With over 40 years of alpine skiing under my belt, you’d think I have my kit dialed in by now. And for the most part, I do. But one problem that occurs once and awhile is my damn cold feet. Some ski boots are warmer than others but you really don’t find that out until long after the purchase. So how can you compensate for a cold pair of ski boots? Or any boot for that matter? With a pair of heated Powersocks from Therm-ic.
Thermic Powersocks
I was offered a pair of Uni + S-Pack 700B Powersocks at Outdoor Retailer to test out on an upcoming trip to Steamboat Springs. Well, it was 36 degrees for three days of skiing up there so heated socks certainly weren’t required. A week later when I returned home to Michigan, some friends and I decided to head waaaaay up north to ski Mount Bohemia in the remote Keewenaw Peninsula. And the forecast included temps around zero degrees so this seemed like a legitimate chance to test the new Therm-ic Powersocks.
I’m the first to admit that I was a bit skeptical about the performance of any heated socks. When your foot is properly fitted to a ski boot, there is little additional room for wires, cords or heating elements. Yet, when I slid the Powersocks on my feet, I could barely feel any additional mass other than the sock material. A closer look (below) reveals the channel that runs down the back of the sock and under the toes. Two incredibly thin wires are concealed within the channel that connects the battery pack to the element under your toes. So far, so good.
Battery Pack
The flexible rubber coated Therm-ic S-Pack’s measure about 3/8″ thick. Fortunately, they are mounted at the top of the tall socks and don’t interfere with ski boots. With simple garment snaps for the positive and negative leads, these compact batteries fit into a dedicated sleeve located at the top of the sock and connect with a snap. Each S-Pack 700B battery has a button that I was able to feel and manipulate through the fabric of my ski pants when turning on. And the built-in Bluetooth technology makes adjusting the temperatures and various features simple on the app.
S-Pack 700B Features:
- The S-pack 700B batteries provide up to 8 hrs of heat.
- The S-pack 700B are also fitted with Bluetooth functionality, enabling you to remotely manage your heating via smartphone: Thermic Heat Control App
- Pack comes with USB charger
- Wall charger not supplied
Mount Bohemia
Once I had my ski boots on and buckled up, I wiggled my toes making a concerted effort to feel the wires or heating element. No luck. Knowing that we only planned to skiing for around four hours the first day, I decided not to wait for my feet to get cold before turning on the socks. A long push of the button and they quickly connected to my Therm-ic Heat Control App via Bluetooth. I had tested this prior to skiing so I kinda knew what to expect. Each sock has independent controls and I set them both to 50% heat from my phone. Several other features are available on the app including automatic temperature adjustment based on your activity.
It was bitter cold at the very tip of the Keewenaw Peninsula. With beautiful views of Lake Superior, Mount Bohemia is totally exposed to wind, weather and frigid temperatures. In fact, over 220 inches of snow had already landed this season and we were treated to a blue sky sunny day. However, in my experience, these are the very conditions that freeze my toes after a couple of runs. But this never occurred. In fact, my feet never crossed my mind all day. I didn’t feel heat radiating from the sock per se, but my feet just never got cold. And that’s exactly how they should work in my opinion. The socks simply prevented the cold from affecting my toes. Like maintaining a comfortable “room temperature” inside the boot.
UNI Sock Features:
- Anatomical design for a perfect fit
- Easy attachment of batteries to the sock
- Optimised integration of the heating elements for a guaranteed long life
- Washable up to 30°C
- Cushioned reinforcement under the foot: maximum comfort, better heat circulation, toe and heel protection
Therm-ic Powersocks are a great addition for those that suffer from cold feet like myself. I let the socks run at a power setting of 50% and they died after about 4 hours. I’ll need to look into the variable power settings if I want to preserve the battery for a full day of skiing. Or wait to turn them on until my feet actually start getting cold. This was my first experience with them so I still have some figuring out to do. My socks have the S-Pack 700B which is the entry level battery pack. Therm-ic offers S-Packs in 1200 and 1400 capacities that can more than double the 700B’s “run-time” performance. And once you’re done for the day, simply remove the battery and launder as normal.
Therm-ic also offers heated footbeds, gloves, mittens and solutions for drying these items after a day of skiing or riding. I’m very optimistic of the Therm-ic products and look forward to further testing when we head to Utah for some Cat Skiing at Snowbird.
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