Gloves are a fundamental element in any hiker’s kit, regardless of the season and regardless of the weather. But, as with many ‘outdoors essentials’ the choices out there can be bewildering – even if you’ve got plenty of experience with outdoor gear.
Our comprehensive guide on how to choose the right winter gloves for hiking gives you all the information you need. This will let you make an informed purchasing decision about the gloves that ideally suit the way you hike.
We’ll cover the different types of gloves out there, the different materials used and also the different styles. Along with the pros and cons of each.
This article is part of our series on the best winter hiking gloves, view all other articles below:
How Essential are Winter Gloves for Hiking in Cold Weather?
In short, we think they are totally essential! But just because you should always carry gloves, it doesn’t mean that you’ll always need them on your hikes.
Whilst it’s true that the physical activity that comes with a demanding hike can make you feel like you don’t need warm clothes – including gloves – this can change in an instant. Even a short break, or a pause to check a map can be enough for you to quickly lose heat. It’s at times like this that having extra warm layers is essential for your safety and comfort.
When hiking in cold weather, we think it’s essential to always carry some extra layers – and that always includes gloves. Cold hands are not just an inconvenience that can impact your enjoyment of hike – they can also lead to loss of sensation in your fingers which can compromise your ability to operate gear or cross technical terrain and, extreme cases, can develop into frostbite – a serious medical condition.
We’ve all been on hikes when the cold catches us by surprise: it might be a sudden change in the weather, a route that’s more heavily shaded than expected or the chill that sets in when you stop after working up a sweat. Whatever the reason, it’s good to be prepared and that’s why we’ll always have gloves with us – even if we don’t always use them.
Beyond all this, though, it’s no fun to hike when you feel uncomfortable, and having the right pair gloves – especially on winter hikes – is, for us, as important as having the right footwear. The right gloves can vastly improve your enjoyment of the outdoors when the temperature drops and for this reason, it’s worth fully understanding which type of glove fits with the hiking you do.
Types of Winter Gloves
There’s a wide range of basic types of winter gloves available – and we’ll explore the options below. If you hike in differing weather conditions, you’ll likely find that there is no single ideal option.
With time, you may well find yourself with several different types of winter gloves. Many of our reviewers have a core set of three or four pairs of gloves that they’ll alternate between and combine as appropriate based on the severity of the weather and the activity they plan to do.
Insulated Gloves
Many of the gloves we’re reviewed in our roundup can be classed as insulated gloves. However, within this category there’s a huge variety of different options.
One thing that all of these gloves have in common is that they’ll feature a multi-layered construction. There will be an outer, a liner, some sort of insulation between them (though not always in the entire glove) sometimes a waterproof, breathable membrane.
This can often be Gore-Tex or a brand’s in-house alternative. These gloves will often offer some degree of waterproofing and wind proofing on top of their insulation
At one end of the scale, there’s products like the Sealskinz Waterproof All Weather Insulated Glove. These are relatively thin, lightweight and affordable but still off a good degree of insulation and weatherproofing.
Gloves like these are a great option for winter hiking in more temperate environments. However, they likely won’t keep your hands sufficiently warm in more extreme cold conditions.
At the other end of scale, you’ll find much more specialized (and often very expensive) products like the Rab Pivot Gore-Tex Glove. Gloves like these will be absolute overkill for a walk in the park on a crisp winter morning,
They really come into their own if you are undertaking technical winter mountaineering or alpinism in, for example the Pacific Northwest, Scotland or European Alps. Amongst others.
If you could only choose a single pair of winter gloves or are looking for a good starting point for your first pair, we’d say that a mid-range insulated glove is a great choice. Both the Sealskinz Waterproof All Weather Insulated Glove or the The North Face Women’s Apex Insulated Etip are good examples of this type of glove that our reviewers really took to.
Liner Gloves
Liner gloves are very different to the insulated gloves we’ve discussed above. These are much thinner gloves and, often comprising just a single layer of material and typically are not waterproof (though there are, of course, exceptions). As the name suggests, they are intended to be worn inside another bulkier pair of gloves.
Liner gloves are a great and often very inexpensive way to boost the warmth of a pair of insulated gloves. So, if you have a pair of insulated gloves that aren’t quite keeping you warm enough, but are otherwise good, then combining them with liners is well worth considering.
There are some tasks where thick, heavily insulated gloves will limit your dexterity to the point where you can’t perform them without removing the gloves – tying laces, doing up zippers, operating cameras etc. In this case, having liners on means you don’t have to strip down to your bare skin and still have some degree of protection from the elements (keep in mind that liners are often not waterproof and can quickly get soaked if you remove your outer glove during a downpour).
Another advantage of liner gloves is that they will limit the amount of your sweat soaking into your big gloves. As they are often made from a single thin layer of material, liner gloves are quick and easy to wash and dry – unlike a multi-layered insulated glove – and if you are hiking regularly in the cold, it’s good practice to rotate a few pairs of liners, treating them like underwear.
Liner gloves are often made from moisture wicking and odor controlling materials like merino wool for this very reason, and some more specialized ones are even made from silk. Liner gloves are often marketed as being touchscreen compatible – that’s a good feature to keep an eye out for if you are navigating with your phone.
Of course, liner gloves can also be worn on their own and there are some circumstances where they are all you will need. These gloves typically pack down small and weigh practically nothing, so it’s well worth keeping a pair in your pack.
Gloves like the Helly Hansen Men’s LIFA Merino Glove Liner and Arc’teryx Rho Liner Glove are great examples of these. There are also some very keenly priced thinner gloves like the Trendoux Winter Gloves that would work well as liner gloves for much more extreme cold conditions.
Ski Gloves
In many ways, ski gloves make excellent winter hiking gloves. Most ski gloves have a lot in common with the insulated gloves we discussed above: They’ll typically have a multi-layered construction featuring some sort of insulation and will almost always provide good warmth and wind resistance.
Ski gloves are not always waterproof though, and they won’t prioritize the same level of dexterity (or finger mobility) as specific hiking gloves and also may not feature the same reinforced construction, which you’ll certainly want if you are planning to wear the gloves for technical mountaineering or alpinism where intense scrambling and rope work may be required.
Two of our reviewer’s favorite gloves in our round up are, in fact, marketed as ski gloves. The Helly Hansen Swift HT Ski Gloves impressed us in every possible way whilst the Hestra Fall Line is a more specialized offering that comes as a system with matched liners and holds its own next to dedicated mountaineering gloves.
It’s worth noting that some ski gloves are offered in three finger and mitten versions (you’ll also find some mountaineering gloves intended for the coldest of ascents marketed like this). By not separating your fingers (or separating them less in the case of three-fingered gloves), these gloves potentially keep your hands even warmer than five-fingered gloves, with the downside that dexterity is limited.
Convertible Mittens
Convertible mittens in theory offer the advantages of both worlds. These gloves are outwardly mittens, but the section covering the wearer’s fingers can be opened to reveal a much thinner, integrated liner glove – this is often fingerless.
They are a popular choice for those working in very cold locations who still need to complete tasks that require delicate and precise dexterity. These gloves are commonly worn by engineers and surveyors in cold climates, but you’ll also find photographers and artists working on location wearing them.
Convertible mittens can let the cold in via the flap that covers the fingers. For this reason many of our reviewers prefer a regular, well insulated glove paired with either thin or fingerless liners.
Many thicker insulated gloves and ski gloves feature wrist loops or tethers so you can just take them off and drop them without fear of losing them. So they offer many of the advantages of convertible mittens without the potential downside.
Fingerless Gloves
Fingerless gloves are exactly what the name suggest: gloves where some or all of the finger has been removed. We wouldn’t recommend this type of glove for general winter hiking as your fingers – and especially your fingertips – are exactly where you’re going to feel the cold first, so in this sense they kind of defeat the purpose of wearing gloves at all!
However, their advantage comes if they are worn as liner gloves when you need to carry out some sort of delicate task where even thin full-finger liner gloves would limit your dexterity too much. Reloading certain film cameras or doing delicate electronics work are situations where we could see their value.
Whatever the usage case, we’d advise pairing fingerless gloves with insulated outer-gloves that feature wrist loops or tethers – So the outer gloves can be removed, the task completed and then the outer gloves put back on as quickly as possible to minimize heat loss or the risk of frostbite.
Work Gloves
Certain work gloves are a very attractive option for winter hikers. Gloves intended for jobs such as outdoor construction, gardening or even vehicle maintenance can offer many of the same benefits as insulated gloves and can sometimes be available at very attractive price points – you might even already own a pair.
Now, this certainly doesn’t mean that all work gloves are good for winter hiking, but some models, like the Mechanix Wear Coldwork Original have built up a strong following in the outdoors community. These are very keenly priced and offer a good, balanced feature set.
Whilst work gloves won’t match the features or performance of more specialized outdoors-specific gloves, for general winter hiking, especially in more temperate areas, they might be all you need. Certainly, if you are working to a strict budget – or simply don’t want to spend a lot on a outdoor brand name, they are an attractive option.
Heated Gloves
Heated gloves are a fairly niche product that could well prove game-changing for hikers who suffer from joint or circulation problems or who simply really feel the cold or. As the name suggests, these gloves feature an integrated heating system which may or may not be removable for washing the glove – gloves with non-removable heaters can get quite gross with time!
Many heated gloves will only have heating elements around the palm, and not the fingers, which can be problematic and it’s also worth bearing in mind that quoted running times will likely be for the lowest power setting and probably won’t be enough to keep the gloves running for a full day of hiking.
Despite all of this, there are certain users who will absolutely benefit from this kind of glove. For the ultimate warmth, our preference, however, is for well and fully-insulated hiking or ski gloves paired with a liner. Separate rechargeable or disposable chemical hand warmers can always be added to these to boost warmth if needed.
Waterproof Gloves
Many of the gloves within the categories we’ve already covered are waterproof. As with all winter hiking gear, this is an important quality to keep in mind.
You might think that all winter gloves would be waterproof, but many models of liner gloves along with some insulated and ski gloves – and specifically those intended for use only in the snow or at high altitude – are not as waterproof as you might think. We think waterproofing is an important consideration for anyone choosing winter gloves, but how much you need to prioritize it (or not!) really comes down to where you hike.
If you hike in places that are cold and dry, or at altitude where you’ll only encounter snow, then waterproofing may not be your first priority. However, if you hike in temperate conditions where winter can mean driving rain as much as it means snow, then we’d say that waterproofing is pretty essential for all but your liner gloves.
Touchscreen Gloves
Most hikers these days navigate with maps on their phones and that means interacting with touchscreens. Not all gloves, however, are touchscreen compatible and if you’re wearing these, you’ll need to remove them to use your device.
Some of the more heavily insulated and specialized mountaineering gloves we’ve reviewed are notable for not being touchscreen compatible. One of our reviewers made the error pairing some of these gloves with non touch-compatible liner gloves on a recent cold weather hike meaning he had to remove both layers of gloves to check his map – far from ideal!
This story shows that if you do navigate with your phone, then it’s worth putting some thought into the touchscreen compatibility of your full glove system. That said, we don’t think that a lack of touchscreen compatibility should be a reason not to buy a pair of gloves if they tick all the other boxes for you.
What Are the Best Materials for Winter Gloves?
Winter gloves come in a wide variety of materials, each with its own relative strengths and weaknesses. Below, we’ll explore some of the key options and also see how different materials can better suit different types of gloves. The types of activities you perform in the gloves should also influence your material choices.
Leather
Leather remains a popular material in gloves because of its combination of durability, weather resistance and softness, which can still allow for a good degree of finger movement and dexterity. Many of the winter gloves we’ve reviewed feature leather on at least the palms and fingers whilst a few use it for most of the gloves outer.
The durability of leather makes it an excellent material choice if you will be using the gloves for technical mountaineering, alpinism, scrambling or climbing. These are all activities where you may well be using your hands on rock to ascend or descend.
Some of the more specialized gloves such as the Black Diamond Guide Gloves or the Rab Pivot Gore-Tex Gloves feature extra layers of leather in the space between the thumb and forefinger – this provides extra durability if you’re using the gloves to handle ropes.
The downside of leather is that it adds weight and also that it needs periodic treatment with leather cream to keep it in good condition. High quality leather gloves like the Black Diamond and Rab models linked to above also tend to be expensive.
Wool
You might sometimes still see an older hiker on the trail wearing old-style woolen mitts. But this material has fallen out of favor for the outer portion of insulated gloves and today you’re most likely to find it used either in non-waterproof liner gloves or as an insulating material layered between synthetic tech fabric.
Wool – and specifically merino wool – is an excellent material for liner gloves. Whilst it’s not waterproof, this material dries quickly, wicks moisture and naturally controls odor. You can consider your liner gloves as part of your base layer and merino wool has long been favored for this type of garment for all the reasons listed above.
The downside of wool (aside from not being waterproof) is that it is expensive relative to synthetics and can be prone to becoming stretched and misshaped with time and prolonged wear.
Both the Helly Hansen Men’s LIFA Merino Glove Liner and icebreaker Merino Oasis 200 Glove Liners are impressive liner gloves made from wool. The Hestra Fall Line and Black Diamond Guide Gloves are both supplied with paired wool or wool mix liners.
Gore-Tex
You won’t find a glove – or any garment for that matter – made exclusively from Gore-Tex, but this material, integrated as a membrane between other fabric layers is a common fixture in many items of outdoor gear. Gore-Tex allows garments to be both water resistant and breathable – both desirable traits in gloves (and, we’d say, outdoor gear in general!).
Gore-Tex adds to the cost of any garment it’s integrated into. With this in mind it’s perhaps no surprise that it only features in the more premium gloves in our round up to the best winter gloves for hiking such as the Black Diamond Guide Gloves and Rab Pivot Gore-Tex Gloves.
Some manufacturers use in-house waterproof and breathable membranes that claim to offer similar performance to Gore-Tex. Notably, there’s the Black Diamond Mercury Mitt (featuring ‘BD.dry’) and the Helly Hansen Swift HT Ski Gloves (featuring ‘Helly Tech Professional’).
Fleece
Fleece is a common material used in winter gloves. This is typically always synthetic fleece – usually made from polyester – rather than wool fleece.
You typically won’t find gloves made entirely from fleece, but it is a great material for glove lining as it’s soft and warm and has anti-perspiration qualities. Both of The North Face gloves in our round up – the Women’s Montana Insulated Ski Mitt and the Women’s Apex Insulated Etip feature particularly plush fleece linings.
The Cotopaxi Teca Fleece Gloves feature fleece on the outside too and Cotopaxi have used the material to make a particularly stylish pair of gloves. One of the great things about fleece – other than being hard wearing and comfortable – is that it is often made from recycled material.
The downside of fleece is that on its own it is not particularly waterproof or windproof. For the best cold weather performance from fleece gloves, look for products that combine it with other materials to add weather proofing.
Synthetic
Almost every glove in our round up uses synthetic material to some extent – the key exception to this are pure merino wool liner gloves (and many even use a merino/synthetic blend). Even the mostly leather gloves will feature elements of synthetic material in their construction.
Synthetic material is fantastic for gloves: it can be warm, insulating, water and wind resistant whilst still being lightweight, flexible and inexpensive. As with many other types of outdoor clothing and gear synthetic materials have allowed manufacturers to push the performance of gloves to new levels.
Many of our favorite gloves in our round up are largely synthetic – sometimes featuring leather to reinforce key areas like the fingers and palms. The Helly Hansen Swift HT Ski Gloves are a great example of this and show how synthetic materials are used to create light, flexible gloves that deliver exception cold weather performance and durability – all at a very appealing price point.
What is the Difference Between Men’s Gloves and Women’s Gloves?
Many gloves are offered in gendered versions – though it’ also not uncommon to find unisex gloves. Aside from colorways, there’s typically sizing and proportion difference between women’s and men’s gloves.
Whilst it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, women’s gloves typically run roughly one size below men’s. So, a men’s ‘small’ is usually broadly equivalent to a women’s ‘medium’. Women’s gloves also tend to be slightly narrower than the equivalent men’s model.
Gendering of gloves allows manufacturers to produce products that generally fit better for most people. But our bodies come in all different shapes and sizes and there will always be people whose sizing doesn’t fit within these generalizations.
Our advice is not to get too hung up on the gender of gloves and instead let your hand shape and the manufacturer’s sizing guides inform your decision. If you are a woman with broad hands or a man with small and narrow hands, then using mis-gendered gloves may well give you a better fit.
Pretty much all glove manufacturers publish comprehensive sizing guides and it’s well worth taking the time to see how your hand measurements fit with these – especially if you’re purchasing more expensive gloves. Remember that sizing guides may not be consistent from one brand to another and may even vary from product to product within a manufacturer’s range.
Are Mittens or Gloves Better for Hiking in Cold Weather?
This is a very subjective question, and a lot depends on how you personally experience the cold. Your own experience will inform the answer as much as the facts about glove performance.
All other factors being equal, a mitten will provide better warmth than a five-fingered version of the same glove. This is because mittens keep your fingers together so the heat the emit is better conserved within the glove.
However, if you are comparing different brands and models, then there are plenty of five-fingered gloves out there that are substantially warmer than plenty of the mittens out there. So, when you’re comparing different versions of the same glove, mittens are warmer, but mittens are not always warmer if you are comparing two different gloves.
You should also consider the limitations mittens impose. They seriously impact dexterity and, if you need to carry out any task that needs you to use your fingers (like opening a pocket to grab a snack), then you’ll need to remove a mitten – which will cool your hands – whereas you can probably do this same task whilst keeping a five-fingered glove on.
There is also the personal experience of cold to consider. There are members of our review team who have hiked in temperatures as low as -26C/-15F. They used insulated five-fingered ski gloves with merino wool liner gloves and got on just fine – though we’re sure that many others would have insisted on mittens on that same day!
Conclusion
Gloves are an essential part of any hikers kit no matter the time of year, and they become even more important in Winter. As our guide as shown there are many different kinds of winter gloves and not all are equal.
Selecting the right glove for winter hiking means understanding the environment and temperatures you will likely encounter along with understanding the activities or tasks you will likely need to perform on the hike. By understanding these factors, you can make an informed decision about the optimum type and material of gloves to select.
As we said at the start, many hikers don’t have a single pair of winter gloves but instead have a system of a few different types and will select a pair or several pairs depending on the day’s conditions and planned activity. Variety can be really helpful here.
In winter, gloves can transform your comfort and therefore enjoyment on a hike but can also be a vital piece of safety – even survival – equipment in more extreme conditions. So, it’s worth doing your homework and using our guide to ensure you make an informed purchasing decision.
What materials are best for winter hiking gloves?
The materials that are best for winter hiking gloves will really depend on the kind of activities you plan to do with them on. Or more specifically, the kind of conditions you hike in.
If you find yourself hiking in high altitude alpine, where your main concerns are snow and cold temperatures, water resistance may not be the be all and end all for you. So, you may want to go for a more breathable option as opposed to something that has full Gore-Tex or similar.
Likewise, if you hike somewhere where conditions change, then it’s worth looking at gloves that use materials to make them fully waterproof. We’ve covered this in more detail above in our materials section.
It’s also good to think about the kind of wind you’ll experience. If you want your gloves for backcountry skiing, for example, wind resistant padding will be really important for you.
Should I size up for winter gloves?
Through very review we’ve included in our guide to winter hiking gloves, we’ve gone into detail about the fit. This is important as your gloves should never be too tight or too loose. This can impact the insulation they offer.
We provide advice on whether each glove runs true to size, small or large to help you decide. However, we would always recommend reading the sizing chat provided through our buying links on the manufacturers pages.
This will give you a clear idea of what the right size is for you. If you are in-between sizes, go for the larger rather than the smaller. If you plan to wear liner gloves, you don’t really need to size up for this, unless when your outer gloves arrive, they are very tight on the hand. In this case, you will likely need a bigger size to compliment your set.
Are waterproof gloves necessary for hiking in snow?
Contrary to what many people may think, waterproof gloves aren’t always necessary for hiking in snow. Waterproof gloves really come into their own if you know you are likely to experience changeable conditions, such as snow and heavy downpours in winter.
Many manufacturers who produce ski mitts and gloves actually do so with water repellent or resistant finishes, rather than full waterproofing. So this is worth keeping in mind.
We personally advise having a selection of gloves for different purposes, as some work better than others for different activities. For example, a fully waterproof glove can become very warm and sweaty (even with a liner) for more exertive mountain missions in the snow at altitude.
Should winter gloves be tighter or looser?
We recommend for your winter gloves to fit just right. What we mean by this is enough space to move your hands around freely, but not too much space, or too many gaps.
If your winter gloves are too tight, you will feel the cold much more quickly. If your gloves are too loose, you will potentially have space for draughts to get in.
This is why it’s a really good idea to measure your hand against the manufacturers sizing chart through our buying links before you purchase to get a good size for your hand. You also don’t really need to size up when it comes to including a liner, as most heavy duty winter gloves take things like this into consideration with their sizing.
What are the benefits of layering gloves for winter hikes?
Layering gloves for winter hikes has a number of advantages, and which are most important to you will really depend on the specific things you do on your hikes. One of the key reasons for layering is to provide a layer of moisture wicking material.
Most liner gloves are there to wick moisture, much like your socks are when worn with your hiking boots. This means that on missions where you break out a sweat, your hands will hopefully stay warm and dry throughout.
They’re also there to provide an extra layer of warmth. This is great if you’re hiking in changing conditions, as you can layer up depending on how cold or not you are.
Another reason why layering gloves for winter hikes is a good idea is because many liner gloves have touchscreen compatibility. This means you can take off your main glove and do smaller tasks without having to expose your skin to the elements.
How do I decide between gloves and mittens for cold weather?
The decision between gloves and mittens for cold weather can really come down to how cold your hands get when you’re outdoors. If you don’t have any circulation problems and you aren’t hiking in the most extreme of cold temperatures, then the dexterity offered by a five-finger glove may be what you need.
If you do feel the cold more or are hiking in much colder conditions – which would be much past freezing, then a mitt will likely keep you warmer. This is because the heat is trapped around your finger in the mitt section.
Other options to get the ‘best of both worlds’ is to go for something like the Hestra Heli Three-Finger Insulated Gloves which have a thumb and forefinger, with the rest of your hand being in a mitt. Though these do come at a serious price but are well worth the money in our option from testing.
What features should I look for in touchscreen-compatible gloves?
Touchscreen compatible gloves are a great addition to the market, as realistically, most hikers use their phone whilst outdoors in winter. Whether this is to take photos with your phone, look at and check maps for navigation or anything else, it’s a great feature to have.
From our tests, we’ve found that some touchscreen compatible gloves are much better for certain tasks than others. For example, many liner gloves are great for checking your map and taking a picture due to their textured pads on the fingers but can sometimes lack what you need to do anything more fiddly like sending a text.
Some heavier duty gloves, such as the Sealskinz Waterproof All Weather Insulated Glove are fantastic as a touchscreen glove due to the slightly harder, pointed and textured fingertips. This allows for much more detailed movements on your phone.
Ideally, we’d say look for pads that are well sealed onto the glove, to prevent them from coming off in the wash. They should also be decently textured. You also want the glove to be well fitted on your finger as bunching can cause them to be less effective. On thicker gloves, look for harder points or edges that can help with better minute adjustments.
Are heated gloves worth the investment for hiking?
Heated gloves are a relatively new addition to the market for hiking gloves, and for some hikers they are really worth the investment. If you struggle with cold hands or have joint and circulation problems then they can be a really good thing.
However, we do think that there is a chance that many of these options have points for failure which could give up quicker than some of their non heated competitors. For this reason, we generally encourage a good, layered glove system as opposed to heated gloves.
If you find your hands are already cold when putting on your gloves, you will likely find that they don’t heat your hands up as such, just keep them at the same temperature. This is why putting your gloves on when your hands are already at a good temperature is the best move.
However, in circumstances like this, we sometimes think it’s better to put a heat pouch or similar into your gloves to warm up your hands. This will trap in the warmth. You can get single use ones or more longer term ones, depending on your needs.
What is the difference between softshell and hardshell gloves?
A softshell or hardshell glove is a bit like the difference between looking at a waterproof rain jacket for hiking or a puffy for hiking. Both have slightly different jobs.
A softshell is more like a puffy. This, in terms of gloves is going to feature a quilted or padded layer and its main job is to keep out the cold. You can sometimes find this on gloves that are designed more for colder, dry climates.
A hardshell glove is designed to keep water out and keep your hands warm. They will also usually feature a layer of insulation. However, they do compromise when it comes to breathability. These types of gloves are really handy if you hike in changing conditions and need something that works just as well in the rain as it does in the snow.
Can I use regular ski gloves for winter hiking?
The answer is generally yes to this question and in fact some of the gloves in our main reviews are intended for skiing, such as the Helly Hansen Swift HT Ski Glove. The specific advantages of this glove work really well for very cold hiking.
It’s worth keeping in mind though that some gloves and mitts that are designed for skiing can compromise on dexterity as they are more focused on the needs of ski touring and skiing. If you plan to use them for both, we’d recommend getting a ski glove that is also very good for hiking too – one that gets the balance between dexterity and warmth.
What are the advantages of using liner gloves for hiking?
Liner gloves are used for a number of reasons. The first is that they help to wick moisture away from skin. In many ways, they work the same as a pair of socks – keeping moisture away from your skin. With that in mind, some of the best glove liners are made from merino, which wicks sweat well and doesn’t smell once they become sweaty. They can also be washed easily.
Glove liners can also provide an extra layer of insulation when paired with another glove. This allows you to create a set where you can take your glove on or off depending on how cold or not you are, much like a layering system for the rest of your body.
They can also come with pads that can be used with your mobile device which can help with not having to remove your entire glove set on your hike. This allows you to keep at least one layer of protection on your skin and can help with coldness and chapped hands due to cold extremes.
What is the average lifespan of a good pair of winter hiking gloves?
This will really vary on how much you use your winter hiking gloves. Of course, for someone who is using them everyday professionally in winter and putting them through a lot of work, hard labor and potential scuffs, this is going to be a lot shorter than someone who wears them once or twice a week.
That said, the durability of your winter gloves is likely going to be decided by the materials used. For example, heavier duty gloves that are designed as performance gloves are likely to last longer than a much cheaper brand.
If you look after your winter gloves, a good pair can last you for years. This means washing them when possible, keeping any leather areas maintained and retreating them if they have a DWR coating.
Are there gloves designed specifically for women or children?
It is possible to get winter hiking gloves for women and children. Many of the hiking gloves that we’ve covered in our round up are specifically aimed at women. However, there are also plenty of gloves in our unisex categories, or men’s categories that are also suited to women.
The only thing to keep in mind is that sometimes sizing can run differently between men’s, women’s and unisex gloves. Women’s fit often tend to run a little smaller as manufacturers seem to assume women always have smaller hands than men. Which is of course not the case!
When it comes to children, some brands make smaller sizes that are suited to children specifically, and these can often be found in junior sections of outdoor retailers, if this is something they carry. Though this isn’t always possible.