955/paralympic-swimmer-ellie-robinson-makes-confident-gangster-entrance-in-rio-just-before-winning-gold-and-shes-only-15/

[petejh]

You want to get yourself one of those easyjet tickets to spain.

[highrepute]

Another route at Wimberry, again around f8a+/b. Probably an even colder day. Route climbed very much like a sport climb, couple of little chalk ups but not really shake outs. Not so serious so had a proper run around (15-20 mins) and came back to the route really warm, jacket off etc. Put jacket + hat on to tie in and do boots. No cold hands on route, not even a little.

My anecdotal evidence doesn't really have comparable grades but the result was the same. Fern Hill E2 at Cratcliff on a cold day, realised I'd forgotten my harness so ran back to the car to get it. Was too hot on the lead; the problem had gone too far the other way and i couldn't cool down. Some time later that day did the other E2, five finger, and had sat around in the cold for a while and felt really cold on the route.

So basically, you might think star jumps for a minute and jogging on the spot are getting you warm but it's not, a good 15-20 min walk/jog are the order of the day.

[Falling Down]

A humid cold day is a killer for cold hands  compared to a really dry cold day. 

[Paul B]

You want to get yourself one of those easyjet tickets to spain.

Kentucky followed by Antalya, that should do?

Cheers all.

[Paul B]

Kentucky followed by Antalya Spain, that should do?

I managed to make the most of the slightly warmer weekend temps (mainly lack of wind) and finish things off. I'm not sure there was much specific beyond that (although I made sure to milk the 'rest' and keep my hands on the back of my neck rather than in my chalk bag). What I did note that I'm not very fit; if I run around keeping warm for any length of time I'm knackered when I come to pull on!

Also, maybe of little interest to most, but I found a pocket low down on the route was seemingly making the issue worse. I was stacked (Front 3 with the middle on top) and taking a fair amount of weight during one move and my lefthand felt notably number afterwards.

I will be looking at USB and lighter-fluid based options for the upcoming winter season (and some mitts).

[mark20]

I will be looking at USB and lighter-fluid based options for the upcoming winter season (and some mitts).

Or the new Samsung phone

[Paul B]

My Moto G(2?) is fairly good in itself!

[Tommy]

I thought some people might this interesting... (I'd not seen a paper on this before!)

Abstract

We examined the influence of 1) prior increase [preheating (PHT)], 2) increase throughout [heating (HT)], and 3) no increase [control (Con)] of body heat content (Hb) on neuromuscular function and manual dexterity of the hands during a 130-min exposure to −20°C (coldEx). Ten volunteers randomly underwent three passive coldEx, incorporating a 10-min moderate-exercise period at the 65th min while wearing a liquid conditioning garment (LCG) and military arctic clothing. In PHT, 50°C water was circulated in the LCG before coldEx until core temperature was increased by 0.5°C. In HT, participants regulated the inlet LCG water temperature throughout coldEx to subjective comfort, while the LCG was not operating in Con. Thermal comfort, rectal temperature, mean skin temperature, mean finger temperature (T̄fing), change in Hb (ΔHb), rate of body heat storage, Purdue pegboard test, finger tapping, handgrip, maximum voluntary contraction, and evoked twitch force of the first dorsal interosseus muscle were recorded. Results demonstrated that, unlike in HT and PHT, thermal comfort, rectal temperature, mean skin temperature, twitch force, maximum voluntary contraction, and finger tapping declined significantly in Con. In contrast, T̄fing and Purdue pegboard test remained constant only in HT. Generalized estimating equations demonstrated that ΔHb and T̄fing were associated over time with hand function, whereas no significant association was detected for rate of body heat storage. It is concluded that increasing Hb not only throughout but also before a coldEx is effective in maintaining hand function. In addition, we found that the best indicator of hand function is ΔHb followed by T̄fing.

>>

Influence of body heat content on hand function during prolonged cold exposures

A. D. Flouris, S. S. Cheung, J. R. Fowles, L. D. Kruisselbrink, D. A. Westwood, A. E. Carrillo, R. J. L. Murphy

[Paul B]

I was given a few hand warmers for Christmas (the type with the metal disc inside some form of gel). They're largely useless for climbing as the heat output is short lived (i.e. you'd need loads of them to be any use).

[jwi]

These are the ones you need:
https://grabberwarmers.com/warmer-products/



Tape one to each wrist (put them in the direction of the arm, covering the main artery), or when it's really cold and windy two to each wrist (side by side on the palmar side, covering the main artery).

For some reason people generally refuse to do this even when told, but everyone that I've managed to convince to try became a convert.

[Fultonius]

Or:

Heater Wrist Warmers