Warm Feet in a dry suit

[Storker]

the three with all cotton succumbed to hypothermia. The one wearing wool was the sole surviver

Yes, wet cotton as your base layer is perhaps one of the safest recipes for hypothermia.

One thing that's seldom mentioned, though, when the topic of warm feet or hands is discussed, is the importance of keeping your core warm. If you're a bit cold, your body will preserve heat by restricting circulation to the outer extremities, i.e. your hands and feet, and they'll be cold. OTOH, if you're on the slightly warm side of optimal, your body will increase circulation to the outer parts of your body to dump heat, and your feet and hands stay warm in impressively thin protection. I've hiked in -20, and when I get my core temp up, I can walk bare-handed without my fingers being cold at all. And when I sit down for a break, my feet are the first bodypart that gets cold.

As I'm fond of saying: If you feet are cold, put on a sweater. And one piece of warm headgear covering your neck as well makes up for at least one sweater.

tl/dr version: First of all, make sure your head and core are warm. Then you can worry about your hands and feet.

 

[KevWind]

Yes, wet cotton as your base layer is perhaps one of the safest recipes for hypothermia.

One thing that's seldom mentioned, though, when the topic of warm feet or hands is discussed, is the importance of keeping your core warm. If you're a bit cold, your body will preserve heat by restricting circulation to the outer extremities, i.e. your hands and feet, and they'll be cold. OTOH, if you're on the slightly warm side of optimal, your body will increase circulation to the outer parts of your body to dump heat, and your feet and hands stay warm in impressively thin protection. I've hiked in -20, and when I get my core temp up, I can walk bare-handed without my fingers being cold at all. And when I sit down for a break, my feet are the first bodypart that gets cold.

As I'm fond of saying: If you feet are cold, put on a sweater. And one piece of warm headgear covering your neck as well makes up for at least one sweater.

tl/dr version: First of all, make sure your head and core are warm. Then you can worry about your hands and feet.

Absolutely very very spot on advice. For 30 years I worked outside construction and played in Jackson Hole often in temps down to -20 to -30 Cuttoff temp for Framing carpentry was -20... below that the boards tended split when shot with a nail gun ( provided of course that the nail gun had winter oil /antifreeze and the compressor wasn't frozen. Boy I don't miss that , probably the reason I have no interest in cold water diving, it's the tropics all the way for me.

 

[Storker]

I have no interest in cold water diving, it's the tropics all the way for me.

Yeah, I can understand that.

However, if your normal diving is in cold-temperate climate green waters, the difference in viz between winter and summer diving is staggering. During summer, you have to reckon on dealing with a 3-8m thick - sometimes even thicker - surface layer of algal soup. There's almost always a distinct viz change as you descend below the surface layer. In the winter, though, the viz can be up to blue water levels. That, combined with the fascinating bottom life in North Atlantic coastal waters, makes dealing with cold winter water well worth it.


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