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Winter Gloves for Sausage Fingers

Original Post
Demetri V · · Farmington, CT · Joined Jul 2019 · Points: 132

tl;dr I'm looking for suggestions on winter gloves for someone with short, fat fingers & meaty palms.

Use cases: ice climbing or ski touring or skimo racing. I'm not looking for a glove that can "do it all," I'm just looking for options in any of these quiver slots. I'm the kind of loser that has no problem owning 10 pairs of gloves. I'm also open to liner/shell combos if anyone has experience with that.

In the past, I've always had to sacrifice dexterity for warmth. When I have bought a pair of gloves that actually fit in width/thickness, I can hardly do anything with them because the fingers are so long. When I try to size down for dexterity, my fingers get squeezed and therefore get cold.

To date, my only solution has been to look for a glove that is largely natural leather, and size down. Basically, the leather stretches over time and I eventually have a nice glove that is decently warm and fits well. The best example of this is my old pair of (now discontinued) Outdoor Research Ascendant gloves. Those are leather in the palm and sides of fingers, with Polartec Alpha and Pertex Quantum on the back of the hand/fingers. I kick myself every winter day for not buying multiple pairs of these when they were in production.

To replace my OR Ascendant gloves, I tried the Arcteryx Venta AR glove; which seemed similar enough. However, I've never had a pair of gloves that truly suck the warmth out of your hands like the Venta gloves. I've forced my fingers to freeze in them for many a resort-uphilling day to try and break them in. Unfortunately, I just don't think they're going to work out. The design of them is basically a full fleece liner glove sewn into the leather and softshell outer glove. I believe that this fleece glove is just not stretching enough, and still squeezes my hands.

Looking forward to hearing suggestion from anyone else with short, thick fingers and hands! Thanks in advance.

Arnav V · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2019 · Points: 40

OR has lots of 100% leather offerings right now. Also, the OR Illuminator Sensor sounds similar to what you're describing. I've worn through a pair of those and just got another one, I really like them as an all-purpose winter glove to put on when liners are too cold and something big is too much. They also stretch and break in a bit for sure. My old broken-in pair fits me like no other gloves do. It just molded to my hand shape. 

 I've also found that the OR Alti Glove fits slightly short and wide in the fingers. That would make a decent liner + glove offering. Using the OR Alti Glove with a lightweight liner and not the synthetic insulated glove makes for decent-enough dexterity. Enough to rummage through my backpack or do splitboard transitions. I'd say it's a decent option for below 15 - 20 degrees. 

Demetri V · · Farmington, CT · Joined Jul 2019 · Points: 132

Thanks, I'll check out the illuminator gloves. I think the Alti is a little too thick/warm for my application.

Not necessarily married to the idea of a leather glove, just looking for one that fits!

Devin Horgan · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2014 · Points: 10

Truck gloves. Theyre moderately cheap and come in a wide range of sizes (5-11) instead of S, M, L. The "trigger" gloves are really good and accommodate my stubby fingers well.

that guy named seb · · Britland · Joined Oct 2015 · Points: 236

If you want a high volume glove can't go wrong with the showa temres 282.

Wictor Dahlström · · Stockholm · Joined Oct 2021 · Points: 0

I also have short fingers and like Hestra Ergo Grip Active.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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