Ski and Mountaineering Glove Review
So after searching the forums fairly thoroughly for reviews of ski gloves, I came to two conclusions. First, Hestra gloves are dexterous as fuck! Second, most people have tried one glove and in most cases liked it. Therefore, without any thorough glove comparison posts, I was a bit apprehensive about internet ordering a glove that only had a few glowing reviews but no comparative reviews. So here's what I did: I ordered four seperate gloves, all in size large (9 inches wrist to finger tip), and did a blind test on them. I then looked at the construction plus a few other random features. Here are the four gloves I reviewed and my comments:
Hestra Gore-Tex XCR Glove
Black Diamond Guide Glove
Mountain Hardwear Annapurna Glove
Marmot Ultimate Ski Glove
Glove preference, from most to least:
Hestra
Black Diamond
Marmot
Mountain Hardwear
The Hestra, BD, and Marmot gloves all had leather palms which made them infinitely more comfortable and dexterous than the MH glove. The one advantage to the MH glove, most likely, is that it is more waterproofed throughout than any of the other gloves (not sure about this though). With that being said, the lack of dexterity made it unbearable in my opinion.
When it came down to comparing the Hestra, BD, and Marmot gloves, the first thing that jumped out was how the stitching of the palm screwed with the Marmot's dexterity. It is hard to describe, but the stitching on the Hestra and BD gloves made the thumb much more moveable, which, undoubtedly, makes them a more useful glove. In addition, the connection between the Marmot liner and the glove was awkward one resulting in my having to spend a lot of time wiggling my fingers to get them in.
So I finally narrowed my choice down to the Hestra and the BD gloves. After doing another blind test, the Hestra was simply more comfortable and more usable. In addition, the Hestra had a leash as well as an adjustable strap to tighten the section between the gauntlet and the glove itself. These minor differences in the end made the decision an easy one.
(One other difference between the Hestra and BD gloves was the liner. In the BD glove the liner was removable. Not the case in the Hestra. This could be considered advantageous or not, depending on the person.)
In terms of warmth, I thought they were all fairly comparable. This isn't really an adequate test, though, because I haven't taken them skiing or climbing yet! I trust that since all of them feel equally warm and all have Gore-tex XCR, I should be fine.
I still have the gloves with me, so feel free to ask me any other questions.
