A nod to two old friends...
I have a lot of gloves. I have a pair for spring days, I have a pair for normal winter days, I have a pair for photoshoots, I have a pair for the other end of photoshoots, I have a pair for snowy days, I have a pair for... you get the idea. While I usually buy two or three pairs of gloves a season (usually due to them "wandering off"), I've had the same pair of Dakine GoreTEX gloves for 5 years now. I got them in a bargain bin at a SnowBOMB show in 2012, and figured I'd get two or MAYBE three seasons use out of them. They've outlasted every piece of ski gear I currently own, served me through four jobs and two relationships (sort of). Every year I've said that they needed to be retired, but every year they kept keeping my hands warm and dry. Until last year. Last year I spent well past 100 days on snow, and they finally met the end of their life. Too many days scraping off rental skis that had caked with snow. Too many days digging through deep pow, errr, heavy wet sierra cement, to find a students ski that had come off and gotten buried. And way way way too many snowball fights with teams kids. While I was packing up my locker at the end of the season, I realized that my trusty old Dakines (and the Armada 3 finger mitts I used as backup) had seen their last days on the hill.
So thank you, gloves, for keeping my hands happy for so many seasons.
Now, all of that said, finding replacements is proving to be a GIANT PAIN IN MY ARSE!!! For every option I find, I find a reason to look at something else. Most people think finding skis is the most frustrating, but no. Skis you can demo. Skis you can find no end of opinions on. Skis are... fun. I LOVE testing/demoing skis. I can hop on a pair of skis and in two or so runs know everything I need to know about the ski. I can look at and feel the ski and take a pretty accurate and educated guess as to its durability and to the craftsmanship that went into building it. But not gloves. Nobody demos gloves, and for good reason. Can you get an idea of the fit from just sticking your hand in it? Of course you can. Can you tell the quality of stitch and material by feeling and looking at it? Obviously. But I've seen Hestras that soaked thru after half a season (with treatment) and Lekis that fell apart after a few weeks. Are these isolated instances? Probably, given how popular those companies are (the best marketing in the world cant sustain a crappy product when it comes to your warmth and dryness factor). But how do I know? How do I know my gloves are going to keep my hands warm and dry when I'm in the snow, often working, 6-7 days a week? I guess one just takes that chance and finds a brand or model they are comfortable sticking with?
Now that I've got the sentiment and ranting out, I'll pose some questions:
How do you choose your hand protection? Do you prefer warmth over dexterity? Function over fashion? Or do you just go with whatever is within budget and fits your hand relatively well? How many of us practice what we preach when it comes to hand comfort being one of the most important and overlooked parts of skiing, especially for beginners?
Lets talk about our hands, or more importantly, how we protect them whilst skiing.
I have a lot of gloves. I have a pair for spring days, I have a pair for normal winter days, I have a pair for photoshoots, I have a pair for the other end of photoshoots, I have a pair for snowy days, I have a pair for... you get the idea. While I usually buy two or three pairs of gloves a season (usually due to them "wandering off"), I've had the same pair of Dakine GoreTEX gloves for 5 years now. I got them in a bargain bin at a SnowBOMB show in 2012, and figured I'd get two or MAYBE three seasons use out of them. They've outlasted every piece of ski gear I currently own, served me through four jobs and two relationships (sort of). Every year I've said that they needed to be retired, but every year they kept keeping my hands warm and dry. Until last year. Last year I spent well past 100 days on snow, and they finally met the end of their life. Too many days scraping off rental skis that had caked with snow. Too many days digging through deep pow, errr, heavy wet sierra cement, to find a students ski that had come off and gotten buried. And way way way too many snowball fights with teams kids. While I was packing up my locker at the end of the season, I realized that my trusty old Dakines (and the Armada 3 finger mitts I used as backup) had seen their last days on the hill.
So thank you, gloves, for keeping my hands happy for so many seasons.
Now, all of that said, finding replacements is proving to be a GIANT PAIN IN MY ARSE!!! For every option I find, I find a reason to look at something else. Most people think finding skis is the most frustrating, but no. Skis you can demo. Skis you can find no end of opinions on. Skis are... fun. I LOVE testing/demoing skis. I can hop on a pair of skis and in two or so runs know everything I need to know about the ski. I can look at and feel the ski and take a pretty accurate and educated guess as to its durability and to the craftsmanship that went into building it. But not gloves. Nobody demos gloves, and for good reason. Can you get an idea of the fit from just sticking your hand in it? Of course you can. Can you tell the quality of stitch and material by feeling and looking at it? Obviously. But I've seen Hestras that soaked thru after half a season (with treatment) and Lekis that fell apart after a few weeks. Are these isolated instances? Probably, given how popular those companies are (the best marketing in the world cant sustain a crappy product when it comes to your warmth and dryness factor). But how do I know? How do I know my gloves are going to keep my hands warm and dry when I'm in the snow, often working, 6-7 days a week? I guess one just takes that chance and finds a brand or model they are comfortable sticking with?
Now that I've got the sentiment and ranting out, I'll pose some questions:
How do you choose your hand protection? Do you prefer warmth over dexterity? Function over fashion? Or do you just go with whatever is within budget and fits your hand relatively well? How many of us practice what we preach when it comes to hand comfort being one of the most important and overlooked parts of skiing, especially for beginners?
Lets talk about our hands, or more importantly, how we protect them whilst skiing.