You really need three pairs of gloves for skiing.  On bitterly cold days when the temperatures remain well below the freezing point, you need a pair of super insulated hardcore gloves. However on sunny days above the freezing point, the really thick gloves can cause your hands to sweat and then your fingers can actually become cold.  Thus, you need a pair with less insulation. And for Spring Skiing when it’s in the 50’s and even 60’s Farenheit, you just want a little warmth and something to protect your hands from the wind and UV radiation. Over the years I’ve acquired numerous pairs of gloves and traveled to ski resorts packing several pairs for different conditions. What a pain! The solution to this problem is the Grandoe Primo Elite GCS—Glove Component System. It’s three gloves in one.   

My wife, Karen, and I chose Primo Elites for a skiing trip to the Poconos. The glove system consists of an inner micro-fleece removable liner and an outer shell having Grandoe’s PrimoLoft insulation, a DriGaurd Waterproof Breathable Layer, a wicking layer and a nylon TriTex outer layer with a sheepskin palm. The liner Velcros to the shell near the wrist. You can wear liner and shell together for extreme cold, the shell for ‘just plain’ cold and the liner alone on cool days. From the get-go I liked wearing only the liner while gearing up. It was warm enough to keep my fingers from freezing and gave me the dexterity to deal with my boot buckles, adjust my goggles, etc. As my fingers became cold, I just slipped on the outer shell and warmed up almost instantly. The shell also has reinforced fingers and Kevlar accents to prevent the gloves from tearing when carrying sharp objects, such as newly sharpened ski edges. With a temperature below 20F, we skied all day wearing both the liner and shell. My fingers never got cold even when skiing right into a stiff 20mph wind down the double diamond slope. Karen fared almost as well. She has Raynaud's syndrome, a condition that causes the small blood vessels in her fingers and toes to contract. Thus, her fingers and toes are can turn into ice cubes. She usually takes trips to the warming hut or lodge to reheat her fingers throughout the day. After four hours of straight skiing only her thumbs were a little cold.  

The next day it started out cold and we again went with the liner and shell. By mid-afternoon, however, it had warmed up considerably, the sun was shining and the wind had backed off. My hands started to get hot so I removed the liner and used only the shell. The interior of the shell was just as soft and snug as the micro-fleece liner. Coldfinger Karen stayed with the original configuration. The dexterity using the shell alone was identical to that of using both shell and liner. I realized that the gloves didn’t have that bulky feel like some of my other gloves. Another nice feature is the sheepskin palm. It provides a great grip. We did a test. Karen pulled on one of my ski poles as I held the metal shaft with a medium grip. The pole didn’t slide at all. The combined dexterity and good grip made for easy carrying of skis and poles to and from the car to the lifts. It also meant that my hands could stay more relaxed while skiing. So after two days of skiing, it was good to finally have just one pair of gloves that I could use for all conditions. 

- Matthew Graham