You’ll probably have a chance to test your new snow gear over the coming week —  two storms are coming in the next seven days, with Saturday’s powder day possibly being deeper than Wednesday’s. All the details are here, but be patient. While weather patterns are somewhat forecastable 7+ days in advance (i.e. it will be “stormy”), the details are hard to pin down more than 2-3 days in advance.

And speaking of cold weather, I recently had the chance to try out Thermal Bar. Basically, it’s a snack bar that you eat (think: Cliff Bar), and the main benefit is that the ingredients in the bar warm you up.

Thermal Bar® is a high energy, high quality bar loaded with organic grains, nutrients, anti-oxidants, omega acids and spices that help keep you warm in cold conditions. Whether trying to keep your hands warm while trout fishing on a cool May morning, gripping an ice axe on a frozen waterfall in January or swinging a hammer during winter construction, this bar will definitely raise your comfort level.

A few days ago I spoke with Bob Rose, the founder of Thermal Bar. He’s legit and is honestly pushing to do something new. He’s an outdoorsy guy and tried to concoct a new portable food that might provide nutrition and a bit of warmth while also being healthy. I ate the bars before going on a hike, so it was hard to verify that I felt warmer because of the bars simply because I would have felt warmer anyway due to expending energy going uphill. However, Bob assures me that they actually did scientific testing and there was a warming felt by the subjects. The taste of the bars was very lemon-y, but hey – I’m no food critic. The company recently had a big win by striking a distribution deal with Eastern Mountain Sports (and they also sell the bars online). Keep an eye out for these bars and maybe give one a try – at least it’s something different! Good luck to Bob and the team going after their dream and (hopefully) keeping us all a bit warmer.

Disclosure: I received two free bars from the company for testing purposes. I offered to return them when I was finished testing, but they felt it would be better if I didn’t do this.