I am looking for suggestions from our seasoned vets or any clever monkey on how to fended of the bone chilling weather and still skate comfortably. Also where you found the said items would be really handy.

So far,

-MEC has some thermal tops (but dunno which are best and don't end up smelling)

-Miram wool tights was mentioned (somewhere on commercial)

-the 1$ black gloves to put under your wrist guards (is there something better? they seem to hold moisture)

-as well someone mentioned that breathing in the really cold air is not so great for your lungs and suggested a bandanna's but they seem to hold moisture in and not stay put. I would be curious if anyone has tried the snowboarding face shield type things/balaclava (but not the creepy gimp hole black mask one. no thank you).

Any leggings/tights, socks, tops, or face masks suggestions or opinions on what has worked for them?


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I'm a bit old school. Here's what I use:

A skiing neck warmer keeps the heat in and you can pull it up over your mouth to warm up your breath. The one I use is some kind of stretchy acrylic/poly/cotton blend, so it doesn't really hold moisture.

Wool tights rock! I cut mine into stirrups so they don't mess with the fit of my skates. A spare pair of legwarmers in your bag is good too.

I haven't found a good alternative for the $1 gloves. I'd get nicer ones, but I wipe out and land on my hands occasionally and they get chewed up, so I don't mind if they cost $1. If I had sexy insulated microfiber MEC something-or-others and I blew holes in the fingers after a couple of practices, I'd be right pissed. But yes, they do get a bit sweaty by the end of practice.

Oh ya, you have a nice, big husband. Bring one of his zip up hoodies that fits over your gear! Then you can take it on and off easily without having to fiddle with your pads.

I wear Merino Wool everything. A pair of merino wool tights under my PivotStar pants. And I have an IceBreaker merino wool longsleeve top I wear under a t-shirt. For added warmth I use a PivotStar sleeveless hoodie during warm-up. I also have cheap wool legwarmers that I wear over my skates. These help keep my ankles warm and also help prevent my laces from getting trashed at UBC.

When it's really cold, I found a fleece neck tube that I can pull over my mouth or just keep around my neck helpful.

I wear long johns - the cheap kind you can get at Army & Navy (men's).

I just skate faster and harder!
Actually, I wear socks under all my gear, and I bring a down vest for when it's really cold. I can take it off without taking off all my gear. A neck warmer is a good idea as well. NOT a scarf, unless you are going to tuck the ends into your shirt.

I wear thicker tights, long shorts that are denser (ie denim/cargo etc) that take a bit of the bite out of falling on the asphalt, socks, legwarmers, long sleeve tech shirt (trick to not smelling is having natural fibers. poly fibers hold stink, it's why retro shirts smell so damn bad), pivotstar vest, random bandana.

as far as gloves, i wear them over the wristguards. they get shredded up, but meh, they're a buck. i know there was chat about wearing the mechanics gloves or leather gloves.

also i have a huge ass pair of adidas track pants that are wrecked that i throw over my gear and skate with while i warm up.

I'm just gonna eat this weather up!! lol om om.. I'll be bundled in with different layers of whatever I can find, then have my own little personal strip show by taken one item off, if its gettng to hot! bwamp.

Just keep moving.
I remember playing football in the snow, back in the day, and all's we did was just stutter step.... probably gonna try that today as a warm up...

Venom. X

For keeping your face warm, I have one of those "masks" the bikers use. It's neoprene, I think, but still breathable. Keeps my face warm on those really cold days. A balaclava works too but who wants to be mistaken for the person who just robbed the Sev?

I'm not fresh meat or anything but I have days where the sun is out, and damn the temperature, I'm going skating!

I think I got my biker mask at GA Checkpoint in Port Moody a few years back.

Wow! These were super helpful! thank you. I the MEC meriam wool has really made a difference almost too warm. But in a good way. and the 1$ appear to have no equal. So 1$ it is! Wool tights from Banshee are pretty handy too.


Thanks again!

When I used to skate at UBC, I'd get a cough that would last for 3-4 months every year. After going to the doctor, it turns out it was apparently "cold-air exercise-induced asthma". Never having had asthma before, I found that interesting.

They suggested a face mask, so I did rock the Hannibal Lecter bike mask during the cold months: http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/Cycling/M ... o-mask.jsp

Seriously hot.

As creepy as I looked, it did help with the coughing, and made breathing and skating much less painful!!

Who'd of thought you'd need gear to protect your lungs???

Wow, thanks for posting that Foxy. I thought it had something to do with a cold last year and this year I thought if was from my pneumonia a while back but this is perhaps why I get that cough really bad during and after practice.

Yeah - it was only after my third year that I finally started to question it!!! It always seemed that there must have been some other 'reason' why, but the timing coincided every year with UBC practice. Glad I finally went to the doctor

Skwurlee pulls out that face mask in the winter...freaks me out! Good for lungs and intimidating!

hahaha, late to the thread, but I have that exact facemask that Foxy posted. This will be it's fourth year, and it's held up wonderfully, especially having to deal with being shoved into a skate bag :s

After two years straight of getting pneumonia at UBC I wear it diligently, plus I just love to creep everyone out (I'm looking at you Stilts).

Told the same thing, had asthma, specifically cold induced, it gets a bit sweaty but it has totally saved my lungs.

Protect your lungs and creep people out at the same time! Also plus don't wear a floppy scarf...long, dangling pieces of fabric are not good with fast skating and wheels!