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Posted by Bill S on April 20, 2008 at 3:25:10 pm EDT
In reply to Hand/Foot Warmers ? posted by friend on April 20, 2008 at 2:00:45 pm EDT

A number of companies make chemical warmers that come in a variety of sizes intended to go in gloves, boots (whole foot, toe only,etc), "body"-size, etc. Many are single-use that combine oxygen in the air with an iron/activated carbon mix (they are environmentally ok to dispose in a landfill). Others are reusable that require immersing in boiling water to reactivate.

Many sporting goods and outdoor specialty shops carry them, along with gloves, socks, and boot insoles that have slots to hold them. They work fairly well, provided you have proper clothing on in the first place (you can't just tape them to yourself while wearing just T-shirt and shorts in subfreezing weather and expect to stay warm). If you are rafting, this means you need to have synthetic clothing that does not hold water (unlike cotton). Wool is ok, except it takes a long time to dry. You should also have dry clothing for when you get to camp (repack it before going back onto the river to keep it dry to the next campsite).

Your best bet is proper clothing (ask your outfitter if a wetsuit is appropriate). The chemical packs depend on getting oxygen (the single-use type), so they don't work when you get them soaked. The large size ones can be quite useful for treating someone who got dunked and is suffering from hypothermia - provided you get them on shore and thoroughly dried off.

Be sure you pack your dry clothing, sleeping bag, etc, in drybags. This is one place where a synthetic bag is far preferable to down (down loses all insulation when soaked, and is extremely hard to dry in the field). On a raft, the weight doesn't matter, so the weight advantage of down is not important.

This all depends, of course, on exactly where you are going rafting - if it is sunny and warm, then the warmers aren't really useful. You can "air dry" quickly enough.

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• Re: Hand/Foot Warmers ? - friend 13:57:12 04/21/2008

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