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Bundling Up Many skydivers take the winter season off from jumping and focus on skiing or another traditional winter sport. But some jumpers will continue skydiving even as temperatures dip well below freezing on the ground—and even lower at altitude. Winter jumping can be just as much fun as it is during summer months, but you have to make sure you are prepared both on the ground and in the air. Wind chill and the extremely cold temperatures at altitude are probably the biggest concerns for wintertime jumpers. Fortunately, skydivers are only exposed to the very cold air for a short time, but even with a short exposure, it can be painful for your hands, as well as any exposed skin such as your cheeks or neck. If this is your first winter skydiving, ask seasoned veterans around your drop zone what works best for them. You will probably get as many different answers as the number of people you ask, but at least you will have a variety of options to explore. Depending on your budget, there are plenty of options for cold-weather clothing that offer great protection but are still thin enough to fit under your jumpsuit. Neck protection and full-face helmets can help protect against the stinging cold wind. For the rest of your body, several thin layers generally work better than one thick one. Ski shops and other outdoor clothing outlets will have a variety of cold-weather clothing solutions that work well for skydiving. While it may seem like a simple matter of throwing on as much warm apparel as possible before taking to the skies, there’s actually more to it than you might think. If you are not familiar with full-face helmets, they can restrict vision and hearing more than an open-face model. It’s also easy in the airplane to fog up the helmet’s face shield, which then ices over during a cold freefall. If you do switch to a full-face helmet for the winter, be sure you can easily open the shield in case of fog or icing in freefall should it become necessary. The gloves you choose need to do more than just keep your fingers warm; you’ll also need to be able to operate your equipment handles and other gear, such as the face shield on your helmet. Your outerwear also needs to provide unrestricted access to all of your equipment handles, both in freefall and under canopy. It doesn’t do you much good to be toasty-warm during a malfunction if your cutaway handle is covered by a bulky jacket. Before you make a jump wearing your new ensemble, a quick trip to the training harness while fully geared is a good idea. In addition to different clothes for jumping in the winter, you also need to consider how cold weather affects your landing area. Frozen ground is not as forgiving of hard landings as most landing areas during warmer months, and snow, frost and ice make for slippery surfaces for a parachute landing. Unfamiliar landing conditions are not the time to downsize or try new landing techniques. Fly conservatively and be prepared to perform a parachute landing fall if necessary. Winter jumping can be fun and exhilarating; it just takes a little preparation. Find some adventurous jumping buddies, bundle up, and exit, exit, exit! —Jim Crouch What do you think? Click here to send USPA your comments.
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