How I Keep my Kids Warm in Sub Zero Temps

This 2010/2011 winter season, my girls (10 and 8 years old) already have 25+ days of skiing under their belt. They started the season in Big Sky Montana with a ski camp the week of Thanksgiving. As I was getting the girls ready for 6 hours plus outside, newspapers declared "Temperature records fell all over the state Tuesday in what has shaped up as a miserable holiday week." I fretted and layered them up wondering if we should cancel, but they had a blast and stayed warm. I thought I'd share how we did it!

The first layer of their layering system is a base layer of Smartwool or Icebreaker Merino Wool - leggings and a crew neck. Thin, warm and breathable! We follow this up with a mid layer of more wool. The Icebreaker 260 weight sweaters are wonderful. Next is a race suit, but if your kids are not racers, I would do a layer of the Patagonia Micro-D fleece. It fits a little looser so it is easy to layer over the top of the wool.

The Patagonia Down Sweater has become an essential in our outerwear closet.  It is lightweight, warm and comfortable, and slips easily under a jacket. If the girls get too warm, the jacket compresses into their backpack - although, now that they have it, I've never seen them without their down layer. Finally, they have a Spyder jacket with 140 grams of insulation and Spyder pants with 100 grams of insulation (Montkid.com recommends trying to determine how many grams of insulation are in your kids outerwear selection before buying - not all brands are the same!). Ski racers need to be nimble and agile on the ski hill, so even though this may seem like a lot of big bulky layers, it is not. Those girls can move!

Also extremely important is keeping their head, hands and feet warm. On their feet, we use either Smartwool socks or Spyder socks along with foot warmers on really cold days. Unless it's race day, the girls always wear mittens with hand warmers stuffed inside. We like the Spyder Astrid, but one of Montkid.com's most popular mittens this year, were the Burton Heaterpack mittens featuring a zippered compartment for the hand warmer. Finally, on their head they wear a POC helmet which helps not only with protection but also warmth. Under their helmet, they have a balaclava, which unlike a neck gaiter, does not slip down off their cheeks. I also like to have them wear a neck gaiter that they can pull up over their nose for the ride up the chair lift. But, sometimes, this is the one item that they say is just too much! So, I make them put an extra in their backpack because if the first neck gaiter or balaclava gets steamed up from their breath, then frozen, it doesn't do much good! 

We've had extremely cold weather this season in Montana, but the girls haven't missed a day on the hill. Call us or visit our web site at www.montkid.com if you need additional help picking out items for your winter activity!