Winter Gloves and Miitts system

I've always been happy with a three-piece system: liner gloves (currently powerstretch but I've used various over the years), warm mittens – fleece is good and easy to make your own – and mitten shells. The warm mitts can be of varying thickness depending on how cold the weather you are dealing with, and might be primaloft or down if you like. But the fleece works great, and if you make your own you can pick the weight of fleece and how many layers you want.

I wear the liner gloves a lot, the shells over the liners a little, and other combinations occasionally.

edited to add – I might add that I carry a spare pair of liner gloves, mostly because I once lost a liner glove on a ksi tour, but also becasue they are pretty likely to get wet and having a dry pair is well worth the extra 1.5 oz.

Assuming "winter" means temps less that 32F … Add vapor barrier gloves to Paul's suggestion and you have winter hand wear nirvana.

Cheers Paul,

Making your own fleece mitts does sound like a great idea.

Hi Jim,

I have never tried any VB clothing.

Thanks both,

Our winters are pretty mild. If it gets to single digits it is rare. Most of the time our lows are in the mid teens and up, not counting wind chill. I have been fine just using my OR PL150 Fleece gloves and then lining a waterproof mitt over them. I had been using the MLD eVENT mitts up until this past February when I bought some of the ZPacks cuben mitts. I have been quite happy with this set-up.

http://sticksblog.com/2012/12/09/zpacks-waterproofbreathable-cuben-fiber-rain-mitts/

I have often thought about adding in a pair of nitrile gloves as a bit of a VBL. I could just throw these on under the fleece gloves. I may try that this year just to try something new…

I really like the MLD Event mitts, I must seam seal mine though.

I don't do any sub-zero backpacking, or haven't anyway. For above zero:

On the move, I like my Extremities windstopper gloves. They're usually good by themselves, but if it's especially cold, I'll wear an Ibex wool liner. If it's raining, I really like my Extremities Tough Mitts over the gloves.

For hanging in camp, I like my BPL VaprThrm mitts, with the Ibex liners if necessary. I also have a pair of the Black Rock down mitts, but haven't used them much.

Sounds like a nice system Doug.

Does anyone have any suggestions for vapor barrier liners? I would like to give them a try for multiday trips. I think nitrile exam gloves would work, but I would think there would be something out there designed for this purpose.

Virtually all VBL specific gear for hands are mitts of some kind. Nitrile gloves are your best option (and INCREDIBLY cheap compared to anything else the market could come up with). Gets some of the thicker ones if you're worried about long term durability.

Also there are plenty of neoprene solutions that act as a VBL available from watersports companies, they just tend to be bulkier than necessary as a pure VBL (but warmer too).

Rbh Designs makes a few excellent mitts with built-in VBL. I purchased both their lighter and heavier versions. I use various weight liner gloves with the lighter mitts. I used to bring the heavier mitts with me just in case it got too cold for the lighter ones, but stopped after a few trips because, even at 0F, they really were't needed.

@Stephen

There is a definite learning curve with VB clothing. Hands and feet are a good place to start with VB clothing. They are a small % of your total body surface area and being extremities, can be hard to keep warm. The payoff is big. It is a big junp from there to a VB shirt … still working on that.

The hand wear article you read has a strong mountaineering slant. Here is what I like here in the northern midwest flatlands.

1. Big and thick mitts are useful once you reach the point of idly killing time in camp waiting for a reasonable bedtime but they don't leave my pack while on trail or doing camp chores.
2. I use VB socks and gloves next to my skin with liner gloves/socks over them. Others prefer the liners between skin and VB. Try each way and choose for yourself.
3. I wear knit or fleece gloves over VB gloves. Different thickness for different temps. When VERY cold I'll use mitts instead of these gloves. I don't worry about this layer being windproof. That would be wasted weight.
4. On the outside I wear breathable but windproof non-waterproof mitts. Might have waterproof mitts along with if it's possible that I'll see rain (like yesterday, ugh). I have to admit that I tend to try to avoid rain with temps near freezing.
5. For footwear I lean towards the approach described in Will R's excellent lightweight winter footwear series.
6. I have size 12 feet. For winter I use size 14 Inov-8 Roclite 390 GTX and replace the insole with 1/4 inch wool felt insoles. There's still room for up to two layers of heavy wool socks.
7. What I haven't done to-date is use a waterproof shell overboot. That was OK for day tripping but last winter I learned that the overboot was important to keep snow from penetrating the outer fabric of the boot resulting in frozen boots starting with morning of day 3.
8. Gaiters finish off the system

I remember as a kid the very technical glove system my parents devised — socks with a plastic bag rubberband'ed around the wrist! Fun stuff, worked sort of well during the light snow we got maybe every two years. Come to think of it, slightly UL but definitely multi-use!

For cold days ski patrolling I use a Cabela's GTX glove shell with removable fleece liners. I carry a spare set of liners and change them out at noon.

For extreme cold I have OR GTX mitten shells with either Dachstein boiled wool liners or double layer fleece liners. I carry both liners if our for more than a day.

Very cold air is quite dry and liners will dry out quickly but you may have to beat some frost off of them.

for very cold temps I've had very good luck w/ OR PL 400 mitts and OR Endeavor gore outer mitts, I always carry 1 oz merino liner gloves for the fine stuff

what are folks using for VB for hands- ultra thin nitrile gloves? I've thought about using those under a light glove for trail running in wet/cold conditions

While moving,
Army surplus wool liners
Add fleece mittens(colder)
Over mitts(even colder still)
If its warmer and a bit windy, I just wear the over mitts with no layers.

At camp
Second pair of surplus wool liners
Thick primaloft mittens

Cheers Guys,

Wool Liner
Dachstein Wool Mitt
Black Rock Type Down Mitts
MLD Type Shell

Interchange the Wool and Down inner mitts per conditions/needs.
Always carry two chemical heat pad when either the wife or I need them…….have yet to in 49 yrs.