Friends, your Army Black Knights won the right to host the American Conference Championship this Friday night at Michie Stadium. This is awesome! We’ll have the Corps of Cadets in attendance alongside a packed, fired up home crowd, and the weather report promises legit blistering cold temperatures to welcome the guys from New Orleans.

The bad news? 

We all have to be out in that weather to cheer on our team.

Discussion started in the AFF’s Firstie Club immediately following Saturday’s win over UTSA. That game proved chilly, and some of our members got worried that this weekend’s actual cold might get to be too much for them.

With that in mind, we built this post to help you prepare for what could really be a life-changing experience this Friday night if you come unprepared. No one wants that! Let us help you make sure that you’re ready.

As bonafides, I present myself to you as a long-time New Englander, die-hard all-weather New York City bike commuter, and avid skier/snowboarder. I love New England winters and indeed, got out there on my bike just yesterday in quite chilly 30-degree temps with at least as much wind as we’re going to see this Friday night. It was kind of awesome!

Editor’s Note: Most of the links below go to Amazon . We did this for convenience’s sake. We are not an Amazon affiliate and will earn no revenue whatsoever from anything you might purchase. 

Get this stuff wherever you want. We don’t care!

What to Bring to Michie Stadium This Friday Night

Hand and Toe Warmers

Frostbite will be our biggest concern on Friday. This mostly occurs at the extremities and can be a problem once your fingers and toes get cold because circulation will slow to those areas. Having an external heat source, like these hand and toe warmers, will help a lot. This is especially true given that we won’t be particularly active during the game to increase circulation naturally.

Balaclava, Knit Cap, and Gator

We lose most of our body heat through our heads and/or your feet. Using two layers on your head will help with this. The balaclava plus knit cap functions similarly to the way a balaclava works with your ski helmet. Meanwhile, the gator will keep your neck warm and keep cold air from getting in around to of your coat.

Softshell Outer Layers

Softshell is great because it’s windproof and generally fleece-lined. Speaking personally, I plan to wear some gray softshell pants over long underwear.

Sample softshell pants
Sample softshell jacket

Dress in Layers

At a minimum, you want a base layer, a mid-layer, and a windproof outer layer. For me, that will mean a sweat-wicking upper body base layer (think: long underwear), a mid-layer collapsible down puffer vest (see below), and a sweatshirt under my USMA issued wool parka.

Friends, if you’re an Army fan and/or an avid skier, you really need a collapsible puffer vest. I use mine more than any other piece of gear that I own. You can go cheap with a lot of this stuff, but if you’re gonna spend a little more, this is where I would spend it.

Insulated Boots

I got a cheap pair at the local bargain store a few weeks ago for Army-Navy. They proved to be game-changers last week at the UTSA game. Mine are London Fog, but there are bunches of brands out there.

Change of Socks

The one thing you do not want to do is sweat in your car on the drive to West Point. Once your feet get sweaty, you’ll have a Hell of a time staying warm no matter what else you do. Drive to the stadium, CHANGE SOCKS, put on your boots, and then head to your tailgate. Obviously, wool socks are better, but any dry socks will do.

Trust me on this one.

Bring a Blanket

We always bring a blanket to cold weather games, especially when it’s windy.

Got questions? Drop ‘em below.

Good luck out there!

Go Army! Beat Tulane!!!

Cover image: Yours truly with my good friend Terry (’95) at this past Saturday’s game.