UKC

They freeze solid, they aren't dextrous, the wrist cuff is poor, they wear out relatively quickly, there are better mitts for less money.

Those who don't agree either 1) haven't tried other gloves and mitts and are just following the crowd or are 2) just odd.

Discuss.

In reply to TobyA: i have apir and have ued them a coulpe of times for winter walking. they are very warm but are a bit dated.

In reply to TobyA:

Dear Toby

I've been wearing Dachstein mitts for 37 years and never worn any other type of glove/mitt, so I must be following a crowd. Mind you I've never climbed that hard to use gloves.

Norrie

In reply to TobyA: I bought mine in a sale for £3.50 15 years ago and they're still going strong so I can't agree with you as regards durability or price.

In reply to TobyA: I wouldnt say they are rubbish, there are better options but for winter walking they take a lot of beating, admittedly when climbing the fact they arent dextrous is a bit annoying, but the cuff has never bothered me, and my pair have lasted 6 years or so, but I do tend to wear a pair of mountain equipment gloves at the moment, but they are getting ripped now.

In reply to TobyA:
I don't like them as my hands get too warm. But I don't lknow about following the crowds, to do that you'd have to wear the latest goretex surely.

In reply to Lewis climber:

OK, I'll let you off then.

Norrie climbed point five with a pair of socks on his hands so his opinion is too far outside of the statistical norm to be counted.

In reply to TobyA:

2) Just odd.

In reply to TobyA:

Well, I've been using them for donkey's years and am still only on my second pair. Have tried others but keep going back to them. I'd have thought they were uncool these days, so I'm surprised that there's a crowd, but if there is, I'm near the front.

In reply to TobyA: Sell yours (cheap) and buy something different.

In reply to 999thAndy: I don't have any. In fact I have one somewhere, which I found on the approach to the Italian Route on the Ben. Make me an offer.

In reply to TobyA:

i've got a mate like you. has never tried them, and won't, as he thinks they won't work. he moans about cold hands instead. try them and be converted. wear them next to the skin so the wool stimulates your never endings, keeping your hands warm, and also this way, the dexterity isn't too bad.

In reply to Lightweight: No - I have used them and they're still rubbish. How you go, for example, placing a no.3 nut in a pair, or even placing an ice screw - I don't know.

I don't really care either way. If your bag is mucking around in easy to moderate gullies, I fully accept that dachs will keep your hands perfectly safe. I've just seen so many post this winter where someone has asked about a specific glove, normally for a specific activity like icefall climbing, and someone says: "oh no! You should get some dachstein mitts", normally that person has no real understanding the needs of the questioner.

They also take ages to dry so aren't great for multi-day trips and they smell like old sheep. Some may see the last point as a positive - but that just puts them firmly in the 'odd' catergory.

In reply to TobyA:

think you've got a fair point - i wouldn't choose them for ice fall climbing. but for much scottish winter stuff they're v.good.

your point re multiday stuff - i can't agree with that. the big advantages with dachsteins is that they don't feel wet, even when they are (assuming you wear them next to the skin). they remain fluffy when wet, keeping the damp away from your hands. and they dry while you where them.

i reckon this is much better for multiday stuff than goretex gloves. even though these are technically breathable, i find that once the lining gets wet, they feel wet and they remain that way.

In reply to Lightweight:

I would say of any mitts that beyond say Scottish II, some IIIs, they're all pretty useless. As soon as your not just mucking about in some 45 degree gully, and actually need to place gear, tie knots, take out gear - gloves are the only way to go. For the walkin and off any windproof mitts will do they job. I would imagine using a friend with dachs on would be amusing.

In fact I think Scottish climbing (beyond the easiest routes) asks more of gloves than most other types. Icefall climbing is fine in a pair of lightly insulated gtx gloves as placing an ice screw and clipping a QD doesn't need that much dexterity. But messing around with small nuts or knifeblades does.

In reply to TobyA:
I wear Dachstein gloves. They're not as warm as the mitts but are still rpetty good. They dry far quicker than any goretex gloves and are also far MORE dextrous (at least than any goretex gloeves ive had or have). Oh, and theyre cheap - £30 or more is simply not something im prepared to countenance for a pair of gloves. Dachsteins can be had for about £18.

In reply to TobyA:
there are better mitts for less money.


If you want value for money, kiddies magic gloves are the way foward... dry out in seconds, always skin tight, piss easy to use...

In reply to TobyA: I must admit, I wore a pair of none 'coated' Salewa ones on Mont Blanc 10 years ago when my hands froze in the wind. However, apart from Buffalo style mitts, I am yet to come across anything else that realistically works well enough in Scotland.

Any other suggestions?

In reply to BenTiffin:
When I started climbing (mid 70s) everyone said Dachsteins were the best, so that's what I bought. A couple of years later I started winter climbing in Scotland regularly & quickly got feed up with them, mostly as too clumsy. Since then I've mostly used thin polypro gloves (cheap, but they don't last long) with a pair of mittens over the top from various companies, starting with Helly Hansen, and more recently Wintergear (what happened to them) & Wild Country.

In reply to TobyA: It depends on the weather! I can tie knots, place gear including nuts and pegs and open food wearing dachsteins. They are more durable than most pairs of gloves and much less hassle than wearing a pair of mitts over thin gloves. Of all the gloves and combinations I have tried they are the best for scottish winter climbing and mountaineering.

I don't use them in the alps in summer, even on ice routes, a pair of gloves works fine.

I am obviously just odd!

In reply to BenTiffin: Scottish hard mixed (well, hard for me anyway) - Wild Country/Extremities thinnies with a pair of sticky thickies over them. Mitts to belay in. Any will do but I have a pair of Wild Country gtx ones bought in 1991 which are still fine. Recently got a pair of new Extremities mitts for eleven quid in TKMaxx.

For ice climbing and Scottish ice where you aren't fiddling with gear quite as much: Mtn Hardware Exposure II gtx gloves with any old lined mitts for belaying if it is really cold.

For ski mountaineering I tend to wear something like sticky thickies with a pair of light Black Diamond shell gloves (Verglas maybe?) that I picked up in Rock'n'Run years back for less than a tenner.

In reply to TobyA:
How many pairs of gloves have you got!!!?

In reply to TobyA: For scrambling on cold dry rock they are fantastic. For placing screws crap. Inbetween - find out

In reply to Norrie Muir:


That might explain your concise postings; it must be quite hard to type wearing mitts. Has your hair grown into them yet, i.e. have they become part of you?

In reply to Malcolm: A couple of bag fulls spread between two different countries... and that's not including the missus'. I have been mountaineering though since you were (according to your profile) three. Which is the second thing in two days that makes me feel really old.

Not as old as Norrie though, but also not as good lookin'.

In reply to TobyA:
It used to be a thing of pride (apparently!) if you could open a KitKat wearing dachsteins - another dying art, no doubt, due to techical progress - I don't think KitKats even have foil on anymore?

OE

In reply to Norrie Muir: where can you buy dachstein mittens or gloves

can't find them anywhere any more
td

In reply to td:
I think you can get them from needlesports in keswick

In reply to td:

I got mitts from Tiso's in Leith (Edinburgh)

In reply to td: summits, in paisley. but i doubt ure anywhere near here.

In reply to td:

Dear t

Further to the other poster's stockists, I got mine in Tiso's in Glasgow. It is best buying them in a shop, so you get the right fit.

Norrie