The Crosspoint Waterproof gloves and socks from Showers Pass are hybrids of wool, waterproof membranes, and synthetics designed and ready for the nastiest of conditions while hiking or biking. This is my review.
The Crosspoint gloves and socks both have the same three distinct layers each with an independent purpose. The inner, mid layer is a waterproof, breathable, stretchy membrane. This keeps out water but allows hot air and vapor to escape. The external layer is a durable, wear resistant nylon,polyester, spandex/lyrcra blend for abrasion resistance and warmth. The inner layer, which sits against the skin, is a soft merino wool blend to provide additional warmth, comfort and moisture control. The gloves and socks come in various colors and sizes and retail for $49 and $45 respectively.
Starting with the gloves, I was quite impressed by the overall fit and feel. They’re basically skin tight and completely form fitting, which means they maintain a high level of dexterity and comfort. The materials are soft, very flexible, and stretch nicely when needed. They moved around and bunched a little too easily to recommend more intense mountain bike riding, but for mellow single track, gravel or road riding they stayed in place quite well. While biking and hiking, even with a constant breeze, I found to be quite warm into the bottom 50’s F with mild activity, with the low 40’s being their lower limit. They do warm up quickly when exerting some effort. The wool blend feels great against the skin, and continues to feel nice for hours on end without overheating or building up moisture inside. Wind blocking is especially good and waterproofing has so far been excellent, thanks to the dedicated membrane.
The socks are also quite comfortable to wear, although a bit stiffer than the gloves. Perhaps they have a more robust inner membrane, but whatever the cause they feel almost like slipping into a neoprene boot, at least at first. Once on, they feel great, although they are a little slack in the toes. They have a bit of extra fabric leftover at the tips of each foot which can bunch up if you don’t have a proper fit. Wind and waterproofing is excellent here all around, with them being comfortable and warm below 40 degrees even in constant wind under vented trail shoes. I do wish they were formed for a left and right foot independently to tighten up the fit, but it’s not really an issue other than feeling weird in hiking shoes for a bit. They do take up more room inside a shoe than traditional hiking socks, so what may be a cozy fit with a thin sock could be a tight fit with these. Blisters have been non-existent.
Grip and durability are both good. Small rubber traction pads run the palm and fingers of the gloves, providing good grip even on wet bike handlebars. I’ll have to wait a bit longer to see how well the pads hold up, but so far the stitching and weave are both holding up wonderfully.
Visually, I’m not a big fan of the huge grippy logo on the back of the gloves, but otherwise they’re fine. A small text based logo would have probably been a better design choice, but the socks look great.
Initially, I had some reservations going into the testing of these gloves. Anytime I try gloves or socks that claim to be weather resistant, I’m generally disappointing. However, the Crosspoints did not disappoint. They’re warm, very comfortable, and aside from a having a little extra room in the toes (at least for me), they fit wonderfully. Even across long, strenuous bouts of activity that often lasted for hours, they breathed and protected quite well while providing a good balance of warmth and weight. They’ve held up great to splashes of water and rain, and the durability so far has been quite good. They’re not warm enough for sedentary tasks at very low temperatures, unless you’re a warm body, but for times of motion, they do exactly what they’re supposed to and do it well. Plus, they can be washed and dried like any other pair of cloth socks and gloves, which makes keeping them clean a snap. For biking or hiking in the shoulder seasons where the weather can turn from sunny and warm to cold and wet at a moments notice, these are an excellent stopgap.
Highly recommended
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