WoolWeenies Club

[NbyNW]

Oh yes, very decent! But I loved that thing, and my heart is broken that I can't wear it any more...

My husband has a strategy where if he finds something he likes, he will go back and buy several more of the same exact thing. So later when they alter the style to something he doesn't like or discontinue it altogether, he's got reserves, or he's been rotating so many pieces that they don't wear out as fast.

[mariposa]

I realize this is kind of off the cycling topic, but...Anyone have favorite wool gloves for winter sports such as skiing?

My little Smartwool liner gloves were all I brought on my last backcountry trip - it wasn't supposed to be that cold/snowy - they got trashed!

Is there anything that is more solid, grippy (for hanging onto poles, etc.), durable, and...dare I say...waterproof (or close to)?

- Mariposa

[Dianyla]

I realize this is kind of off the cycling topic, but...Anyone have favorite wool gloves for winter sports such as skiing?

My little Smartwool liner gloves were all I brought on my last backcountry trip - it wasn't supposed to be that cold/snowy - they got trashed!

Is there anything that is more solid, grippy (for hanging onto poles, etc.), durable, and...dare I say...waterproof (or close to)?

- Mariposa

I've been on the quest for the perfect winter glove for a long time. I really like a lot of the Ibex gloves but they simply don't have anything beyond lightly weather-resistant soft shells. Unless I'm really missing something, in which case I'm sure y'all will gladly enable me...

For mildly cold (30-40) my new favorite glove is the Shak Two Layer glove. It picks up lots of moisture, though.

For moderate cold (20-30F) I've been reasonably happy with the Ibex Kilometer II gloves that are wool inside/climashell outside, but again these are absolutely not waterproof only water resistant.

For cold cold (<20F) I finally got tired of crappy cheap ski gloves and splurged on these Black Diamond Guide gloves and have never looked back. Leather palm, full goretex liner, and stuffed with gobs of soft wool fleece stuffed inside. I actually can't wear these when it's warmer than 25F because my hands overheat. I luff them!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Oh wow Dianyla, my husband and I both have those Black Diamond Guide gloves (in black) and yes they are insanely bulletproof for the very coldest conditions! Great for snowshoeing, hiking in the dead of winter, and blizzard wear!

For me they are too bulky for biking though (prolly wouldn't be biking in sub zero anyway).
My best system for biking in the cold for over an hour is to wear some thin cashmere 'ladies' fashion gloves as a fuzzy soft wool liner, then good pair of polartec-lined windstopper women's gloves, then last on top of those a pair of men's Manzella brand ski shell gloves which are quite warm, lightweight, & windstopper. This last pair is loose and slips on well over the other two gloves and is thin and flexible so that I can still work the brifters. The leather grips well on my handlebars. They are loose enough to allow another layer of air to keep my hand warm.

[Crankin]

I have a pair of Cabella mittens that rock for very cold weather. I can't wear them above 25 degrees. If it's super cold (like below 5 degrees) I can fit a pair of silk liners underneath, or liners that hold chemical heat packs.
I used these hiking in Lake Placid when it was -14 degrees out and there was no snow for x country skiing.

[blackhillsbiker]

I'm not sure of the quality (but I'm about to find out), but Cabela's has wool base-layer bottoms and tops in the Bargain Cave for $19.95. Only one color choice.

Deb

[Cataboo]

I also have the BD guide gloves. I find their liner is overkill for skiing, so I tend to use other glove liners & just use the shell. I have a pair of insulate ibex gloves that I like.

Mostly for skiing I just tend to use a goretex outer gloves and have various liner gloves that I use inside. I do like to use a softshell glove as a liner, so that if I take off the bulky goretex glove, the glove I have underneath is still waterproof.

I have a lot of icebreaker, and none of it has ever shrunk on me.

I went to TJmaxx yesterday, and they had a ton of smartwool, icebreaker, and various other brands of merino wool socks (keen included)... the ski socks ran about $10, and the hiking socks a bit less.

They also had a lot of merino wool sweaters, etc.

They also had marmot and cloudveil jackets... There were some really nice cloudveil ski gloves for about $50, and they had some of the cloudveil run don't walk baselayers for about $50 (Okay, not merino - but I love the run don't walks)

I did manage to avoid buying the socks, because I have more merino wool socks than 10 people need - but did get a couple merino wool turtle neck casual sweaters.

[Crankin]

Wow, I have never seen any Smart Wool or Icebreaker or anything good at the TJ Maxx by me. They have some Nike stuff, but that's it. And none of it is in my size. Maybe I should go look tomorrow.

[Cataboo]

I was surprised, because while I've seen smartwool at tjmaxx and marshall's before, I've never seen icebreaker - even if it's just socks.

iI'm going to try going back in a couple of months and seeing if there's any remaining on clearance. I'm hoping not enough people really know what icebreaker is and it won't sell well.

[mariposa]

Thank you for all the replies!

I ended up getting some gore-tex mitts at a used-gear store.

I figure I can wear my thin-ish wool gloves underneath as liners. They just breathe so well. I hope they still breathe through the gore-tex outer layer.

Sad, though, that the wool-glove manufacturers don't appear to offer any truly waterproof gloves or mittens. I would sure love that.

[Cataboo]

I was just packing for my ski trip and realized... I have waterproof wool gloves.

They're the smartwool competition gloves, waterproof leather outside, wool inside. I got 'em 3 or 4 years ago at sierra trading post and I've been using them for skiing ever since.

Here's what they look like, and I don't know if you can still get them. I have the women's version, and the red/black's kinda dumb... but they're very warm wool gloves.
http://www.sierratradingpost.com/p/2...s-For-Men.html

While I'm bragging about favorite wool pieces... I also have a smartwool blanket that I absolutely love and it's much softer than those throws that ibex sells:
http://trail-running.sierratradingpo...n-Blanket.html

[Cataboo]

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

[Cataboo]

and in case anyone ever wanted a merino wool sleeping bag, I use these in the summer or for a liner when travelling:

http://www.amazon.com/Slumberjack-Me.../dp/B0009J1F4W

[kmehrzad]

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.

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

Do you know if these Dachstein mittens be purchased anywhere in the US? I've tried looking myself but am coming up 'empty handed.'

[Cataboo]

Almost all the websites I'm pulling up selling them are in the UK. I bought mine from campmor a few years back. From the forums of people looking for them, at somepoint, ortovox bought dachsteins and you could buy them under the ortovox name:
http://mountaineer.com/store/merchan...egory_Code=020

That place has 'em for $50, which seems to be a lot for wool mittens.

I'll ask my friend up in New England, 'cause from what I could tell they were pretty big with the vermont/new englander crowd.

From reading this thread, if you get a really really big pair of ragg wool mittens, you can boil them yourself till they shrink down:
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/arch...hp/t-2379.html

The person saying how to do that is DebW, I wonder if it's the same DebW on here.