BackcountryForum.com: My Glove & Mitten Standards

I have a bit of a glove fetish and have amassed a box full. Like most things, there are only compromises.

For a high-end shell glove with removable liner and a waterproof insert, I think Granite Gear made the very best in that category. However they are no longer made so you need to watch ebay and they don't show up often. This place may still have some for sale.
http://www.snowshoecenter.com/Shop/index.cfm?fuseaction=product&ProductID=1267
I don't know if this style glove (Granite Gear or other brands) is worth the money they sell for as $100+ for a pair of gloves is a lot of dough. All the wonderful features they have make them a marvel of design, but mostly its over-kill. Granite gear also made shell mittens with removable fleece liners and I have a pair of these as well.

If I am active, the Granite Gear gloves and mittens are just too warm for me, therefore they rarely get used. My favorite gloves for anything above zero are ragg wool gloves with thinsulate insulation. I think these are very comfortable and warm, but not too warm. If it's wet or damp outside, I have a pair of Marmot precip shells and I can layer ragg wool gloves under the shells. However, the precip doesn't breath at all in winter.

For daily wear I have a pair of Marker spring gloves and I wear a cheap liner as an insert. This is a decent pair of gloves and warm. Smartwool makes a spring glove and I think it's beautiful, but I'm not going to pop $70 for a pair.

The Kinco brand looks interesting and the price is right. Ultimately a decent leather glove over a liner will work nearly as well as any of the more expensive options. I do like to wear a thin liner glove regardless of which outer glove I wear simply to have something covering my hand if I need to pull the gloves off. I buy cheap liners as they get chewed up easily.

If you're looking for a pair of tradtional moosehide chopper style mittens, these are as good as you'll find. Henry also makes very nice belts and used to sell very nice fixed blade knives, but I no longer see them on his web site.
http://www.henrysshoerepair.com/moosehide%20chopper%20mittens.html

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