How To Dress For -27F

Recently went skiing and at the start of the week it was shockingly cold. Before it warmed up and dumped a bunch of lovely fresh snow on us the second half of the week, we had to adjust to being outside in temps as low as -33C. That's properly cold.

What eventually worked for me:

• three layers of wool: long-sleeve tops, each outer layer progressively thicker, outer two layers with zip-up necks
• wool head covering under helmet
• stretchy sleeve covering neck, chin, mouth
• helmet with padded ear pieces and vents closed
• goggles
• another stretchy bandana thing covering face, nose, ears
• ski shell
• wool leggings
• ski trousers
• wool ski socks
• ski boots [duh]
• silk glove liners
• insulated lobster claw ski glove/mittens (thumb, forefinger, then mitten for remaining 3 fingers on each hand)

top half

That was still kind of cold. Normally when moving I have no problem warming up, but even at moderate speeds through -30C air will wick the heat right out of your extremities. Some lessons learned: 

• snow gets really slow and grippy when it's that cold
• cover up all the skin in the car before getting out
• wool is wonderful stuff
• that said, silk glove liners seem to outperform wool ones at identical thickness
• thicker ski socks do not necessarily mean warmer feet -- good blood flow is key; some people double up on socks and that seems like a bad idea to me
• ski instructors recommend boot heaters and chemical packs for the toes
• heated seats and the heated steering wheel in the rental car were brilliant