How to choose your gloves for winter?

How to choose your gloves for winter?

Do you want to enjoy winter? Snowshoeing, skiing, snowboarding, sledding or other snow activities? It is an excellent idea to take advantage of a season when the outings are more difficult due to the cold, the humidity and the short days.

To be able to make the most of your days outside in winter, gloves are certainly the key piece of equipment in your snow outfit. Without gloves, your resistance to the cold will not be very long, even wrapped up in a big jacket and good ski pants.

Summary
  1. 1. Choose gloves with a waterproof and resistant coating
  2. 2. Choose gloves with a warm and pleasant lining
  3. 3. Choose quality gloves for durability and excellent insulation
  4. 4. Choose mittens for better heat retention

Choose gloves with a waterproof and resistant coating

Gloves for winter, whether either for skiing or any activity in the snow, need to be as waterproof as possible.

Even if you do not have the idea of ​​touching the snow with your hands, there will inevitably come a time when you will be in contact with snow or cold or even frozen objects.

Snow under your snowshoes that have to be removed, branches to be pushed aside full of snow, an unexpected slide. In short, your gloves must be waterproof to limit the spread of moisture inside your gloves, in the lining and on your skin.

Outdoors, you will also be confronted with trees, rocks, sharp ice, all elements which, without being extremely dangerous, can be sharp and tear your gloves. You therefore need gloves with a resistant and durable outer coating.

How to choose gloves for winter

To stay dry, GoreTex is a great solution.

Gore-Tex
Gore-Tex is the trade name for a waterproof and breathable membrane developed in the 1960s and patented in 1969. This technology was invented by a certain Wilbert Gore and his Father Robert Gore.Gore-Tex is used to guarantee excellent impermeability to rain, dripping water coming from the outside while allowing water vapor (perspiration...) to evaporate inside through the membrane. Gore-Tex therefore offers excellent breathability and a quality water-repellent coating.

Choose gloves with a warm and pleasant lining

This is undoubtedly the most important point, having warm gloves! Even if it seems obvious, not all winter or ski gloves are created equal. Some are very well studied and designed for use in extreme cold. Others have a shorter lifespan, a lower quality design, and insulation materials that are not effective or in too little quantity.

Among the effective materials and technologies to keep your hands warm:

Merino wool

Merino wool takes its name from the breed of sheep simply called "merino". These sheep are mainly bred in New Zealand, South America and Australia. They are considered hardy and adapt well to hot weather and very cold winters.

This wool has many advantages, especially for skiing and winter activities. Among the strengths of merino wool:

It's for all these benefits that the most high-performance technical ski base layers are made (mostly) of merino wool. High-quality ski gloves and ski socks are also made from merino.

Choosing quality gloves for durability and excellent insulation

Finally, using gloves with an impeccable finish is a guarantee of unrivaled durability and comfort.

Good winter gloves can be quite expensive, but you'll have plenty of them if you take care of them. In gloves with leather coating, increases durability, provides grip comfort and keeps hands warm. Only small defect, it fears humidity, and becomes waterlogged after long exposure to snow or rain.

Modern snow gloves are made up of several pieces with reinforcements in strategic places. To be able to guarantee durability, comfort and warmth.

However, if you are regularly cold even with well-known brand name gloves, heated gloves are probably an option to consider.

Choose mittens for better heat retention

Mittens are an excellent alternative to classic gloves. By grouping the fingers together in the same space, the cooling is limited and the heat is better preserved when the fingers are not separated. If the winter activity you want to practice does not require great agility and dexterity of your fingers, then mittens are highly recommended!

The best ski gloves

Any other questions you might be interested in...