And I further remembered what I do when it's really cold while skiing 'cause a friend who used to own an outdoor store in New England highly recommended it and 'cause the bf used to use 'em when he used to mountaineer & ice climb.

Dachstein boiled wool mittens. Kinda old school, but they keep your hands warm.

I have some goretex shell mittens from outdoor research (another sierra trading post) that I put over them, but the wool is supposed to resist getting wet & remains insulating if wet and a nice/icy shell is supposed to form around them that is insulating:

copied from elsewhere:
Ragg wool is the most natural of all spun wools. The natural lanolin remains in the fibre to repell water and remain warm even when wet. Boiled wool products are made by knitting them and then "boiling" them to tighten the weave and shrink them down to size this results in a very dense fabric. The boiled wool process results in a better insulated product.

http://www.joe-brown.com/outdoor-equ...lnmitts-2.html

some reviews here:
http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/review/...3/v/1/sp/#6382