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“Snowboarding in Maldives” By Nattu

So birthday long weekend is over, and we shall never ever speak of it again, okay? Bah..I ended up with a bloody lip, it’s still swollen and hurting really bad. Just a little worse and it would be stitches material! SICK! Ugh, in other random news word is floating around the Internet that revelstoke isn’t opening their chair lifts this year due to lack of funds, I call bullshit but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. I’m still going out there cause really if it all falls through I can always move again…not a huge deal. Hmm what else can I tell you…

Oh how about the new issue of SnowboarderMag that landed in my hands the other day! I think I’ve flipped through it end to end like 20 times already. It was really nice to see the Mt. Norquay Super Session in there, the maple leaf finally found a sweet spot! If you don’t know what I’m talking about then run out and pick it up. They also have quite a bit of 2009/2010 outerwear featured this year too if you’re still wondering what you want to pick up.

If you’re bored then go read about the Thirty Two launch party that went down a while back, get it at Transworld Business.

So I’ve pretty much got all my stuff picked out for next year with a few exceptions that I really feel like I need to talk about..like ladies gloves

Okay so I need new gloves, particularly new pipe gloves this season. I’ve gone through a lot of pairs of gloves over the years but when it comes down to it I’m never ever happy with them. With the exception of a pair of bonfire gloves that I’ve had for 9+ years, and no they don’t smell..I wash them enough! They’re a pair of men’s leather pipe gloves in XS (I have midget sized hands!!) I picked them up at Rude Girls in Banff, AB. and they were the first pair of pipe gloves that ever fit me, I was so excited about it at the time. But I’ll be honest, I have never found another pair of gloves that I liked better. After this past season though, there was nothing left of those poor gloves and my friends finally convinced me to retire them. 

It’s not that I don’t own other pipe gloves. Actually I have quite a few pairs (mostly Burton ones) but they’re too big or too cold or they’re just plain ugly. So they still in my bag unused season after season. This brings up my dilemma, I want new gloves this season but I’m having trouble finding any that suit my needs. They’re all just so UGLY! There has to be some other ladies out there that agree with me on this one?  I know, I know there’s sooo many gloves and colors out there. But I’m talking in general here… I see a lot of gloves that I just hate the look of. Take the leather Burton pipe gloves from 2007

They’re not exactly the nicest thing out there, are they? Oh I know that’s 2007…well okay here’s the 2008 pair:

2008/2009 Burton Leather Pipe Gloves (NOT the 09/10 design!)

They look like Snow White mixed with Star Wars…still pretty disappointed in the design. I mean am I the only one whose thinks those are just plain ugly? Like come on! I actually bought a pair of the regular women’s burton pipe gloves in 2007/2008 and they were pretty good, but even with the extra small size the fingers were too long on them. I tried the 2008/2009 burton pair with the moustaches on the fingers as well (my sister had these!) and I still had the same problem. While the design was fun and not girly at all, the fit still sucked for me. So now it’s the brand’s fit and not just the color in that case, so I started exploring my other options and I’m looking mostly at POW and Dakine right now.

First up was Dakine, which had pretty fun designs. They were a bit too girly/bubbly for me in a lot of cases though. I’m not one to order gloves online because usually it’s a spur of the moment decision to buy new gloves so I just try whatever the shop has at the time. I tried the Sienna glove in small and extra small and found the fit to be okay, but the same problem with the fingers again. They were just too long! Now I was ready to give up and just admit that I have totally disproportional hands…and I should just keep riding my 9 year old gloves till they fall off.

Just a quick note: although the Dakine line might not fit me very well their 2009/2010 Targa glove is pretty nice looking. Actually their entire line up is pretty decent this year and I suggest you go check it out at www.dakine.com they have a fit chart too if you want to check out the sizing.

Here’s a sneak peek at the Targa:

I had to try the POW gloves before I completely gave up though. So I tried a friend’s pair of the the small women’s leather Stealth gloves and to my amazement they fit my hands perfectly! It was wide enough around the palm while my fingers were at just the right spots. I did the cheesiest happy dance at that moment! In the end I never picked up any POW gloves last season because it was April before I made this fantastic discovery, but the POW 2009-2010 website recently launched and I’m totally going to share my favourites with you. Of course they have some disasters too, just like any company but so far they’ve still got me hooked. I’m hoping that they’re still dealing with CASI this year…cause I know what I’ll be using my ProForm for! I like leather gloves, just for the durability and the fit that they offer. Also they’re so warm, the only downside is when they do get wet they do take forever to dry out.

The Women’s Stealth, Goatskin leather glove…plain styles, love it!

The Chase, fun and girly without crossing “that line” the way too girly pink flowers and hearts line.

If you want to see the whole line go check out http://www.powgloves.com/

Okay, okay, okay so before you start going but “what about the other 1233242 billion companies that make sweet gloves?!?!?!” Well if I went through every company that’s making gloves this article could potentially become the longest blog post in history, and I just don’t have time for that!  Basically if you’ve got outerwear, you’ve got gloves and I’m just going with companies that I’ve tried before. Actually I missed one that I’ve used and didn’t mind at all; Grenade Gloves. I almost left the Grenade women’s line out this year because it just wasn’t my style at all. I’m not really into rockin’ the cheetah print. The Hana Pro Leather Glove is pretty cool though, I’m feeling that as a full glove…just maybe. It seems like it might be a bit bulky under a jacket though.

Grenade 2009-2010 Ladies Pipe Glove…

The Hana Pro

So Ladies’s I want to know what you’re going to be wearing for gloves this year? What brands fit you the best? Do you ever face the same problem with finding gloves that fit properly? I guess this goes for the guys too, do you ever find that you have problems finding gloves that fit properly & suite your style too? We all know if your gloves don’t fit you’re going to be looking at cold hands all day! So I’m looking for some feedback this time, do you have any suggestions for women’s gloves that you really like? We’re talking skiing and snowboarding gloves here…pipe gloves or mitts, anything and everything.