Bridgedale Summit Socks Tested
The best winter socks we've used after being through a grinder consisting of six winters worth of mountaineering, walking and waterfall ice climbing and they have WoolFusion too :-)
Posted: 16 January 2006
by Jon
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Bridgedale Summit Sock
Tested
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Price:
£12.99
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Weight: 280 grammes (pair size
42-44)
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Features: Winter
mountaineering sock using WoolFusion - New Wool (47%) Nylon
(34%) Isolfil® (18%) Lycra® (1%) - zonal padding in
strategic areas,
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Warm, durable, good wicking.
A little thick for non-winter use, no women's-specific
version.
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The Concept Socks aren't generally regarded as sexy, but
they're pretty damn important and a poor-fitting one can ruin your
day. Socks need to absorb lots of moisture - your feet pump it out -
without becoming uncomfortable, wick that moisture outwards. They
also need to cushion the parts of your foot which take the most
friction punishment, thinks forefeet, ball and heel areas .
The Summit is Bridgedale's all-round winter sock, so it also needs
to be warm enough to be used for, say, winter mountain walking,
mountaineering and ice climbing.
 Features
Socks may not be sexy, but they have tough job. Your feet can
literally pump out half a pint of liquid over the course of the day.
If the sock can't deal with that, your feet will get damp, the skin
will soften and swell, losing its tear resistance, and there's a good
chance you'll get painful, disabling blisters.
Bridgedale use a cunning system called WoolFusion to help their
socks both wick and absorb moisture. Wool is great at soaking up
liquid without feeling cold, but isn't a great wicking fabric. To
improve wicking, Bridgedale wrap a twist of wicking Isofile fibre
around new wool which helps to transport moisture outwards and away
from the skin.
Heels and toes are also protected by another WoolFusion technology
which wraps the wool in Nylon in these areas to increase wear
resistance. There's padding in high friction areas too for comfort
and stretch lycra-based panels designed to give a closer fit at the
ankle and mid-foot.
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