Gloves for Denali

Allen Sanderson wrote:

FWIW When I was on the Cassin I climbed with shell mittens, specifically the Mercury Mitts. Much of the time it was with mid-weight gloves inside. When really cold the mitten liners but with thin glovers. At one point I lost a mid-weight glove and just double the thinner liner gloves to replace it. The system worked well and one I would use again and recommend. The only pitfall is that mittens are fairly specialized.

The arc’teryx and alpha sv mittens are great for that too and currently on sale. I got them for Denali a few years ago but, now I use them all the time over my lead climbing gloves for belaying or just on cold days. They have an inner puffy mitten and a lightly insulated shell mitten.

SinRopa wrote:

BD Guide gloves get a bad rap for not being too dexterous, but IMO that's because people generally aren't talking about a broken in pair.  After as little as one day of wear, the dexterity increases a bunch.  

If you're talking about Denali use like the OP, you're probably worried about working your ascender on the fixed lines, or clipping into/out of fixed pro on the ridge above.  The BD Guide absolutely has enough dexterity for those tasks.  I like them more than the Kincos for expeditions where you're digging or moving snow blocks around because of the long gauntlet too.

One other warm gauntlet type glove worth mentioning is Arcteryx's Fission SV (updated version of the Alpha SV), but I prefer the BD Guide over both of those as well if you're not dealing with super wet conditions.

EDIT: Sometimes people on bring multiple extra sets of gloves on Denali, and that's just more weight to drag around and more hassles to deal with.  You need a glove you can wear all day and that's good in a range of temperatures and conditions.  What you don't need is to be digging in your pack because your lightweight layer isn't warm enough and your midweight layer is fleece and it's snowing and your other midweight layer is only warm enough with the shell and that's in your sled and....you get the point.

If you've got a super warm mitts (used with a thin liner glove), a very warm glove, and a light/medium glove you should be golden.  My personal choices are OR Alti mitts with any light silky liner glove, BD Guide gloves, and OR Stormtracker gloves.

Thanks SinRopa, will take a look on guides one more time.
I have Alti mittens as my mitts, still need to get heavy gloves (Guides, Alti, Arcteryx), and for light/midweight I have some gloves that I usually using here in PNW, but those are GTX and I read/heard that "working" gloves should not be GTX to dry fast, so I am considering getting some OR stormtracker/extravert like gloves. Also considering to get rubber insulated gloves, read many posts which says they are really helpful.

For a non-gtx glove try the mountain equipment randonee gloves, they make a gauntlet and non-gauntlet version. I use both and they stay warm when wet and dry easily.

I am going to Denali May 9th and am considering using these as my heavy glove.  I know they are pretty popular but I have yet to hear someone discuss strategies for drying them out over an expedition - though I see lots of well regarded climbers using them on Denali, but I wonder if they use them with the liner or not? All the guiding services say BD guides but I'm not a huge fan of them - not dexterous, shell not waterproof, liner too warm for any sort of activity...  

My current system is as follows: for ice climbing I wear these, and use a thin wool liner on <10 degree days. For skiing I normally a pair or windstopper fleece gloves (Head running gloves from Costco) that I skin/sweat in and then use an oversized pair of Temres 282 with gauntlet for when I hit the ridge, or start boot packing.  This system has worked well, better than kincos. Looking for advice on a system for drying these out though... like possibly removing the liner and buying some thick fleece gloves in order to remove and dry - I would lose dexterity and it wouldn't be as smooth as my current system but it would be easier to dry.  Also considering just flipping inside out in the tent and doing my best with them - Denali has sun to dry stuff out hopefully - just not sure if I should bring x2 pairs if that is my system.  

I plan on bringing 1-2 thin liners, 1-2 fleece liners, BD Arcs (or maybe a smaller pair of Temres), Oversized Temres w/ gauntlet, OR AltiMitts

@Sinropa just to clarify... do you take out the lining that comes with the OR Alti Mitts and replace it with your own glove liner instead? Also, do you suggest any particular silky liner gloves?

Thanks!

Melanie Shea wrote:

For a non-gtx glove try the mountain equipment randonee gloves, they make a gauntlet and non-gauntlet version. I use both and they stay warm when wet and dry easily.

BTW, I couldn't find these or OR extravert or any other insulated softshell non membrane gloves for a long time, stock was empty. Eventually found RAB Baltorro and they seem pretty good to me. Usually I wear Large in OR gloves but Rab XL fits better than L.

Georgy Gobozov wrote:

BTW, I couldn't find these or OR extravert or any other insulated softshell non membrane gloves for a long time, stock was empty. Eventually found RAB Baltorro and they seem pretty good to me. Usually I wear Large in OR gloves but Rab XL fits better than L.

I just looked and found they’ve been discontinued. What a shame, they managed moisture really nicely when worn under a pertex shell mitt for belaying and what not.

Let me report what I have used on the mountain.

1) 2 bucks QFC liners 30% of time, mostly at lower glacier before 11k camp
2) RAB Baltorro 50% of time, used them at and after 11k up to 17k camp
3) Showa 282 - 2 rubber gloves used in all camps for work (building walls, setting up tents etc)
4) OR Highcamp 3 finger on summit day.

Never used OR Alti mitts.