David said:I was wondering if anyone here can recommend a good face mask for cold weather running. I used the
typical fleece gaitor type things last winter and it was not the best. On the odd day (thankfully)
when it's 15-20 below celcius (about 0F) plus a wind chill, I need to cover everything but my
eyes, and the problem with a standard fleece gaitor is that the condensation from breathing out
freezes turning your fleece into a sheet of ice against your face. So I need something which
covers mouth and nose but has some kind of vents for breathing. This thing looks kind of cool...
nebogear.compsr exmask.htmlOpen ↗
but it doesn't look like the 'module' covers the nose... so you have to do all your breathing
in/out thru the mouth... which I don't like. Any suggestions from our Midwestern and Alaskan
friends? 🙂
Try it and let us know!
Seriously, it looks like a good concept IF a couple things are attended to. It keeps moisture from
your balaclava and heats and moistens air inbound so you're not subject to the dehydration or
cooling effects of dry, cold air, if it works. It addresses a couple of the major issues of winter
activities.
(1) can you get enough air for running through the mouthpiece. One review seems to indicate there's
plenty of air movement, but that was a backpacker I think.
(2) can you ventilate / cool off if need be. When running (or maybe I was skiing or snowshoeing) at
about 0F with a synthetic balaclava (probably not as thick as fleece but more breathable), I
find I overheat and need to drop the face of balaclava down to cool off. I've never had problems
with this one icing uncomfortably, frosted somewhat, but not a real issue. I shake it off when I
get inside.
Some other pictures and background, although I might have been looking more at the balaclava when
searching.
members.tripod.comhome2f.htmOpen ↗ backpackgeartest.orgbackpackgeartest.orgOpen ↗
Psolar%20Balaclava/Rick%20Allnutt%20III/Initial%20Report/ (and back track up to more reviews from
there - this one just happened to have some good pictures on balaclava - fit of mask may differ)
I tend to mouth-breathe, esp in winter, since nose is usually running its own race. For kicks a
couple weeks ago, I tried breathing through uncovered nose at about 0F. It lasted maybe 10-20
breaths before the cold inside nose was too uncomfortable ("painful" was the term I was thinking at
the time). I think the larger capacity of the mouth allows the air to be warmed more before it hits
body parts, or at least that's my uninformed thinking. I can't get enough air through nose when
under balaclava.
My data points with what I'm using now. Good example. The balaclava that I use and like has enough
stretch to it that it fits snugly around my face without getting claustrophobic. The neck portion is
only tapered slightly and has a front / back portion but no sides where your shoulders would be.
That is, I can get lots of air in if needed - or I can tuck it in and siphon air back to my chest
area if it's really cold, like bike riding. I've been doing whatever this winter (up to about 1.5 hr
or 2hr, although the 2 hr may have been warmer) at around -5F to 15F and not had any frosting
problems. More often at 0F, I need to pull it down. I've been using vaseline to protect face when I
pull it down.
On the windy days, I've got a good hood on my gore-tex parka that I snug up over the balaclava, and
that combination seems to work really well.
Bad example. I used one of my other balaclavas a couple weeks ago. It fit much snugger and the neck
was tapered all around. It also seems to have a vapor barrier or something in the front portion -
forehead and mouth/nose area. While it seems nice and weatherproof, this definitely restricted
breathing compared to my good one (vapor barrier) and was hard to ventilate (snugged around neck).
IIRC, I ended up pulling the thing off completely and haven't used it for anything except walking in
70mph / 0F winds since.
I do have a neck gaitor, but have never used it since it just doesn't seem flexible enough for me -
too constraining as I get claugstrophobic.
Just a thought about fleece. I used a fleece layer as outer layer a couple years ago, and it tended
to frost up on all the fibers - snowman look. I haven't had that happen with other fabrics. I think
the fleece has lots of surface area where this can accumulate, perhaps that's what caused the icing
in your case? If I wear fleece, it's usually under a shell now so the fibers help trap heat.
More of my thoughts than you probably wanted 😉
Enjoy!
Dot
--
"Success is different things to different people" -Bernd Heinrich in Racing the Antelope
