Price – as you’d expect the price of a product can be an instantly recognisable factor on what sort of quality you can expect. Whoever came up with the phrase “you get what you pay for” pretty much hit the nail on the head. Whilst it’s not always the case and there are many bargains to be had, you can as a general rule, expect the higher priced products to offer better quality than a the cheapest option. We’ll dive into the price of Montane Extreme Glove in more detail in a moment. The idea of carrying two gloves is to keep the warmer pair as dry as possible. When winter climbing, on particularly wet days, I’ll travel with a third pair that I can switch over at belay stances, or when my main gloves become a little too damp to perform.

All in all, this will be a great companion to go with one of the mitts lower down in this roundup, or just for use during those adventures at pace. Full Specifications People are often surprised when I tell them not to forget their sunglasses when they are heading to extremely cold places, a rookie mistake if there ever was one! The sunlight at high latitudes and altitudes is usually incredibly bright, especially when you consider the pure white reflection off the snow and ice. As with sunburn, don’t be caught out by the temperature or clouds up above. In a recent expedition to Alaska, one of my teammates experienced severe snow blindness which can be very painful and last for days. Protecting your eyes with sunglasses or goggles is crucial for safety. They also provide a great shield from the wind from moving ice and snow in polar climates. Eye protection should always be high up on your list of adventure essentials! In this review we've looked at warmth, dexterity, water resistance, durability and overall design. We've climbed, skied, hiked and camped in these mitts at low temperatures and in terrible weather, and here are our findings. There are however some methods that you can use to determine a product’s quality without needing to physically have it.Insulation-wise, Helly Hansen have chosen PrimaLoft Gold fill – 80g of it – which means good insulation even if moisture has managed to creep past the waterproof liner. They’ve coupled this with a very comfortable microfleece lining. Full Specifications It’s fairly beefed up, but despite this, there’s still good dexterity. It has a very slightly pre-curved construction and the leather is supple enough without being flimsy. This covers the whole palm and then wraps around and over the index finger. Rab have built the Guide Glove in a pre-curved way that fits the natural shape of your hand to ensure your ability to clench or grip isn’t affected too much by the leather reinforcements and insulation. I’ve gone through heaps of gloves following my time spent crashing around the mountains. Almost all the failures have involved the palm or fingers wearing or splitting apart. This makes sense, of course. The palm takes the brunt of the wear whilst out in the mountains, so it always helps to have gloves that have a high quality leather – or something equally durable – in that area as well as clever stitching methods to avoid the seams splitting open. The palms are reinforced with a grippy, rubbery material that is fairly robust, but not as tough as leather. We wouldn't want to climb tens of rough Cairngorm routes in these.

At first glance these mitts look pretty chunky, but when you put them on you realise that most of the 'chunk' is behind the hand, meaning the Nebula mitts are surprisingly dextrous (for their size). You do pay a premium and give up a little breathability with increased waterproofing, so we’ve included a few non-waterproof gloves in this test. These are more suitable for winter walking/running where you’re spending little time with your hands on snow. Summary: Overkill for Scottish winter, but if you are Polar-bound, or off to Alaska or the Himalaya, and need something super warm, these fatties would be brilliant.The main downside to it is the price but then if you really suffer from cold digits throughout the day, perhaps you’ll find it money well spent. I’d otherwise argue that you’ll be slightly better suited going for some of the slightly lower cost variants in this roundup. They are clearly a high quality product and seem well put together. They have really easy to use drawcords, nice and chunky, and a large gauntlet that covers the wrist easily. We had them in size large, and they were roomy for the size, swallowing hands easily. If you’re unsure then I’d err on the side of caution and go for a slightly warmer glove than you imagine. There’s nothing worse than a numb pair of hands halfway through your day. Warmth-wise we found these Nebula Mitts to be perfectly warm enough for Alpine winter, Scottish belays and probably beyond. There’s so much information available online when we’re shopping now, that it’s easy to find lots of detail about products like Montane Extreme Glove. This is of course really helpful, but there’s almost too much information available, so it’s important to know exactly what you’re looking for.

Weighing in at 260g, these aren't the lightest mitts in the test, more mid-weight. They are filled with synthetic insulation (Rab's own 'Cirrus') and they are shelled with a water resistant Pertex outer. It’s also worth bearing in mind that the amount of insulation required depends on the activity you’re buying the glove for. For example, a winter climbing or ski touring glove will need slightly less insulation than that of a walking glove. A glove that will be specifically used when sitting on belay ledges on the north face of the Ben will require a fair bit of insulation. Pertex Quantum / 100g PrimaLoft Gold / DryActiv pile lining / goat leather palm and underside of fingers / gauntlet style / adjustable hem closure / adjustable wrist cinch strap / elasticated leash / stuff sac. The Meteor is a modular mitt, a lightly insulated weather-proof shell with a detachable fleece inner. You're effectively getting two pairs of mitts for the price of one (a fair price too), and this gives you three different options for maximum versatility.

The down insulated Ulvetanna mitts from Berghaus are by far the warmest in this test and are clearly aimed at extremely cold temperatures and high altitudes. They are overkill for Scottish winter, but could be a finger saver in the harshest of Alpine winter conditions. But they are best suited to the Greater Ranges. Helly Hansen have designed the Ullr Leather HT Glove as a ski glove, but, like the Columbia option here, that doesn’t mean that it’s unsuited to a winter walking or climbing environment. They were quite big for the size, and we liked the roomy nature of the Crew Mitts, and we found them fairly dextrous too. They didn't win simply because they weighed a bit more than the other mitts. When in use we couldn't tell at all (what's 100g!) but in the specs table it became clear they were tipping the scales at over 300g - well you get durability for your weight with these well built bruisers.

Mitts: perhaps not the sexiest of outdoor clothing, but if the weather is at its worst, or you suffer from cold extremities, then these are the things that will make the biggest difference to your hands. Be aware that the Pertex outer fabric might offer good breathability and dexterity but it won’t have the same kind of durability that some of the other gloves here can boast – the Rab and Salewa for example. The leather on the palm is also quite thin. We couldn’t see this withstanding consistent abuse from climbing or skiing. To give that price some context we then looked at all of the products available from Cotswold Outdoor in the gloves category. We found 37 items in total. What’s the price of gloves?The Pamir features a single layer, windproof Polartec construction, with light insulation throughout. This light recipe does come at a trade off, however, with minimal protection around the whole glove – don’t expect this one to be suitable for winter climbing, rather, think trail running or fast hiking. Aside from the choice between a mitt or a glove, insulation also has a big influence on how dexterous a glove is. In short, more insulation equals more warmth, but that trade off is a less flexible glove. You’ll have an idea yourself how much insulation you require. Another factor that can be a great indication of product quality is the brand. Brands like Montane are of course extremely well known, especially for gloves. We did come up with a negative for the Nebulas though, and that was fit. You can't go far wrong with mitts, as they aren't the most complex of designs, so of course the Nebulas went over our hands and kept them warm! But if we are looking closely then we thought that the mitt itself was slightly too narrow in shape, and the thumb section was hard to find with the thumb, and slightly too high up the mitt. Also we found the insulation or lining behind the hand on just one of the mitts seemed to fold over slighty, as if the inner was wider than the outer and didn't have anywhere to go. It could just have been our test model, so we'd say try before you buy.