Anyone has used them? Tips?

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We plan to ride from St. George UT to the Grand Canyon Village (south rim) next May, through Zion, Bryce and Page.

We expect below freezing temperatures at night in the Bryce area, maybe as low as 25F. Living in Quebec, I am familiar with cold temperatures (it's been -20C for more than a week now...) but have no experience with extended periods of time spent outdoors in fairly cold weather. I just know that after a day of cross country skiing, I wouldn't feel like spending the night out in a tent...

I plan to use one or 2 Zippo hand warmers to generate heat and avoid the unpleasant cold feeling that one experiences after a full day in the outdoors while the temperature plummets.

Would be glad to hear about experiences with such system, or other strategies as well.

This is not a major concern, as we can always ride to a lower altitude location if things get seriously unpleasant. But that would be a bummer, frankly, to race through such a beautiful place...

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q...2A&FORM=IQFRBA

I have a couple hand warmers like the ones you mentioned but have not used them for a long time.

Since you are from Quebec, I will certainly not lecture you on how to stay warm. I grew up in Minnesota, so I suspect you and I have the same history on dealing with cold weather.

Riding a bike in conditions down to about 20 degrees F (-7 degrees C), I like to have some really warm downhill ski gloves. As I warm up and my hands start sweating, i switch to lighter weight gloves. Going on a bike ride near home when it is about 20 degrees, I might take three pairs of gloves with me so I can adjust to the conditions. I try very hard to avoid getting any of my clothing too damp with sweat, so I switch gloves often. If I was going on a trip like you are, I might bring ski gloves and leave the handwarmers at home. And if that was not enough in the evening, just go in the tent and call it a day. Winter camping, I always carried thick wool mittens, but it sounds like you are not going to be in weather that cold.

One thing I am really sold on is a wool or polartec neck gaiter. Lighter and easier to use than a scarf. I always wear one cycling when it is near or below freezing. (Oops, I just lectured you, sorry.)

Photo was taken in Bryce April 10, 2014, we were car camping there after riding the White Rim in Canyonlands, rode our bikes some on the roads in the park. I do not recall what I wore that day, but it looks like I had some light gloves on top of my handlebar bag.

No matter how unpleasant it is, change into dry clothes every evening and back into wet the next morning.

If you keep the wet on, you'll be miserable all evening and night and might even get your sleeping bag wet.

It's not that bad, as you are hot when stopping for the day and again next morning just out of the sleeping bag.

Some folks like sleeping with hot water bottles. UCO candle lanterns can add a few degrees to a good tent. I personally like the Palmer Survival Furnace technique for temporary deep heat soaks to drive the chill out of the body - it actually gets hot at those temps. Nothing extra for me to carry as my quilt doubles as down poncho and my stove doubles as an alcohol candle.

I use the kind you shake to heat up, and only use once.

If you go with that kind ... get the toe warmers not the handwarmers. From my experience, the handwarmers didn't warm up as much and didn't last as long. The toe warmers are better. They're also smaller so they don't get in the way.

I say take the handwarmers you mention just in case this time. You will learn whether or not they were needed.

Just me but I have found that to be the opposite of what I need. It is generally warmest in the early part of the night and gets colder as the night goes on. I found that hot water bottles give heat early when not needed as badly and then cool down to no longer be helpful in the wee hours when the most warmth is needed.

BTW, one of the things I find most helpful is to be careful to not be warm enough to sweat or else you get colder later. So I adjust zippers and drawstrings to be slightly cool and close up more as the temperature drops. In places where the day night temperature differential is great, that might mean starting out on top of the bag and progressively draping it over me, climbing in, zipping up, and pulling the hood drawstring tight (breathing only through the face hole and never into the bag)

Also as has been mentioned having really dry clothes for in camp and especially completely dry socks to sleep in is a huge help. For cold weather I have a dedicated pair of thick socks worn only in camp and for sleeping.

The discussion of water bottles here reminded me that I have had to deal with frozen water bottles. I do not heat up a water bottle to take in a sleeping bag for warmth, but if I have a water bottle that I trust to not leak a single drop I will take that into the sleeping bag to make sure that the water is still pourable in morning.

Here we have what we call 'Finnish Hand warmers', you pour boiling hot water in a ceramic cup and hold it with both hands..

Even better with a teabag in it!

Something that I've been trying this winter is yoga. I've been going to bed and it seems like once my feet get cold, it takes forever for them to warm up. A quick yoga routine before bed warms my core and makes me sleep pretty good. might be something to try out of the trail/road?

I've used the Zippo warmers, the chemical warmers, and the ones that you boil to re-charge with the metal disk in them. The Zippo's always worked best for me and lasted the longest. The only thing I will recommend with them is to keep them somewhere relatively windproof, and dry. IE: if you keep them in a pocket, don't put them in one that is prone to getting wet with sweat. I've had them go out on me under both conditions.

Take a pair of ski gloves and a nice knit wool cap?. 25F/-4C isn't that cold to me. After 20 years of mountain climbing in the western USA, plus trips to Alaska and South America, in temps way below freezing, I've never known anyone who used handwarmers; they're just extra weight. We'd keep warm by using poly clothes that would stay (relatively) dry during the day, and adjusted layers for temperature. When we'd stop at a camp for the day we'd make sure we stayed comfortably warm by adding more clothes layers as the daylight ended so we were always warm. IF you have a sleeping bag make sure you have enough room in it; a lot of the 'ultralight' bags are cut real narrow so that only a person with a 'stick figure' body can properly fit in them without squishing the insulating material (which reduces its ability to retain warmth). also wear some clothes to bed; it always seemed to help vs just relying on a sleeping bag and shirt/shorts. Wear a knit cap while inside your sleeping bag, gloves, and dry socks, along with poly long undies and poly top.