| Electric ski socks - would you buy them? |
| Yes |
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7% |
[ 3 ] |
| No, I'd rather rent them |
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2% |
[ 1 ] |
| Yes, provided they won't electrocute me |
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2% |
[ 1 ] |
| No, I wear a helmet which locks in my body heat |
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4% |
[ 2 ] |
| Yes, but I'd like a mains option with long lead |
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4% |
[ 2 ] |
| No, I use gas |
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16% |
[ 7 ] |
| Yes, so long as they operate on dual UK/European voltage |
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2% |
[ 1 ] |
| No, a thousand times No, leave me alone |
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59% |
[ 25 ] |
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| Voted : 0 |
| Total Votes : 42 |
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 Poster: A snowHead
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It's coming up to 20 years since the first electrically heated ski boots appeared on the market. The concept has conventionally been based on insoles containing electric elements.
Now, thanks to research in New Zealand, there's the prospect of enveloping the foot in more general warmth. The idea is based on 'electrically conductive' wool, powered by a small battery. Socks in general, and more specifically ski socks, are obvious applications. This report from BBC Online.
Would you use them?
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Fri 28-05-04 12:49; edited 2 times in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Research in New Zealand? Was JW involved in this?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I suspect ill-fitting boots are one of the biggest contributors to cold feet. Better to spend one's money there, as it will help with skiing also! Maybe warmed socks would help people with naturally poor circulation in the feet.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I have no problem in using them whenever I go skiing in Christmas time in Scandinavia. It will sell as hot cakes there.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Is the conductivity natural to the wool or an added coating? Would a sweaty foot short-circuit the fibres? Or is there an insulating coating (in which case how is current transmitted from fibre to fibre lengthwise). And if a coating is involved, won't it wear off, and what result would this have? 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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My feet getting cold is not usually the problem.
| In that same article Kim Griggs wrote: |
They are also working on developing textiles that respond to the environment.
"It could become thicker to provide more insulation or become more porous and more open which provides ventilation," said Mr Collie. |
Now that's more like it. At last a jacket that will let me cool off when things get hot.
| Quote: |
| There's a lot of potential for truly intelligent textiles |
I want a Chameleon Shirt that will change colour to match my tie and so prevent the daily rude comments on my ghastly dress sense.
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I think that using batteries would be a big improvement on the plug in to a socket type, as the length of flex needed for them would otherwise be such a huge problem.
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I want intelligent textiles that will enhance my intelligence!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Ray Zorro wrote: |
| I think that using batteries would be a big improvement on the plug in to a socket type, as the length of flex needed for them would otherwise be such a huge problem. |
Yes, skiing with a flex long enough for the Vallee Blanche, for example!
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| Quote: |
| There's a lot of potential for truly intelligent textiles |
Something similar has discussed before in the Intelligent Jacket for Snowboarders thread, I'm sure this is another attempt by manufacturers to help out our darksider friends....
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Jonpim wrote: |
| I want a Chameleon Shirt that will change colour to match my tie and so prevent the daily rude comments on my ghastly dress sense. |
Just the one?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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All these comments about 'flexes long enough to ski the Vallee Blanche' are frankly very silly indeed. I know that Snowheads is supposed to be a haven of British humour for the entertainment of American lurkers, but note that my question has not been answered:
Would you buy them?
As for the electric supply, one thing that is plentiful at 2000m is sunlight, so I guess the ultimate would be for the skier to become a 'mini national grid', generating electricity from solar panels on his ski jacket, wired to electric socks and longjohns.
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Would I buy them? no.
My boots fit, and I don't do them up tight, so, circulation isn't a problem, and I wear a helmet on my head, so I'm not suffering excessive heat loss there, again, helping to keep my feet warmer.
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You know it makes sense.
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I thought you wore a fox hat. Is that under the helmet?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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David Goldsmith, Personally I don't like the idea of heated socks - boots are uncomfortable enough as it is, and with an occasional tendency to slight swelling, I can't think of anything worse.
However as Jonpim says, it seems a good idea for other items of clothing.
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Poster: A snowHead
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David Goldsmith, criticism of 'silly' comments then commenting yourself on WTFH's head attire, hmmm ...
No I wouldn't use them. My feet have never got that cold. I would have questions about their durability, robustness and effectiveness.
I did have some electric gloves which wired up to my motorcycle battery, for use in the winter, very uncomfortable they were and never worked properly either, maybe that clouds my judgement.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Ray Zorro wrote: |
| David Goldsmith,I did have some electric gloves which wired up to my motorcycle battery, for use in the winter, very uncomfortable they were and never worked properly either, maybe that clouds my judgement. |
Must have kept you fit lugging that around.... 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Ray Zorro, sorry, you;re right. My next excursion down the Vallee Blanche includes a 10-mile extension lead, electric socks, a fox hat (unheated), and a string of fairy lights. If you'd care to give those electric gloves another go, and you're prepared to carry that battery (I'm sure Mark Hunter would help out), we could could break new ground in comfort skiing.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I think fears that electric socks would be incompatible with thermally moulded insoles would keep me away from them. I've had cold feet a couple of times whilst ski=ing but as others have pointed out this can be fixed by getting boot adjustment right...
I once made a pocket warmer by mixing metal bicycle clips with AA batteries - does that count?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Presumably the wool is obtained from Philip K Dick's flock?
Having had cold feet now and again it's pretty difficult to get them warm again so my answer to your question David is maybe.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Excellent. I had a feeling the answer to my question would be a resounding "perhaps".
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Well if you want a resounding answer. NO.
but if you just want answers why not a poll?
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The answere to your question, David, is no, I don't need them and wouldn't buy them.
Oh dear, I must curb my silly side on one side and my Witgenstein quotes on the other and seek the Via Media. Mea Culpa.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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The answere to your question, David, is no, I don't need them and wouldn't buy them.
Oh dear, I must curb my silly side on one side and my Witgenstein quotes on the other and seek the Via Media. Mea Culpa.
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| snowball wrote: |
| Oh dear, I must curb my silly side on one side and my Witgenstein quotes on the other |
Not to mention double posting 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Mark Lehto, Done. Please give this vote preference over any upcoming European and local elections.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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snowball, that's ballot rigging....
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David Goldsmith lucky for you I dont live in a postal ballot area. How confident are you of the security of this vote though?
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You know it makes sense.
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Extremely confident. My Sicilian associates have approved it.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Bring back The Pollster
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Poster: A snowHead
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NO wouldn't ever need them!
Go snowboarding and use FLOW bindings, then you have super comfy boots which keep your feet warm all day!!!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Mark Hunter wrote: |
| snowball wrote: |
| Oh dear, I must curb my silly side on one side and my Witgenstein quotes on the other |
Not to mention double posting |
Why, when I try to flounceo out do I always trip over my gown.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Sounds like a good entry for a question competition!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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After following Peter B down a run in Courchevel in March with my flies undone it wasn't heated socks that I needed. 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You could have put a sock on it.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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A question competition? Is that method of choosing competition questions? 
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spyderjon, your formative ski experiences were evidently not in a kilt.
snowball, (on a similar theme) would you give that advice to a Scotsman?
Looking at the poll results, 20 votes are in. Only 10 per cent of Snowheads want to buy electric ski socks, and that's conditional on having a very long mains lead or dual voltage. This is not good for the inventors, who are proposing batteries.
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Whenever I experience Scottish midges I marvel that the Scots persisted with the kilt. (And without a sock, as far as I know).
All that kinetic energy being generated, surely some of it could be stolen to heat the socks. (But I still wouldn't buy them)
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Hey, I didn't even brink when I ticked yes in the survey and become the only Snowhead representing the 4% out of the 23 voted yes.
The few Christmas skied in Scandinavia I couldn't combat the cold no matter how much I put on in the hands and feet. I don't need them elsewhere though but Whistler was close. I would have thought attaching a modern say a high power but small lithium-ion battery to the boot and switch it on every now and then would be just the job. In Scandinavian winter sometime I have to stop just over an hour of skiing and rush into a warm room. The feet have to be pulled from the boots in order to get the blood circulating and exposed to the warmer temperature.
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I could not vote for her, but an acquaintance has been diagnosed with Raynaud's.
I know nothing about this condition, but since then she has been truly paranoid about cold. She will buy this and any other product that remotely even pretends to keep any part of the body warm at all; last ski trip she was eating 2000mg niacin a day just for the prostaglandin effect. Frightening.
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FAQ
