Insulated Ski Gloves

Mittens Are Warmer Than Gloves

Fingers share heat in a mitten and are individually surrounded by cold in a glove, which makes mittens noticeably warmer at the same insulation level.

Gloves give dexterity for buckles, zips and phones, which is why most people choose them despite the warmth penalty.

Anybody with persistently cold hands should try mittens before buying warmer gloves, since the difference is larger than most insulation upgrades.

Wet Gloves Stop Working

Insulation traps air and wet insulation does not, which means a soaked glove provides almost no warmth regardless of what it is made from.

Gloves get wet from snow on the outside and sweat on the inside, and a waterproof glove that does not breathe becomes wet from within.

Removable liners can be dried separately and a second pair of gloves in a bag is the practical answer for a long cold day.

Leather, Synthetic And Maintenance

Leather gloves are durable, form to the hand and require regular treatment with a proofing wax to stay water resistant.

Synthetic gloves need no maintenance and wear faster at the fingertips and palms where rope tows and poles abrade them.

A leather glove neglected for a season becomes stiff and absorbent, which is a maintenance failure rather than a product failure.

Cuffs, Gauntlets And Snow Entry

Gauntlet cuffs go over a jacket sleeve and keep snow out during falls, and they are bulkier and slower to put on.

Under-cuff gloves tuck inside a sleeve and are neater and depend on the jacket cuff sealing properly.

For deep snow a gauntlet is clearly better, and for lift-served piste skiing either works and preference decides.

Cold Hands That Are Not The Glove

Circulation matters more than insulation, and tight boots, tight glove wrists and dehydration all reduce blood flow to the extremities.

Raynaud's phenomenon causes severe cold-triggered vasoconstriction in the fingers and affects a meaningful proportion of people, and it is worth recognising rather than treating as poor tolerance.

Chemical hand warmers, heated gloves and simply eating and drinking properly all address the circulation side, which no amount of glove insulation reaches.

Wrist leashes on gloves prevent the specific and annoying loss of a glove dropped from a chairlift, which happens to almost everybody eventually and is difficult to recover. They cost almost nothing and are fitted to many gloves already. Removing gloves by pulling at the fingertips also stretches and eventually damages them, where pulling from the cuff does not.

Nose wipe panels on the thumb are unglamorous and constantly used, since a cold day produces a running nose and the alternative is a sleeve.

Three-finger gloves, sometimes called lobster mitts, pair fingers to recover most of the warmth of a mitten while keeping enough dexterity for buckles and zips.

Drying gloves on a hot radiator overnight damages leather and degrades membranes, and a boot dryer on a low setting or simply open air is considerably kinder.

The Verdict

A category where mittens beat gloves for warmth and where wet insulation, not insufficient insulation, is the usual problem.

Wet gloves stop insulating, leather needs regular proofing, and cold hands are often a circulation problem.

Try mittens if your hands get cold. The difference is bigger than any insulation upgrade in a glove.