Klōsknit Field Testing
Day one: Park City, cruising around
My hands don’t get very cold, except occasionally on chairlifts or periods of inactivity. I always just toughed it out. I wear medium warm gloves, a compromise between warmth and dexterity, presently Henrick Windstedt model Hestras.
Testing the KlosKnits with a chemical heat pack inserted over the pulse point, I found a level of comfort that I didn’t know I was missing. Now, I won’t ski without them.
Day two: Deer Valley, groomer zooming
They work; hands comfortable.
Side benefit: I wear cuff gloves- I dislike gauntlets- and occasionally I’ll get a gap between my jacket cuff and the glove cuff when extending arms for a pole plant. The Marino wool KlosKnit fills the gap nicely. Really good to have for little kids. Every parent and ski instructor knows exactly what I mean.
Day three: Deep powder @ Alta, moving fast, hiking
Found that the more active you are, the warmer they get, I mean really toasty.
This stands to reason as the more blood moving through the pulse points the warmer the hands.
Day four, Alta, powder
Lined vs. unlined, one on left hand, one on right: The base prototypes are Marino wool knitted on a 3D kitting machine, a Shima Seiki from Japan, one of only two in the U.S. The lined prototypes have a layer of “space blanket” material sown in to hold in heat and reflect it inward.
Both work well, but the lined version is noticeably warmer, guessing maybe 20%.
Day five, Alta, storm skiing
Didn’t want to do this- one hand with, one without.
Klōsknit hand: warm and toasty
Control hand: Cold and damp. The damp part surprised me. All these years I’d been putting up with this. Felt like I forgot a baselayer. No more.
Day six, Powder Mountain: Blizzard, 20°, high winds, whiteout on ridges, extreme weather, outstanding powder, drifts, free refills. Extremely active day, lots of arm extension, snow everywhere.
What can I say? Essential equipment along with balaclava, hood & Gore Tex shell. Hands warm, wrist gap completely covered. Fingertips occasionally got cold on chairlift, warmed up immediately when activity resumed. Especially handy when fussing with gloves off. Incredible day, #12 on a scale of 10. Skied comfortably all day, car nearly buried in parking lot. KlosKnits rocked.
Day seven (2/3/19) Deer Valley
Warm day, 34° 12+” of powder, surprisingly light for the temps, high winds.
Skied the trees and open leeward faces. Happy hands- at one point I took off my gloves to shoot some video and my fingers were much more comfortable with the half- glove of the KloseKnits in the wind than they would be without- especially because of the relatively warm temperature. If you need to use your phone, gloves off, they are a big help, although when it’s really cold, let the voicemail take it. Do that anyway…
Day eight (2/5/19) Park City
It won’t stop snowing. Cleared the driveway three times today. One of those heavy snow days when it just gets better and better. Plows couldn’t keep up; there was so much snow in town. Started and finished work early and hit the hill at 2:30. Forgot my KloseKnits, gloves felt cold and clammy without them, and we’re talking top of the line Hestras. Didn’t spoil the day (not possible) but I missed them- especially hiking Pioneer ridge with my skis on my shoulder. It’s windy up there, and the added benefit of having the wrist gap covered is really nice if you move around a lot.
Day nine (2/6/19) Park City
More powder. Snowing. Dr. Ruthie was off today, so we went up to a secret powder spot in Park City for a few laps. The FIS World Cup was in town- we avoided them by taking the Park City Town Lift- the slowest lift on the planet, I believe it’s hand cranked. Ruth used her KlosKnits with the heat packs, I used mine without. My fingers did get cold on the lift, but nothing we haven’t felt before a thousand times. I missed the heaters. Once off the lift and active, blood flowing, everything was fine. The sun came after a four-day snowstorm and we had a blast.