Silk or merino glove liners as part of winter glove system

Don…Wife and I just started using the Black Diamond LightWeight WoolTech Gloves (new this year) and have found them the best compared to Smartwool, Possum Fur, Patagonia Capile, and Silk. We live in Western MI and where it we test them every day on our walks as a liner glove within Black Diamond’s Mercury Mitts when it get cold. Sue who gets cold “at a blink of an eye” said that the WoolTech Gloves are the best I have gotten for her. http://blackdiamondequipment.com/en_US/ski-gloves/lightweight-wooltech-BD801047SLATMD_1.html

I like the possum down/merino gloves.

light, warm and remain so even when wet.

No good at all (for me) used  alone when hiking as they have very little abrasion resistance .

With regard to this system (and in the process of answering the OPs question) can anyone recommend a good shell GLOVE as opposed to a shell MITT? All I can seem to find are mitts, but I’ve been looking for a full fingered shell to pair with possumn-down liners.

Thoughts on gloves

http://www.fjaderlatt.se/2016/02/i-am-bit-shamed-to-admit-that-i-have.html

Why would you want to use silk gloves? What benefit would they provide?

. How to Keep your Hands Warm while Hiking in Cold Weather .

Cold weather fishing trick.

Rub your hands with vaseline. Just enough to coat them, you don’t want them to be greasy. Then put on latex gloves then wool glove liners.

Vaseline also helps on the feet as well.

Justin,

I was looking at silk liners for the same reason as wool. For their wicking capabilities. Maybe I understood wrong. I want to wear them under my Seirus gloves when hiking at certain temps or around camp when I need more dexterity. Otherwise, I’ll use the liners under my EE mitts.

Anyone have opinions or experience with micro polyester glove liners? I saw Terramar has some. I’m thinking they may be more durable and that if they work similarly they may be a good option.

Don whichever midlayer and outer layer you use, make sure you take multiple liner gloves, at least 2 pairs, if not 3 if you like as gloves are easy to lose. This way when one set of liners gets wet, you can put on the dry pair while drying the wet pair inside your jacket against your body or in your sleeping bag. Same for a fleece midlayer – some people carry a second pair. A very practical tip from Will Rietveld who used to write here and now blogs at his excellent Ultralight Insights.

I have a pair of Terramar poly liners that are going strong for many years. They are durable enough as liners, though I wouldn’t expect them to stand up to heavy use like handling firewood. I also use them running.

Ken loved that link from Jorgen’s blog. Simple inexpensive durable stuff that just works year after year. My first pair of late fall/winter backpacking pants were $5 WWI wool military surplus pants with suspenders, first used on a 4 day cold fall trip through the Adirondaks.

Silk, like cotton, absorbs AND HOLDS moisture. Avoid it for anything beyond around town use.

Merino wool would be OK but I prefer polyester glove liners, from thin knitted liners to thick fleece.

Polyester liners, like long johns, are a moisture transport layer and merino wool does not transport moisture as well as polyester or polypropylene.

BTW, All my winter gloves are various brands of GTX gloves that are large enough to accommodate fleece liners. I carry extra liners so when the first pair wets out a bit from sweat I can change them if it gets colder or I stop for a long while.

I just bought a pair of the Terramar liners and got them wet on the first trip (cold rain) and they held water, dried slow and had minimal use once wet-out.   I had a couple cheap latex gloves that I sandwiched them between and that stayed toasty.   My hands got pruned but that is preferable to cold.  ;-)

I’m looking for a fleece pair next…. not sure I’m going to find a thin liner that actually stays warm when wet.   The Terramar may fare better as a liner under a water-proof membrane but I’m looking for something that dries quick, has at least some ability to be used wet and dexterity is second to warmth when wet, which somehow my hands always get no matter the circumstances.

Carrying multiple sets is a good plan.

Latex or plastic gloves that I sandwiched is acting like a VBL and a good practice when the temp is in the single figures. I find the Black Diamond perform to a higher degree in all weather conditions. My thumb and tips of my fingers when layered and using a hiking or ski pole do get a little chilled in single digit temp BUT when I warm up and keep moving and adjust the pole straps on my hands they return normal in a short time. Glove comparison below:

Black Diamond MidWeight WoolTech gloves

• 153 g Polartec® Power Wool for balance of warmth and durability
• 66% polyester, 34% wool
• Digital thumb and index finger allow for gloves-on touchscreen use
• Temperature Range :   4/13 ºC (40/55 ºF)

Terramar Thermawool Adult Glove Liner

• ClimaSense Thermoregulation Technology keeps you comfortable in all conditions
• 96% Merino Wool, 4% Spandex
• Brushed microfiber against the skin for no itch
• Midweight warmth and superior breathability
• UPF rating 50+ (measures the UV NOT Temperature protection)

Don,

Some of this has already been touched on via responses and links, but here’s my experience.

At the moment, my go to liners that I wear the most are from Smartwool.  One of the seams has opened and is in need of repair, but in spite of that, I really like them and wear them most winter days in both the front and back country.

Ounce for ounce, my PossumDown gloves are the warmest.  As Franco mentioned, they are also pretty fragile so I wouldn’t plan on doing much work with them (eg shoveling snow).  They’ve been relegated for use as a spare and for sleeping.

I’ve used military glove liners for a couple decades +.  You can get them in both wool and synthetic.  Probably the least comfortable compared to the PossumDown and Smartwool, but they are not necessarily uncomfortable either.  Best value at $8.51 on Amazon Prime.

Just to compare notes, my layering system for this winter in addition to my Smartwool liners are a pair of Zpacks fleece mittens and MLD eVent shells.  I’m still shaking the mittens inners/shell down and can’t give a proper review of them yet, but my initial impressions are favorable for both and they appear to be a match made in heaven.  I really like the quality of micro fleece Zpacks uses and wish they would sell it for MYOG projects.

Big fan of the possum down stuff. The gloves have more elastic than the socks (which hardly have any) so they remain pretty snug even after getting wet. You’d need to size up on the gloves though, they are bulky. For me, while I’m active that would be way too warm unless it’s 0˙ f or below. I generally just use a gtx ski glove for 20-30 degrees, that glove with a thin liner for 10-20 degrees with the option to stick in the much warmer possum down liner for in camp.

If it’s colder than that during the day, I pick another sport!

Here’s my system: Powerstretch liners, warm knit mittens (knit for me by my buddy’s mom around 1973 or 4), and shells.

I have tried various liner gloves over the years; straight wool, polypro, wool/polypro blend, etc. I like the powerstretch the best. I have not tried the possumdown. The powerstretch liners weigh about 1.5 oz. Even the thinnest polyester liners I have tried are not under 1 oz,, and not nearly as warm. Polypro has such a low melting point that I always burnt holes in them pretty quick while cooking. Much less of an issue that way with the powerstretch. I have not ever found that I wanted a thinner liner for any reason. I do carry two pair on a snow camping trip. Not so much because of moisture – they rarely seem to get wet – but because I lost one once on a trip and realized how easy that is to do, how easy it is to lose one, and how critical they are.

The powerstrech are reasonably tough but a couple winters is about all they can handle before I get holes in the fingertips. But they get a lot of use – on a typical spring ski trip I’d say I have them on 3/4 of the time or more, mostly by themselves.

Which flavor of the Powerstretch do you buy Paul?

Whatever I can find a deal on. My current ones are mtn hardwear, found them cheap at sierra trading post a year or so ago.