Cold Weather Gloves Recommendation?

[Ubercop]

Until last year, I lived in the NWT, and had some down mitts that worked well. I still preferred the Big Mitt from Empire Canvas, with some liners. I'd take them, and a pair of beaver fur mitts in the pack, with a few glove liners and a couple mitt liners. But now that I'm in Nova Scotia, I doubt I'll see -40 for a while.
Here, the problem is wetting out. You have to have sealed gore-tex (or similar) shells, and a couple liners. Fleece works, but sucks around fire, and so do the shells, so when it's time to build a fire, a nice pair of leather work gloves go a long way. Got some nice leather jobs from a chainsaw supplier, and love them.
For wool liners, I usually have a couple hardware store pairs, but I think I'll try the Dachstein mitts - thanks for that link.

As you said, it's like dressing the rest of your body, the only difference is, your hands touch everything, so they are more likely to get wet.
I would recommend OR Meteor mitts with removable liner, a good pair of wool liners, and some fleece gloves with grippy dot or strips. Packed in the fire kit, leather work gloves. And, if you have all kinds of money, buy some possum down gloves for luxury.

 

[eginder]

Have you checked out Glacier Gloves? They are fleece-lined, closed cell neoprene. The two coldest things I've ever done are ice-climbing and fly fishing in Montana in the late winter. Sub-freezing temps; ice-cold water, and a general need for hand and finger dexterity. They kept my hands as warm as mittens.

I use the "Angler" model because they have a slit on the index finger and thumb, so you can poke your fingers through and get a bit more control. It's not perfect, but it is way better than the mittens that fold over to reveal the fingers, at least for fly fishing. I've got a pair of the fold-back mittens and they never work for me. They just flop all over the place.

The Glacier Gloves give me enough control to tie on a fly, cast, get some pretty big Browns on the reel, and land the fish. When it came time to put the fish back in the water, by submerging my hand, I didn't feel cold at all, not even when I pulled it back out of the water into the freezing air.

Since they are made of neoprene, they're also really grippy. Great for gripping an ice axe handle, if that's what you're into.

They're not too pricey, at least not compared to Arcteryx, Patagonia, etc. I think I paid about $40 and mine have lasted at least 10 years.

Hope this helps.

 

[soapboxpreacher]

I am going thru the exact process. Unfortunately I haven't found what I have been looking for. I got a pair of Duluth trading winter proof work gloves. They are waterproof, thin and tough however they aren't good in any temp below 30. I went sledding with my son in 23 degrees for an hour and they were not warm. I took a pair of cheap schmidts i got from tractor supply with me just in case...i was glad i did! The schmidts are thicker ski style gloves but they are warm. You will be hard pressed to find a thin glove that will be sub zero ready and waterproof. I suggest Cabela's GORE-TEX® XPG® Gloves. Gore tex is still the king when it comes to breathability and waterproof. eVent is good stuff but expensive and not readily available in gloves yet. As for gore tex it's very good and they then add in some insulate with something like thinsulate with 250-150grams and you are covered. These cabelas gloves are on sale for 36 bucks. They are not as thin as you like but what you are asking for doesn't exist for subzero temps. You will have to get something thicker to support those temps.

 

[gregorio]

Lots of good info here. The only addition I would add is that when it is really cold having a long sleeve with thumb holes is very nice. It helps to keep the heat in around the wrists.

 

[jw2n]

In extreme cold I switch to mittens. My heaviest gloves are a pair of OR Gortex outers with a heavy fleece liner. I wear a pair of thin wool gloves inside of this arrangement as I can slip the bulky outer off when I need greater dexterity. The drawback is the cost as I paid $150 for the ORs in '99 and the newer models are moving into the $200 range. Another setup I use are surplus trigger finger mitts with the dedicated wool liner and a second wool glove inside of those. This works well as long as you do not get them wet with the construction being canvas and leather. I have less than $30 invested in this setup making it affordable. I now have so many pairs of gloves and mittens that I had to start a dedicated tote for them - yet another area of wretched excess on my part.