.png?v=87502806713263355551763416676)
Pickle Juice for Ski Touring
Nobody expects to cramp in the cold. That's the trap. Cramps register as a summer thing, a hot-day, sweat-soaked thing, so a skier grinding up a skin track in winter doesn't think they're at risk, right up until a calf locks halfway up the bootpack. The cold doesn't protect you from cramping. In some ways it sets you up for it.
This is a note for the human-powered winter days. Skinning up for backcountry laps, splitboarding into a zone, the long cold climb that earns the descent.
Cold hides the fluid you're losing
Here's the part most people don't know: cold blunts your thirst. Research on exercise in the cold has found thirst can drop by something like 40 percent even when the body is genuinely low on fluid, and you keep losing water the whole time, to the dry winter air you're breathing hard, to sweat that evaporates off you before you ever feel wet under your layers, to the extra urine cold makes you produce. You arrive at the top drier than you'd ever let yourself get in July, because nothing told you to drink. That quiet dehydration, stacked on a hard climb, is a setting cramps like.
The climb is real work, thermometer aside
Skinning uphill under a pack is a sustained leg effort, and it fatigues the muscles whether it's eighty degrees or twenty. A study of recreational ski tourers found that even a single day of touring measurably reduced quad and hamstring strength, plain evidence the legs are taking a real beating on the way up. Cramps lean toward being a problem of overworked neuromuscular control, and a long cold climb overworks the legs exactly the way a hot one does. The thermometer changes how it feels. It doesn't change what's happening to the muscle.
Keep the powder somewhere it won't freeze solid, an inside pocket is better than the bottom of the pack, and mix it with water that hasn't turned to slush. A stick into a few ounces of water from an insulated bottle is all it takes. Small and concentrated is still the point, even when a big cold drink is the last thing you want.
What it does not do
It won't keep you hydrated through a winter day, and the cold-thirst trap is exactly why that matters: you have to drink on a schedule, not by thirst, because thirst is lying to you out there. A few ounces of brine doesn't replace the water you're quietly losing. The reflex interrupts a cramp once it fires and buys a window to stop, drink, eat, and let the leg settle before the descent. Drink before you're thirsty, fuel the climb, and let the brine handle the cramp the cold helped set up.
A single stick of Quickle carries 700mg sodium, 300mg potassium, and 50mg magnesium, plus the real vinegar that does the fast work, and it weighs nothing in a touring pack already loaded with shovel, probe, and skins. For the cold climbs, it's a small thing worth tucking in a warm pocket.
- Haslinger, S., et al. (2018). Effects of recreational ski mountaineering on cumulative muscle fatigue: a longitudinal trial. Frontiers in Physiology, 9, 1687. A single day of ski touring significantly reduced concentric and eccentric quadriceps and hamstring strength.
- Kenefick, R. W., et al. (2004). Thirst sensations and AVP responses at rest and during exercise-cold exposure. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. Cold attenuates the thirst response, so athletes can become dehydrated without feeling thirsty.
- Craighead, D. H., et al. (2017). Ingestion of transient receptor potential channel agonists attenuates exercise-induced muscle cramps. Muscle & Nerve, 56(3), 379-385.
Quick answers.
Can you really cramp in cold weather?
Yes, and the cold makes it sneakier. Cold suppresses thirst, so you under-drink while still losing fluid to dry air, evaporating sweat, and increased urination. Skinning uphill is hard leg work regardless of temperature. Quiet dehydration plus a fatigued climb is a setting cramps like, thermometer aside.
Why don't I feel thirsty when ski touring?
Because cold blunts the thirst response, by something like 40 percent in studies, even when you're genuinely low on fluid. That's why winter dehydration sneaks up on people. The fix is to drink on a schedule rather than waiting until you feel thirsty.
How do I keep it from freezing?
Keep the powder in an inside pocket rather than the bottom of your pack, and mix it with water from an insulated bottle so it isn't slush. A stick into a few ounces of water is all it takes, even when a big cold drink is unappealing.
When should I take it?
At the first cramp on the skin track or bootpack, or heading into a long climb you know is hard. Mix a stick into a few ounces of water and take it. The reflex works fast and doesn't require drinking a lot.
Does it replace drinking on a winter day?
No, and that's the key point. Cold hides how much fluid you're losing, so you have to drink deliberately, not by thirst. A few ounces of brine doesn't replace that water. It only interrupts a cramp once one fires.
