Backpacking Background:

Description

The Sealskinz ChillBlocker Socks by Danalco are socks designed for all sorts of outdoor pursuits where warm, dry feet are a priority. The socks are designed as a crew sock, complete with elastic band at the top of the sock. The sock is comprised with an inner fleece layer, with an outer black, nylon/spandex mix, and waterproof membrane sandwiched between the two.

Field Information:

Long Term testing continued right through the summer months, due to the incredibly wet summer we’ve experienced in this part of the world. Testing opportunities consisted of two treks to the Adirondacks, a day canoe trip through Zoar Valley in Southern New York, and several day hikes around Western New York and Northern Pennsylvania.

The terrain locally is a mixed bag, starting out close to the shores of Lake Erie as a flat plateau and changing to rolling hills further away from the lake. The flat land is around 700 ft (200 m) elevation with the hills steadily increasing to close to 2000 ft (600 m). Northern Pennsylvania is considerably more hilly and steep. This is the home of the Allegheny Mountains, with elevations typically around 2000 ft (600 m). The treks to the Adirondacks were both to the High Peaks region, where elevations ran upwards of 5000 ft (1525 m).

Trips varied from short day trips of 2 - 5 miles (3 - 8 km) to full day treks of 10 -15 miles (16 - 24 km). The trips to the Adirondacks consisted of a three-day weekend trek and a nine-day trek. These trips were through the heart of the Adirondack region and were full of peaks, rain and mud. The canoe trip was a pleasant day of approximately 15 miles (24 km) through fairly calm water interspersed with some class III rapids.

Temperatures throughout the Long Term testing have been rather cool for this time of year. Generally, it has never gone above 80 F (27C) and went as low as 40 F (4 C) in all of the areas tested.

Test Results:

I’ve found the ChillBlocker socks to be quite water resistant, but not waterproof. In initial testing, they seemed to be waterproof, but I began to have my doubts around the Field Report, and confirmed my suspicions a short time later. My ChillBlockers leak – minutely, but nevertheless, yes. The small leaking alone didn’t really affect the usefulness of the socks for me, but the fact that they take forever to dry out – did. These socks just don’t want to dry! This has proven to be critical for me. I hike a lot in boots, so my feet tend to perspire heavily. I change my socks often to prevent blisters. I couldn’t do this with the ChillBlockers because they were still wet when I went to put them back on.

Although the waterproofness has seemed to diminish with time, the overall condition of the socks has held up quite well. The elastic in the ankles still holds up the socks, although somewhat looser, and there are no discernible holes in either sock. The color has not faded either.

Fit has never been an issue with me. They fit great out of the box, and still do.

The ChillBlockers are very comfortable to wear when dry. The fleece lining is quite nice, and warm as well. In the colder months of testing during the beginning phases of this test, I found the ChillBlockers did a great job of keeping my feet warm. The fleece seemed to wick away the moisture. This sounds contrary to my warm weather experiences, but it is what I found.

This has led to me exclude the ChillBlocker socks from my warm-weather gear list, but even though they leak, I will continue to include the socks in my cold-weather list, simply because overall, my feet stay warmer in them.