EndurElite Chief Endurance Officer Matt Mosman discusses the technical features and performance of the Klim Arctic Balaclava.
Video Transcription:
KLIM Arctic Balaclava Review
Mortal Kombat. Good morning, endurance friends, Matt Mosman, the endurance guru over at EndurElite, here, not today to talk to you about my awesome martial arts skills...because girls like guys that have skills...But today, we're gonna talk about running face masks. Now, you know from previous videos, my absolute frustration with face masks designed for winter that should be used for running. My big three issues with them are: one, they're almost impossible to breathe through, two, if you can breathe in them, the ice builds up around your eyeballs and you end up looking like RuPaul with a bad makeup job when you're done, and three, all the snot builds up, and when you take your mask off, snot gets in your hair, and it's really gross, and, you know, just something I don't wanna deal with.
So, I've had it up to here, about, with running face masks. But the other day, I was in Scheels, and I happened across a face mask made by Klim, K-L-I-M. And, oddly enough, this company does not make running gear or cold weather gear for endurance athletes. They make gear for people like snowmobilers and off-roaders and whatnot. But anyways, I saw this mask, I picked it up, and I was instantly in love, which I will tell you why here in a second. But, besides marrying my wife, starting EdurElite, buying this face mask was probably the third best decision I have ever made in my life.
Now, why is it that I love this face mask so much? There's a lot of different reasons, and what we're gonna do is we're just gonna kind of explain some of the technical features here, and why I love it. But again, this is the Arctic Balaclava by Klim, K-L-I-M, and what I really, really like about this face mask is a few things. First, the front and around the eye area has all Gore wind stopper fleece in there, so very soft, very comfortable, stops cold wind dead in its tracks. Around the eyes, it's nice and tight without being overly uncomfortable. So, if you do breathe, and the air usually comes up and freezes against your eyes, it stops, it's dead in its tracks there. But, probably my favorite feature on this is this neoprene nose guard and breath deflector. Now, like before I said, I hate the snot buildup. I hate not being able to breathe in a regular running face mask, but this one right here with the nose deflector, it's actually jutted out and stays out, so it comes up around your nose, but it gives you the space to actually breathe. Oh, my god, breathe, which, as endurance athletes, we wanna breathe. And then it deflects the air down and out so the condensation does not come back in and get into your eyeballs.
What's also really nice about this Klim Arctic Balaclava is the skirt on the bottom. So it goes, oh, about down to here, and then you can kinda just zip up your jacket, and your face and your neck is absolutely protected. Now, who would I recommend this for? I would recommend this for people who live in, well, obviously, a really, really cold place and need a good face mask during the winter. I took it out on several occasions where it's been, you know, 10 below with a windchill of like negative 30, and I kid you not, my face never got cold once. It was easy to breathe in, and I didn't come back looking like a snot factory.
So, for running, hiking, maybe even cycling in the cold, it'd be an excellent fit for that. I think it would be an awesome fit for, like, a fat biker, again, because it's super warm, it deflects air out, no condensation. But, you could also put goggles in there because, after all, it's designed for more of a snowmobiler, but, you know, fat bikes, snowmobiles, kind of the same thing, but not really...but, you know, you put goggles on, the face mask on, and you're good to go.
So I just wanna give big hats off to Klim for finally making a face mask that I can use and absolutely love. It has been, seriously, a 15-year search, and I am beyond thrilled to have finally found something that I can run in during the winter and avoid the treadmill, and it also makes a very good piece of snow blowing apparel when I'm out in the driveway, you know, scooping or snow blowing a foot of snow off my driveway in the South Dakota winters. So, if you're looking for a really good running face mask, fat biking face mask, or just exercising out in the cold, definitely check out the Klim Arctic Balaclava. I'll provide a link below so you can check it out. All right, my endurance friends, until next time. Stay fueled, stay focused, and stay fast.
