Ice Sparring gloves

Excellent fit around the wrists eliminates the need for an elastic around the gauntlet which makes getting the glove back on an easy thing to do. The glove is well padded which is good if your using straight shafted or bent-handle tools on waterfall ice but sacrifices a little bit of dexterity as compared to the Marmot ice climbing glove. What I like the idea of is the granite-tex waterproof membrane being optional as you can easily replace it when it ruptures and sometimes, on very cold days the pitch isn't all that wet and you want the extra breathability that removing the membrane gives you. Definitely a glove you can fine tune for your conditions but the design of the gauntlet is what sold me. Totally easy on/offs when climbing and that's important when its time to refuel with an energy gel buried deep in your mid-layer.

Inside palm and fingers are made of a fairly thick, high-quality leather. Rest of the glove is a stretchy nylon. Plenty of padding on the back of the knuckles and fingers. Biner loop. Liner is a blend of fleece and wool. It is removable, however, it is firmly set in there so you can put them on and take them off without the liner coming out and getting bunched up. Fit is better for people with slender fingers than fatter ones. Fabrics are pretty water resistant, but if you need real waterproofness, you need to insert an additional waterproof liner (?!?).



Strengths: rugged leather palm holds up well to the abuse of rapelling. Pretty warm. Good padding. Water resistant enough for most ice climbing days except when it get realllllly wet.



Weaknesses: combination of taught fit, thick leather and stiff knuckle padding make it quite hard to bend your fingers - so much so that it made it quite hard for me to hold my tools! I'm definitely not a strong enough climber to need additional difficulties from my gloves!! So, these are staying home for now. I'm hoping this will get better over time as the leather breaks in and the padding softens. I'll keep using them for shovelling the driveway to see if they break in.