Serious Expeditioner's to the Arctic Circle & Antarctica.....

Demand Excellence in the Winter Gear that they pack and so should YOU!

When you begin the physical training process for your first or next Expediton to one of the poles, it's also the best time to start exploring and checking out the gear that you are going to take with you.  Once you have researched the critical gear items that you are going to be wearing most of the time during the extreme cold weather conditions, you should buy it and take it for a few test drives in as cold of conditions that you can find in your local area if that is possible.  

The worst thing you can do is to read someones gear review on the Internet about an item, buy it and then pack it for the trip without wearing it several times well ahead of time.  It is extremely important to put some wear time on the new mitts for example, so that you can get an inkling to see whether they are going to work for the thermal regulation system in "your" body.  This is important because well over 60% of people in the U.S. for example, have issues related to blood circulation and blood flow, caused by various reasons(i.e. herdity, age, disease and so forth).

We recently briefed an article on the internet that was reviewing Winter Mittens, with an ending recommendation of the pair or pairs that would be best to take with you on a trip to the North or South Pole, etc.  The concensus of the article resulting from three months or so of testing, was that the top pair of mitts selected was best because it had "better dextarity" then the others tested and this was important because the average wearer would be using mitts once the temperature dropped under +10 degrees F.

As a manufacturer of 100% of the mittens that we sell, which we manufacture right here in the United States, what "should" be the most important factors for selecting a pair of Winter mitts for example, is a follows:

• Since the "bottom" side of your hand has twice as many "sweat pores" as does the top side of your hand, you need to understand that the bottom of your hand disapates twice as much heat as does the top side.  Therefore, it is extremely important that you have a mitt that has at least equal and adequate insulation on the bottom side as it does on the top side and that you also have an exceptional Thermal R-Value of Insulation on both sides.(At mimimum it should be in excess of an R-7.0 for temperatures to -15F to -20F and a minimim of R-10.0 for enduring temperatures in excess of -50F)  The sad part is, is that even a goose down insulated mitt is only going to give you perhaps an R-5.0 on the top side and maybe an R-3.0 on the bottom side.  By having equalized insulation on both sides of a mitt, combined with adequate thickness of non-compressible insulating materails, will them help to minimize conductive heat loss that occurs when you grip a frozen object, which is magnified with most Winter Mitts because they're only built with about 1/3 the thickness on the bottom side of the mitt, which is done on purpose so that you can easily bend and flex the mitt like a hand puppet.  These mitts also generally use compressible type insulating materials within the shell, which are very poor for preventing conductive heat loss, but are great for enhancing flexibility of the mitt.  Further, mitten manufacturers that use some of better known, but not necessarily the best insulating materials like thinsulate, thermolite, thermoloft, primaloft and others, generally "skimp" on an acceptable gram weight of insulation that the mitts "should" be built with and they do this to cut costs and make more profit.  So in some cases you "may" find one of these mitts that appears to be somewhat equal in thickness, however because of the compression type insulation materials they are using for better flexibility inside of the mitt is not going to be thick enough to prevent "conductive hear loss when you grip a frozen object, nor are they going to give you and acceptable thermal insulation R-Value in the ranges that we suggested above.
• The second most important factor in selecting a mitt, is exceptional moisture wicking capability.  If the inner layer of a mitt that you are looking at only has a layer that surrounds your finger and hand area with a layer of fabric that is only as thick as the "cottton sheet for your bed", it's not going to keep up with the sweat and moisture that your hand generates.  If you are an individual in the 60% or greater class that experiences blood circulation issues, this subject or factor is important to you.  It is important because your body tries to pump as much blood as it can to your extremities when it is especially cold outside, which initially causes your hands to sweat profusely and then the moisture build-up and restricted blood flow causes them to cool off  and eventually to get very cold or frozen.  Poor wicking capability, which is the case with most mitts ends up causing frozen fingers.
• The third most important thing that you want from a good or excellent Winter Mitten, is one that is built with a 100% "thermal" windblocking outer shell, that also provides water resistance and breathability.  Most Winter Mitts that are built for extreme cold weather conditions, are built using a Nylon type base material for the outer shell.  Nylon fabrics will do a decent job in providing water resistance to the internal construction of a mitt and if they are of a "ripstop" construction will handle punchures without tearing, but, that is where their value ends.  Nylon fabrics do an extremely poor job in providing any breathabilty to the trapped moisture within the inner shell of a mitt and that is because the pores of the fabric are built so tightly for providing adequate water resistance cabability.  Nylon fabric's do have some positive impact in blocking the wind, but because they offer ZERO thermal insulation value, the cold air outside of the mitt through the forces of "convective heat loss" end up penetrating into the inner shell area of the mitt and start cooling the mitt off from the outside in.  Think of putting on a thin nylon windbreaker jacket over your sweatshirt and walking outside when the temperature is -10F or greater outside, as compared to pulling on a 3/16" thick soft shell thermal windblocking jacket over your sweatshirt and then going out in the same temperatures, which senerio do "you think" is going to keep you warmer - longer?  Technical Advantage Gear mitts "give you" that thermal windblocking jacket on the outside of your mitts and the rest like north face, marmot, outdoor research (OR) and others don't!
• Fourth, a good or excellent Winter Mitt needs to have at least one device for cinching in the generated hand heat located either around the wrist, at the end of the hand entry area into the mitt, or both.  If these assets are not available, the forces of convective heat loss will again occur in a chimney effect and the warm air around the hands and fingers will be replaced by the cool or cold air.

Summary:

So the question that you should be thinking about before you're being pulled behind a dog sled above the Arctic Circle with windchilled temperatures somewhere between -60F to -100F below,  "Was it more important to have a  flexible mitt on this trip that led to a couple "black colored" frost bitten fingers, or should I have gone with the better insulated, correctly designed mitts that allowed me to also use my gloves inside of them so my fingers are alway covered mitts from Technical Advantage Gear?

Prairie Snowstorm Mitts - Recommended User Range to -30F below zero - Thermal R-Value of Insulation R-7.15

The Prairie Snowstorm Winter Mittens pack a whopping thermal insulation value of R-7.15 on "both" the top and bottom sides of the mitts.  Virtually no other mitt manufacturer in the World does this, nor do they equalize the amount of insulation material on both sides of the mitt.  They put it all on the top side and in reality you need it on the bottom side of the mitts even more.  As you can see from the picture, these mitts are generously sized so that you can use them inconjuction with your warning protective gloves on, so that your hands and fingers are always protected from the elements.  These mitts also do a great job in minimizing conductive heat loss and with a pull on the wrist area shock cord with cord-loc, your convective heat loss is also minimized.

The outer shell of these mitts block out 100% of the wind, are DWR water resistant and breathable.  The inner most layer that surrounds the hand offers superior thermal moisture wicking to help keep your hands warm and dry.  The recommended temperature range of to -30F is based on our actual experience and testing, using the mitts without the addition of gloves on our fingers.  With some type of thermal glove on your hands, you can easily extend the "minus" temperature range of use, but again that is going to be based on the individual thermal regulation system in your body.  These mitts use an extremely durable outer shell technical fabric that will take the punishment, will not tear if punchered and are equipped with the toughest gripping material in the industry.  And Please note, our recommended temperature range ratings on all of our gear is based on actual use by our field testers or ourselves and therefore we are not going to contrive fictitious user ranges like they do for example on Winter Boots.  (for example the best boot ratings we've seen state "good to -150F", but we question where on Earth did they find somewhere for testing where the temperatures ever hit -150F below zero?)  Click here for more information.....

Extreme Element Arctic Thermal Mitts with Built-in Thumb Loc Strap - Recommended User Range to -60F + below zero - Thermal R-Value of Insulation R-10.5

The Extreme Element Arctic Thermal Mitts were first tested in the Iditarod in temperature extremes to -60F below zero and were back again in the race the following year when a full blown blizzard trapped a dozen or more mushers on top of Rainy Pass for over 24 hours in wind chilled temperatures estimated to as cold as -100F below zero.  The positive result was that mushers who wore our mitts and other gear items experienced zero frostbite, which was not the same story of the other mushers who didn't, as we were told by one of the mushers that was trapped in the conditions.

These Winter Expediton Grade Mittens are very time consumming to build, as we use a total of fourteen layers of technical fabrics, seven on top and seven on the bottom as pictured above, in building the finest pair of mitts on the planet.  If you can get any other mitten manufacturer to show you a cross view cut away of their mitts and they have a better total layering package of technical fabrics and a higher Thermal R-Value of Insulation, then buy them instead.  But you know what, you won't!

These mittens were designed and sized to be worn in conjuntion with thicker protective Winter grade insulating gloves.  Although these mitts have less dextarity then a mitt built with compression type insulation, your overall hand use dextarity is still going to be excellent because when you need to do something with your fingers, you just pull them out of the mitt, do the task and then insert them back inside.  The shock cording on the end of our mitts with the clip hooks will allow you to hook them to plastic loops supplied on most jacket sleeves, to keep them from falling on the ground, or from having to hold onto them when your gloved hand is outside of the mitt.  The retractable "thumb loc" strap on the thumbs of these mitts also allow you to lock them to the handlebar of a dog sled, around the grips on your snow/ice walking poles or anywhere else that you want to secure your mitts to for more easily moving your hand in and our of the mitts without having to hold onto them.

The reality with Winter mitts, is that as the temperature continues to drop into the negative temperature ranges, it becomes harder for the human body to continue to sufficiently pump enough blood through the arteries and veins out to the limbs (hands & feet), to enable them to maintain a level of reasonable warmth.  Therefore, if you can use a mitt that "thermally" blocks out 100% of the wind, offers incredible equalized thermal insulating R-values on both the top and bottom sides of the hand, has superior moisture wicking capability (the first 2 inner layers of our mitts offer superior thermal moisture wicking) and you can eliminate or minimize conductive and convective heat loss, then you have a fighting chance for keeping your hands warmer - longer.  The other reality when the temperatures start driving past the -50F below zero mark, the secert that Iditarod mushers use is to insert a chemical hand warmer pack into the palm area inside of their protective glove and then they stick it back into the mitt.  With this combination and the insulating layering system that we use, your hands in most cases are going to survive without frost bite when the temperatures are driving past the -90F plus temperature mark.  The Iditarod mushers that used our mitts in the 2007 Iditarod proved this point while enduring the temperatures estimated to be as cold as -100F below during the early part of the race.   So the question remains, use a mitt/glove system for that next Expediton or choose the dextarity built mitten and risk a few black fingers when all is said and done?  If you want more product information on our Extreme Element Arctic Themal Mitts with Thumb Loc strap, then Click here for more information.....

Extreme Element Arctic Thermal Mitts w/Detachable Thumb Loc Straps - Hardfaced Outer Shell Layer - SIZE:  Medium - Temp Range to -60F + below zero - Thermal R-Value of Insulation R-9.3

We designed and cut the patterns for these mitts, especially for our base of Female Sled Dog Musher customers, however this mitt is not just limited to mushing and not just to females either.  We decided to strip off some of the goodies that we build into the other larger sized Extreme Element Arctic Mitts and at the same time work to enhance the bend flexibility and gripping slightly, without sacrficing much in the way of our standards for thermal insulating values built into both the top & bottom sides of our mitts.  We took out a layer of technical fabric from both the top and bottom, however these mitts were still built using 12 total layers (6 top/6 bottom) and still pack a second to no one thermal insulation value of R-9.3.  We also changed the outer shell layer to a technical fabric that has a hardfaced, yet fairly soft to the touch finish, which will further enhance abrasion resistance.  The outer shell is of course thermally windblocking, DWR water repellent and has very good moisture vapor breathability.  We've also included fully detachable thumb loc straps as some women don't like locking their mitts to the handlebar of their sled.  To learn more about these great mitts, Click here for more information>>>>>

Windblocking Thermal Straight Neck Gaiter - Recommended User Range to -60F plus below zero

We build these neck gaiters in two different sizes and we also build them in larger length and width dimensions then the "status quo" competition in the global marketplace.  We uniquely build in a top edge shock cord that allows you to tighten it and lock it to any position on your face.  The 2 layer system blocks 100% of the wind on the outside, has breathability and is DWR water resistant, while the inner layer has superior heavyweight technical synthetic polyester warmth.  This neck gaiter will also NOT FREEZE UP from your breath moisture and it allows you to always breathe warm air when over the nose.  These neck gaiters are excellent for wearing especially when your physical body exercise is less then 30% of the time or you are going to be doing alot of standing or sitting in one place.  If you only prefer to wear straight neck gaiters out of preference, then you'll only need to pack ONE and that's the one that we build at Technical Advantage Gear.  Click here for more information....

Cross Hybrid Windblocking Thermal Drop Pad Neck Gaiter w/4 Pockets - User Range to -100 F below zero

Our Cross Hybrid Windblocking Thermal Drop Pad Neck Gaiter is similar in overall warmth to our original "granddaddy" design reference below, however it has progressed to the next design generation with the addition of (1) pockets on the outside of each drop pad and (1) additional pockets on the inside of each drop pad, for a total of (4) pockets.  You decide what needs to be stored in them to be kept from freezing up during a long distance training run or race, as the pockets add a new dimension to our exclusive 2 Layer technical fabric design.  These are especially great for when you actual physical exercise or exertion is less then 30% of the time.

The Cross Hybrid offers the same mainstay assets of 100% thermal windblocking protection, excellent overall thermal warmth, pull tight top edge shock cord & cord loc, DWR water resistant outer shell layer, but it also again allows you to always breathe in warm air when pulled up over the nose while not allowing moisture to penetrate through and freeze up.  Click here for more information>>>>>

Windblocking Thermal Drop Pad Neck Gaiter - Recommended User Range to -100F below zero

Our Technical Advantage Gear "Drop Pad Neck Gaiter" is an ORIGINAL design and is exclusive to our product line only.  In other words, you can't buy it anywhere else in the World unless someone has copied our exclusive design.  Two drop pads, one front and one in the back that have been configured to keep your upper chest core warm on the front, while sealing the air flow completely out on the back of your neck.  The drop pads can be reversed or turned around your neck, whereby the front becomes the back and the back the front.

The top edge of the Drop Pad Gaiter also comes with a built in shock cord, that can be tightened to keep it in the exact position on your face that is desired.  The mainstay of this unit is built with a 2 layer technical fabric system, with the exception that the drop pads also contain a 3rd internal layer of special polyester insulating material.  Windblocking 100%, breathable, water resistant on the outside, matched with a heavyweight technical fleece on the inside and generously sized, all combine for another warm and frost free face.  These are especially great for when you actual physical exercise or exertion is less then 30% of the time.

If you want the "ultimate" neck gaiter system, which is a unique and exclusive design to the hard core outdoor World and you want to be prevent the black skinned frost bite at virtually any temperature range below zero, then you only need to pack one neck gaiter total on your next Expedition and it's this one, design and manufactured by Technical Advantage Gear.  Click here for more information....

Windblocking Arctic Thermal Hat - Recommended User Range to -60F plus below zero

Our Windblocking Arctic Thermal Hat, based on the feedback from our field testers and other users that have taken them on extreme cold weather adventures, claim that this "is" the warmest hat on the Planet.  We place a reasonable recommended user range of -60F plus below zero on this gear item, but quite honestly this hat will endure any extreme sub-zero temperature that you can physically stand and then some.  This hat is built with our innovative 4 layer technical fabric layering system and it will stop anything that Mother Nature can throw out at you while on a climb to the summit or venturing across the endless rough ice terrain on a polar expedition.

The outer shell is 100% thermal windblocking, breathable and is DWR water resistant.  This hat will not only out perform any nyloned shelled hat for thermally blocking out all of the wind, but it also minimizes convective heat loss and will take as much rain and mist moisture as the finest higher end technical nylon type fabrics can take and it still will keep the inner layers dry.  The inner layer that surrounds the head is also thermal and highly moisture wicking, which is a feature that few other Winter grade expedition hats ever offer.  This is an extreme temperature hat and it's designed to start wearing for the first time when the temperatures start dropping below zero, as warmer air temperatures and heavy exertion will probably cause your head to sweat.

The final caviot of this hat is that it will completely pull down over you ears and then the convective cold air flow can be sealed out with the pull tight shock cording and cord loc.  At the same time, the shock cording when adjusted tighter will also keep the hat from being wind gusted off of your head or picked off by a tree branch etc.  For those explorers that want a non-billed or brimmed Winter expedition grade hat, this is the one for you, bar none!  Click here for more information....

Kap Bridgman Expedition Arctic Thermal Hat - Recommended User Range to -100F below zero

The dynamics of this hat are very impressive.  The base hat with the flaps up is cut to just cover the tips of the ear, yet when you really demand warmth and protection from the wind, the flaps can be pulled down to seal out the elements around the ears, the chin and around the back of the neck.  The base hat is built with a 4 layer technical fabric system, the flaps are built with a 3 layer system and we've added the full, yes full baseball cap bill to help keep some of the elements out of your eyes.  The thermal regulation of the hat makes it wearable in temps from +20F to -100F.  The outer shell of the hat blocks 100% if the wind and is DWR water resistant, so rain, wind or snow is never going to penetrate into the inner layers of the hat.  The technical synthetic polyester fabric around the head does a great job in wicking any sweat moisture away from the head as well, while also adding additional warmth to the total layering system package.

This specific hat has been enhanced and upgraded to "expedition" classification, because we have added some additonal features to it for better overall versatility.  The first thing that we did was to add a 4 inch long by 2" wide strip of heavy duty "loop" (the soft side) velcro type material to the front area of the hat above the front bill.  This was done so that users of head lights or lamps that do not like having the elastic head strap squeezing their head during use, can instead remove the strapping from the light unit, glue securely a section of "hook" (the prickly side) velcro type material to backside of the light unit and then stick it to the front of this hat.  We have also installed on both sides of this hat a hook and loop fastening area for the wiring cords of the lights to be fastened that run down to the battery pack stationed inside of the users jacket.

Because the light bulb's also burn out occassionally and to know where the spare bulbs are at all times, be have added a small pocket to the rear left side of the main hat, so you know where to get one when you need it.  We place a detachable Technical Advantage logo patch over the front strip of "loop" material on the front, so that you can cover up the loop material when not in use and so that it doesn't look so bare when the light unit is not all hooked up.  This hat also has a small hook and loop securing strp assembly sewn into the back inside of the rear of the hat, so that your can adjust the hat tigher around your head.  The head size adjusting straps will also allow this hat to size down for user's with Medium size heads as well.  An individual with a head that is on the smaller size of the medium head size scale, will experience some puckering of the hat at the back rear edge of the hat when the hook/loop straps are tightened in all of the way, however once the ear flaps are pulled down, any escaping heat is trapped in once again under the sealed flaps.  Click here for more information....

We all have choices when it comes to selecting the right gear to pack on that next polar expedition, mountain climb to the summit or where ever or what ever is tripping our trigger toward the next adventure.  Sometimes gear is purchased based on a brand logo that is advertised and promoted well in the local sporting goods or outfitter store.  Sometimes its purchased because you want to look like everyone else that has done the same adventure that you're preparing for and still further you've perhaps bought certain gear items because they were the most expensive, so they have to be the best.  

What you should be doing before you purchase any of your critical "wearables" for your next Expedition, is to do some research ahead of time before you make your investment.  Just because everyone else does something or wears something, doesn't necessarily mean that it is right or for that matter right for you.  Also make sure that you find a source that is going to give you more information then you dreamed of, instead of the standard two - three short lines of description information,  a pretty picture and a price.  Finally, you should make sure that they are involved in active testing of their products prior to release, instead of testing it on the design drafting board, making it look pretty and then having in sewn in China so that they make the most money on the item instead of you getting the best product for your money.

At Technical Advantage our mission is simple and that is to build gear that actually works and does what it say's it's going to do, which is to "Keep You Warmer - Longer" then any other manufacturers gear.