Seemingly easy, socks are a surprisingly technical layer that’s crucial for holding ft heat and comfy. Finding the proper pair to your foot form, circulation, sweat output, exercise, and boots along with the ambient situations like temperature, enables you to benefit from the slopes even longer.
Whether you’re snowboarding or snowboarding, this around-the-toes layer performs a key position within the well being of your ft and general. While these socks are designed for raise laps on the hill, ski socks are additionally appropriate for a variety of different snowy adventures or outside work from sledding and snowmobiling to shoveling or snowshoeing.
No single sock design goes to serve each skier, however the ones on our checklist are our prime decisions throughout a variety of kinds and functions. Scroll by way of our picks for the perfect ski socks for 2023 or soar to a class beneath.
To be taught extra about how socks differ from one to the subsequent, learn the purchaser’s information and FAQ. Also, try our comparability chart to see how our decisions stack up in opposition to each other.
The Best Ski Socks of 2023
Best of the Rest
Ski Socks Comparison Chart
| Ski Sock | Price | Fabrics | Thickness | Length |
| Smartwool Ski Full Cushion Men’s & Women’s |
$29 | 63% merino wool, 25% recycled nylon, 10% nylon, 2% elastane | Light/medium | Over the calf |
| Darn Tough OTC Women’s Yeti & Men’s Captain Cushioned Socks |
$29 | 64-68% merino wool, 32% nylon, 4% Lycra spandex | Medium | Over the calf |
| Wigwam Sirocco | $17 | 60% wool, 30% stretch nylon, 9% stretch polyester, 1% spandex | Medium | Mid-calf |
| CEP Ski Touring Compression Socks | $55 | 76% polyamide, 13% merino wool, 11% spandex | Light | Calf |
| Dissent GFX Compression Hybrid | $60 | 8% Nanoglide, 28% Lycra, 64% polyamide | Light | Calf |
| STOX Energy Recovery Compression Socks |
$50 | 53% polyamide, 33% Dryarn, 14% elastane | Ultralight | Over the calf/knee |
| Le Bent Core Light Snow Sock | $29 | 46% rayon from bamboo, 32% nylon, 20% Merino wool, 2% elastane | Light | Over the calf |
| Bridgedale Ski Light Merino Endurance Sock |
$28 | 51% nylon, 20% merino wool, 20% polypropylene, 7% Tactel, 2% Lycra spandex | Light | Over the calf |
| Farm to Feet Park City Midweight Sock |
$24-26 | 61% merino wool, 36% nylon, 3% elastane | Medium | Over the calf |
| Norrøna Lofoten Mid Weight Merino Sock Long |
$45 | Merino wool, nylon, and elastane mix | Medium | Calf |
Why You Should Trust Us
It’s protected to say, our group of GearJunkie testers all the time pulls on socks earlier than every ski and trip outing, so we’ve chipped away by way of testing a wide range of the perfect snow socks over the seasons.
Leading the group, GearJunkie Senior Editor of SnowSports Morgan Tilton has been snowboarding and snowboarding for 28 years, backcountry excursions and laps the resort, drives a backcountry snowmobile, hits the nordic trails, and does skimo races. She’s confronted a foot chilly harm (superficial frostbite) and searched for all sorts of socks for a variety of functions from her snowboard to ski boots. She has additionally written in regards to the technicality of outside socks for her total profession as a journalist, because it was her debut beat for the Outdoor Retailer commerce present’s Outdoor Retailer Daily.
Our crew wore ski socks to work in detrimental to balmy winter temps, whereas uphill skinning, downhill snowboarding, cross-country snowboarding, snowboarding, splitboarding, strolling round on chilly flooring, and extra.
We targeted on narrowing down ski socks with a variety of breathability, cushion, stretch, elasticity, heat, sturdiness, and softness. We additionally thought-about the most well-liked, novel, and legacy designs. Throughout testing, our group ranked every sock on the standard and help within the subject.
We’re assured this checklist consists of the perfect ski socks of the season.
Buyer’s Guide: How to Choose the Best Ski Socks
Materials
Wondering when you ought to spend money on wool or artificial? When it involves ski socks, a mix of each is greatest. But there are nonetheless dozens of forms of materials on the market. Our favourite socks in testing all had a mix of merino wool, nylon (or polyamide nylon), and elastane or Lycra spandex for stretch.
The different necessary factor to search for in ski socks is not only the material itself, however the way it’s woven. Are there flatlock seams, seamless toes, strengthened zones, or further padding or cushioning within the shins?
Our editors (a mixture of intermediate to professional skiers and snowboarders) all leaned towards preferring lighter-weight socks. For sturdiness, the Darn Tough over-the-calf socks gained probably the most votes in a workers ballot.
Fit and Thickness
If you’re primarily touring, you’ll most likely desire a lighter sock that gained’t rub or slide round, and that wicks sweat tremendous nicely. If you ski in very chilly climates, it’s your decision a midweight for heat. In common, performance-oriented skiers usually attain for a leaner sock that enables a extra exact really feel.
You’ll additionally wish to think about how a sock suits inside your boot — and guarantee that the sock-boot combo will not be too tight — this may play a job in circulation and warmth administration, too. If you run chilly, you’ll additionally wish to think about a midweight (and even closely cushioned) sock.
In our evaluations above, we listed every sock’s sort of thickness: this refers to ultralight, light-weight, midweight, or heavyweight materials. We’ve additionally referred to as out whether or not the socks have added cushioning.
Durability, Price, and More
The most necessary factor relating to shopping for socks is arguably shopping for ones that may final you the longest. And that largely depends upon how a lot you ski or trip. Even in case you are an aggressive skier, in case you are using 80-100 days per season, it’d be silly to select an ultralight sock.
Ensure that when you plan on placing your socks by way of the wringer, you go for ones with stronger (artificial fibers), strengthened seams, or ones that maintain as much as numerous washes.
Ski socks may be costly, we all know — 20 or 30 bucks for one pair. But when you purchase based mostly on the guidelines and picks we’ve laid out right here, know that you’ll get an amazing sock relating to holding your ft comfy, heat, and safe in your boots.
FAQ
There are tons of of ski socks in the marketplace, curated into dozens of sorts and kinds. We’ve discovered the perfect ones for inexperienced persons have a steadiness of help and cushion, a heat but breathable mix, and are available at a lower cost.
Some of our professional skiers’ favorites embody the Smartwool Full Cushion and Le Bent — socks with lighter or ultralight cushioning, merino wool fibers, and tailor-made zones that assist steadiness breathability and heat.
The warmest ski socks will rely largely on the mix of materials and thickness of the sock. Some of the warmest ski socks we examined and greatest for temps beneath zero have been the Darn Tough Over-the-Calf Socks.
Sock thickness is often very depending on what sort of skier you’re, in addition to private choice. And relying on how your ski or snowboard boot suits, in addition to the form of your ft, it’s your decision a thinner or thicker sock for consolation.
We’ve discovered most of our professional skiers on workers desire a lighter-weight sock, whereas snowboarders on workers are break up between mild and midweight varieties.
Merino wool is a pure fiber with a number of nice properties: breathability, odor-wicking, and moisture-wicking, to call just a few. And every of these components actually come into play when your foot is stuffed inside an insulated, inflexible boot all day. But, merino’s not probably the most sturdy over time.
So, when you desire merino over artificial blends, we’d advocate searching for a sock that has no less than 50-60% merino wool — just like the Smartwool Full Cushion Sock collection.
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