Best cold weather gloves

Do your Glaciers last?
As I wrote above, for me I can’t even get one full winter out of a pair without a lot of patching… But if they fit on your hand well and you don’t paddle too hard, I suppose they could last a long time - I just torture mine too much -:wink:

Pogies
Pogies are also an alternative, through I didn’t care for the NRS style (too hard to get on large hands).



Jim

MIT
MITTENS OR [OUTDOOR RESEARCH] GORTEX SHELL FLEECE LINER HAVE USED @ 0 DEGREES W/TOE WARMERS TAPED INSIDE

Glacier Gloves
work better than any other glove I’ve tried but I also use poggies and like them alot

toe warmers
The instant heat packs that are used for winter sports work well dry but when wet, they lose their ability to work.



This style of hot pack works wet or dry but are not as small as the flat ones.



http://www.snapheat.com/SNAP_HEAT/Products.html



Nice thing is that they are reusable and you just need to boil them between uses to renew them. (You can NOT microwave them).



There are many brands of these available. Not sure if any one is better than any other. I keep them in my emergency kit.

Which model? They have many.
I use the Kenai All-Purpose.

mine have held up pretty well
since I moved to Cali, I don’t use them much anymore, so forgive me if I have to search my memory. I think a seam on the heal of one hand was starting to go, and a finger tip had a small chunk missing (still don’t know how that happened). But they held up for years (like five) before they started going. I’m sure you’re right–it all depends on how hard you are on them. I would baby mine. Normal paddling, no death grip. I didn’t like the blue velcro strap, so I took them off. The gloves could take water from the back, but kept my hands warm the way a wet wetsuit would.

If you like those you’ll love
SealSkinz. They have that knit polypro interior and exterior, but an internal layer of thin neoprene throughout the glove, so they’re more waterproof than the Ninja Ice.



Yes, you can get water inside. Yes, the exterior can get cold if continuously wet and exposed to wind. But overall they’re very good gloves for temps for me down to freezing (32 degrees) on the water.

Got them = No Good, IMO
Just got the gloves in the mail today. IMO these are not good paddling gloves. They appear warm and fuzzy on the inside but have several problems that I don’t think a paddling glove should have:



(1) Not water proff at all - the top is some sort of tight mesh. Will also probably cause a good deal of evaporation cooling in winds (good for warm weather, not good for cold). OK might be OK if you don’t get your hands wet, but … (need I say more -:wink:



(2) They are not shaped and at the same time are rather stiff - my hands feel like they will get tired holding a paddle… The fingers want to spring back to a straight position. In contrast, most paddling gloves are shaped - you don’t need to expend any effort to hold the paddle with them beyond what you would need without them. Not so with these…



(3) If the traction this rubber offers against a slippery wet paddle shaft is anything like a similar rubber on another set of working gloves offer, it will be very bad - my other set is lightweight but is essentially the same construction: feels great on the hand but is cold in the water and very slippery against the shaft.



So, no I would not use these for paddling. Seem great for yard work or general wear in cold and dry weather.

Level Six is the Good Stuff
JSMarch turned me on to these a few years back:



http://www.levelsix.com/store/index.php/producttype/hand-arm-wear/mitts-neoprene-mitts.html

Gloves

– Last Updated: Nov-17-12 6:49 AM EST –

Here are some other choices;


http://www.wetsuitwearhouse.com/wetsuits/category/scuba-gloves.html#/?filter.sports_combined=Paddle&page=1

These are mens. they have a womens and kids section as well.

For surf ski in the winter cannot be beat.

Level six
I have 2 pairs of these. They are super warm, my hands sweat in them even into 15-20 degree air temps. They are excellent as far as grip. They are waterproof… but only for maybe 10 paddles. Then they leak and leak fairly substantially. I have Aquaseal all over the seams, that definitely helps. But I wish they would tape and glue their seams, especially at the thumb joint, and perhaps add a kevlar strip at the heavy wear areas…across the palm and at the thumb. But I still love these and buy a new pair every season.

wool
it may be a little bulky but wool retains body heat when wet. i delivered mail for 25 years and in the winter the mailbox is cold to touch and in the rain even worse. i found the wool gloves would get wet but my hand stayed warm because of it’s heat retention.

wool???
I can’t imagine using a pair of wool gloves on the water. Wool is fragile when wet, they are not windproof, they are not waterproof. Wool might work for a canoeist whose hands are not continually wet but not for winter kayaking in the north east.


Wool, what’s worked for me

– Last Updated: Nov-20-12 1:42 PM EST –

I sometimes wear cheap wool gloves inside a wind-shell mitten. In that situation, the wool is definitely not "fragile", as the gloves are holding up far better than the mittens. I first tried this combination on a cold, rainy day, when my new, thick neoprene gloves, which were SUPPOSED to be amazingly warm, turned out to be awful, seeming to be almost as cold as no gloves at all. In desperation I put on the cheap wool gloves and wind-shell mitts, and because it was raining quite hard, they were soaking wet in a matter of a few minutes, but my hands rapidly got warm in spite of being wet. I can think of NO other situation where it has been possible for my terribly cold-prone hands to go from painfully numb to toasty warm without any need to make them dry first, and without any additional heat source (like putting my hands inside my shirt to warm them with body heat prior to putting on better mittens). My hands have always been prone to getting very cold at the slightest excuse, so for them to become warm in that soaking-wet situation is totally amazing. Wool is amazing!! All you need is to have a wind-proof shell over the top.

I won't say this would be best for the average kayaker, but I can say that the material is tough enough when under shell layer, and that a shell layer also provides the wind protection you want. Also, the few models of neoprene paddling gloves I've used leak through the seams every bit as rapidly as non-waterproof gloves, so "waterproof" hardly seems to be an issue for comparison.

I use wool liners in my dry gloves
I wouldn’t use wool gloves without the shells, but they’re ideal for use as liners. They’re warmer and more durable than synthetic liners.

level six new model
I’ve used level six mitts for a couple of years and, although I like them a lot, I got holes in the left thumb. I contacted the company and they sent me a new pair of what seem to be a much improved model - the Creeker Mitt. I haven’t tried them out yet, but the thumb seems to be reinforced well. And since I use a Greenland paddle, my hands are constantly in the water. “Fingers crossed.”

Bluettes rubber gloves + wool?
I was looking at waterproof gloves in the hardware store (not for paddling) and saw a couple of models that would probably work as outer shells for wool liner gloves.



Hands would get damp from sweat, of course, and maybe some leakage down the wrists also, but wool does retain some insulating value even when soaked.



Because these gloves were so inexpensive, experimenting with them would not be a big deal. You can always use them for household and yard cleaning duties if they don’t work out for paddling/sport uses.

Thankful for Wool
A couple weeks back I was hiking; crossing streams; and a little cold, cold water went down my boot. In a very short time my foot was warm and when I removed my boots later that day there was no evidence that water had gotten in. I credit wool socks and breathable boots.



Happy Thanksgiving, y’all.

Level Six
I used their gloves for three seasons, buying a new pair each season. The thumb area wore through repeatedly from wing paddle use, but they were the best combination of warmth, grip, and fit I’d found. Unfortunately, last year they revised the palm area I believe, for better wear. The new glove was nowhere near as pliable as the older model, and the grip surface was extremely slippery. Sent them right back.



The Hyperskins are pretty decent-they wear through also, and are not the warmest out there, but they offer a great grip surface and fit.