Monday 19 November 2012

Gloves - finally, a decent walking pair?!

I think that I may have actually found a solution to cold wet hands.

Montane Resolute Mitts
If you have ever read any of my other glove posts, you may think that I am beginning to be a little obsessive about cold hands, and the amount of gloves I may or may not own. However, I recently bought a pair of Montane Resolute mitts.

First things first, yes, they are mitts, but hey, I wanted something that was crazy warm, and more as something that was going to go over other thinner gloves. I have quite small hands so I figured I'd get some Mediums and they would probably be pretty damn big.
Not so.

The Mediums are about right for my hands with no other gloves on, unless I have the thinnest silk liners I can possibly find. So if you want a pair for going over other gloves, go a couple of sizes larger than you think.

The trigger finger inner
I've been out on a couple of enforced walk and stand in the cold in the past few days, and I had a number of gloves on me to try and keep warm. As a brief idea, it was wander around in the cold (yes it ended up sleeting and snowing on us, on Kinder, in October), and I spent about 2 hours standing still, so not your normal running around the place, pumping blood through arteries to hands at full speed kind of thing. The second occasion was out on a very windswept hill in the middle of the night, teeming with rain, gloves on, gloves off, gloves on, gloves off, cold wet hands, nightmare scenario.

Amazingly grippy palms
Let me tell you what happened.
Warm. Dry. Hands.

I couldn't actually believe it. I don't think I have ever been in a situation (without hand warmers, and in some cases even WITH hand warmers, where I have had cold, wet hands on the hill, and not had to wait until I got back home before they actually warmed up. No liners were used, just the Resolute mitts.
On the first night out, I started out in my Arctery'x SV gloves, got cold fingers, even as we walked. When we stopped, I thought I'd have a blast with the new Mitts, and astonishingly, my fingers warmed up. That in itself is nigh on unbelievable as it is, but the fact that I was standing still in biting wind, sleet, and general not-nice-ness meant that the increase in comfort and dexterity within my fingers was notable and very surprising.
The inner's inner. Fleecey pile. mmmmm
As mentioned, the second time was in rain and wind- traditionally the kind of place where if I take off gloves to do something that requires dexterity, or if I'm wearing a glove which provides relative dexterity anyway, my fingers freeze and I get quite miserable very quickly.

My hands got wet and cold. I thought damn, thats it, cold hands for the next 5 hours, stuck the Resolute Mitts on, and within 5 mins, my hands were warm and dry.
Let me say that again. WARM. DRY.
Wow.

That cycle was repeated a number of times throughout the evening, and my mitts are currently drying out. However, as someone who has suffered for years with cold and loss of dexterity in the fingers, I have to say that these are the best walking gloves that I have ever ever owned.
(better than the Sealskinz lobster mitts? I hear you ask)
For walking, yes, I believe so. I haven't completely and comprehensively tested these things yet, but from 2 experiences where I know I would have been suffering, they are superb.
...And a D ring to attach them to you!
Top marks to Montane for these, and if you want to send me a pair in Large, they would be greatly appreciated!

1 comment:

  1. I've just bought these SealSkinz Mittens as I was on the lookout for something a little different! http://www.aboveandbeyond.co.uk/.sealskinz-winter-mitten_5060032395982.htm I have used them on a number of day walks and a couple of runs and I deffo recommend them!

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