UKC

Im looking at buying some gloves, mainly for Ice climbing and ski touring ext, hopefully to use in summer alpine conditions if its cold ect, so really want to be water resistant close fitting and quite warm, I have huge winter cold mitts so these would be for the finer stuff, had a look round and there are a lot, liked the look of these, http://www.actionoutdoors.co.uk/outdoor_gear/info_SC556-SmartWool-Ridgeway-... , can anyone recomend any particular gloves ( price range of below 40 quid really) that sound like theyd work for all the above?
cheers

In reply to sethmford: Used ME Guide gloves for all of the above, £35 a pair. I currently have a bit of a glove fetish and having used some much more expensive ones, I can honestly say these are really good for the price. Not the most breathable or dexterous mind, but good.

In reply to sethmford:

I have some ME Guide gloves, picked them up for 30 squids on sale a couple years ago. I've not done any summer alpine, but the gloves are consistently warm enough for Scottish winter, and I used them as ski gloves on the pistes in the Alps last week and they performed admirably. They seem to be pretty water resistant to me, but whenever I take them off I seem to fill them up with snow so I cant speak too much for that. They have wrist loops which is nice when you're high on a climb and need to do something fiddly, you can take them off and just let go and not worry about them falling. My only quibble is I got them too small to wear even a thin liner underneath. Super comfy with no rubbing places or anything.

http://www.cotswoldoutdoor.com/mountain-equipment-guide-glove-1c310176

In reply to sethmford: I use the Extremities GTX multisport for virtually all my ice climbing. Warm and dextrous enough although I don't suffer much with the cold. They're too warm for skinning but then it's pretty hard to find a glove you can really keep on all day when you're touring.

In reply to sethmford:

Also picked some ME guides up cheaply ( for a tenner , I win :p )

Excellent warmth, the pile lining keeps you warm even when damp.

I use a pair of Marmot gloves for climbing, great knuckle protection with some toughened plastic/ kevlar bits on them. Sadly don't think they still make them. When I eventually need to replace them, I might try looking at some of the workwear gloves as a cheaper alternative. Something like these could be worth a go: http://www.engelbert-strauss.co.uk/Personal_Protection/Gloves/Leather/e_s_W... but hopefully a needle thread and tube of shoegoo will keep the marmots alive a good while longer....

In reply to sethmford: ME Guides are really good for the price. Don't expect them to stay waterproof but when they wet out they'll still keep you warm. I find that they don't breathe well enough and so they wet out from the inside but if you wear you mitts for belaying then swap into the Guides for climbing and have another pair for the approach then they should be fine.

In reply to sethmford: I'd go for the ME Randonee gloves over the guides. Same pile lining, but more dexterous and breathable in my mind. albeit, a little more expensive. I've recently experimented with a 2 glove combo: warm liner glove (RAB powerstretch glove etc) with a windproof/ waterproof/softshell over glove (Marmot 'something') just gives that little more range with the glove system.

In reply to sethmford: Buy two pairs of Venitex gloves and have change from £40. Only gloves that have kept my hands warm and have never needed to put the spare pair on. I was told guides often wear them in Chamonix and got mine there - but you can just search for them via google.

In reply to sethmford:

The gloves I use for ice climbing are quite different from those I used for ski touring. Ski touring is pretty easy on gloves, they won't get very wet (unless you're skiing in Scotland in the rain - been there, done that), so something you can put on, leave on and do things wearing seems best. Through the Finnish winter I live in a pair of Marmot Basic Work Gloves http://lightfromthenorth.blogspot.fi/2012/10/marmot-basic-work-glove-review... Skiing, snowshoeing, work outside, going out when it's cold, just about everything really. You can do most things with them on so you don't take them off and your fingers don't get cold, plus they breath well when you're working hard. About 20 quid and mine are on their fifth winter of being used most days. If it's -10 to -15 you might need warmer, but otherwise, not really.

For ice climbing, because your gloves normally get wet, you need something waterproof - this unfortunately means expensive Goretex or similar. I'm currently using BD Punishers and they work pretty well after a couple of season with RAB Latoks that also are a good glove but haven't lasted brilliantly. Here's a review of two different types of the Latoks that I wrote for UKC but didn't get used for some reason: http://bitsandbobsandoddsandsods.blogspot.fi/2012/01/rab-latok-ice-gauntlet...

The good thing is though decent ice gloves like the Latok glove or Punishers, make good skiing gloves for really cold weather, or long fast descent, so two pairs will see you through most mountain sports!

In reply to sethmford:


ive been impressd with the BD ramblas. quite blatant knock off of the arcteryx ones but at 1/3 the price. even in weird colours.

im a bit obsessive over gloves and lovingly dose mine in snoseal before use, heating to soak the wax in, usually getting 2 loads in before hitting saturation.

within a few uses (and dryng them properly between) they form to your hands like a...well...er...glove.

the ramblas have a primaloft/softshell platform with all leather fingers.
more than 40 pounds, but still good for the money.

On a related note can anyone recommend a source of LARGE gloves? All the main manufacturer's XL sizes are too small. Dachstein size 9 mitts fit, so something that size in gloves is what I want.