Reviews > Clothing > Socks > SealSkinz Socks and Gloves > Rachel Herold > Tester Report, SealSkinz, 1 & 2 by R Herold

Test Location

Sat & Sun:	Snoqualmie Pass, West Summit, Washington State, PNW

Test Weather

Sat:	warm, sunny, ~32 degrees, ~3000' elevation
Sun:	even warmer, sunny, ~36 degrees, ~3000' elevation

Introduction to Report:
I received my SealSkinz package in US Post on Friday. The socks and gloves came in a plastic bag package with no damage. The packaging for the products included the wrap around product card inside of a sturdy ziplock bag.
I orderd the small "Gauntlet Glove" and the small "Over the Calf Sock (15")".

Right away I tried both products on.
The socks are a bit snug. The sizing chart on the back of the wrap around card packaging says they should fit me since small fits a women's shoe size 6-7 and my shoe size is a 6.5. I looked to see if there was any info on fit and whether they should be this snug or not. There was no info so I decided I'd try them out and see how they did thinking that maybe they might stretch.
The gloves fit much better than I expected! I have another pair of SealSkinz gloves that I bought a couple years ago that didn't fit me at all. These gloves are either a smaller size small (they've adjusted their sizing possibly) or perhaps these have a bit of curve in them. Though that could have just been because they were rolled a bit in the package.

Report:
Saturday I wore the socks all day from 6:30am to 7:30pm. I was actively skiing from 9am to 5:30pm. The first six hours I was doing adaptive sitski training (from 9-3:30pm with a half hour lunch break). From 3:30-5:30 we had a very intensive small group stand-up ski lesson for us as general skiers.
These socks are my new favorites! No seams!!! The tall cuff comes up high enough that I do not have the edge of the boot rubbing on the top edge of the sock. I did notice that the left cuff had a tendancy to slip down a bit but the right cuff stayed where it was put, all day long, including several falls.
They stayed dry, my feet stayed dry, and I completely forgot about my socks. I found that the snug fit was very nice, there were no wrinkles to rub raw spots on my feet.
After I turned in my rental gear I wore the socks back over to the instructor school sans shoes. My feet were still dry when I checked inside. The outside of the sock seemed to shed the water easily when I brushed it off with my hand.
I wore my prior favorite socks the next day and I really noticed the seams, the shorter cuff rubbing at the top of my boot, and so on.
Sunday I wore the gloves all day. It was too warm for my ski gloves but lifting the metal rails of the sit-ski's onto the lift was a bit too cold for my bare hands. Plus I tended to lose my grip a bit. I figured the SealSkinz gloves were perfect for this task. And they are. Beautifully suited.
I liked having the gauntlet, which came up to my elbow, because I didn't have to worry about snow falling into the cuffs from off of the seat (called the bucket) of the sit-ski. It also kept my arms warm under my wind shell because it was too warm to wear the polyfleece I'd brought to wear under the wind shell.
The rubber grippers were so cool here I have trouble describing it.
Basically, a person is sitting in the sit-ski and I and my partner are each on one side of the sit-ski, as the chair lift comes around we each grab one side of the sit-ski and lift it up onto the chair lift. The rails/tubing that we hold to lift are metal and very cold and wet. There also isn't a lot of room for big bulky gloves to fit between the rails we lift and the bucket the person is sitting in. It can be very dangerous to lose your grip on the sit-ski. The grippers gave me a lot more confidence and grip ability when lifting the sit-ski. And while my hands did get a bit chilled early in the morning while hanging onto the metal rail the entire chairlift ride they did warm up very quickly once I let go of the metal at the top of the lift. The best thing though was that my hands did NOT get wet.
My partners were constantly taking their gloves on and off to do the straps, to lift, and so on, but I had great dexterity and was able to buckle and unbuckle all the straps holding the person into the sit-ski with my gloves still on. I was also able to zip and unzip my vest with the gloves on and a teeny little zipper tab on my vest.

These gloves may not have been intended as ski gloves but for adaptive ski instructor/support they seem to amazingly fit the requirements.

Report Closure:
These are indeed very well designed products in my opinion. While not everyone would have a good use for these they will make my volunteer work much much more comfortable and fun. I will be recommending them to anyone who asks about them.

Read more reviews of SealSkinz gear

Reviews > Clothing > Socks > SealSkinz Socks and Gloves > Rachel Herold > Tester Report, SealSkinz, 1 & 2 by R Herold