Everything you need to know about buying ski gloves

Whether the priority is ultra-warmth, maximum dexterity or a slim and elegant look, our buying advice and technology tips will help you choose the right ski and snowboard gloves – or mittens – this season.

Cinch straps

Whether it’s in the form of tighten-to-fit elastic pulls at the top of gloves or Velcro fastening at the wrists, cinch straps are useful both to keep warmth in and to keep snow out, especially if you fall over. All of the gloves and mittens we review have one or the other, or both.

Cuffs

Sounds simple, but there are choices to be made in the wrist area. Gloves with short cuffs are designed to be worn under jacket sleeves, so the jacket helps seal in warmth. Some short cuffs are designed to fit closely, others have a fitted inner cuff to make them better at keeping snow out. This is also where base layers and jackets with thumb loops come into their own, closing any gaps between jacket and glove. Another option is long, gauntlet-style gloves. They can be bulky but the long design can be more efficient at sealing out snow than a short, under sleeve design, and so might be preferable when hunting powder.

Nose/goggle wiper

Many gloves have a softer fabric panel on the thumb, designed to be kind to your skin when wiping the inevitable runny nose that comes with being in cold mountains. You may prefer to use tissues. While the panels are sometimes referred to as goggles wipers too, take care when clearing snow, as they can damage a delicate lens.

Insulation

Padding adds warmth to gloves of course; the best kind is also breathable so you’re less likely to overheat. It may be natural down, particularly in the warmest mittens, or made using wool, but most is synthetic. Some brands use own-brand tech while others use name brands such as PrimaLoft or Thinsulate. Insulation can make gloves more bulky and less dextrous as well as warmer; some manufacturers address this with heavier-weight insulation over the top of hands, lighter weight on the palms. PrimaLoft and Gore even make a special kind of insulation with less slidey layers to enhance grip. And the latest trick for warmth without bulk is not insulation at all, but battery power to spread electronic heat around the hands.

Lining/liners

The inside of gloves is often soft for a cosy feel, and moisture-wicking to draw sweat away from hot hands. If gloves are thickly padded or have layers of lining that slide around inside, it can make it harder to grip poles etc, something to watch for when trying on. Some gloves and mittens come with removable liner gloves, so you can add or subtract warmth as you fancy.

Mitten

If you suffer badly from cold hands, mittens, aka mitts, are intrinsically warmer than gloves, because your fingers’ proximity to each other means they can share heat and gives room for warm air to circulate. Some mitts feel more like gloves on the inside, with an extra lining with finger separators that boost warmth, and can help dexterity if cleverly attached.

Palms

The material that the palm, fingers and thumbs of gloves is made of affects how they feel and perform, as well as the cost. On cheaper gloves this is often synthetic material; on more expensive pairs it tends to be leather. Supple leather offers better dexterity and sensation than synthetics, and is likely to be more durable, better resisting edge cuts from skis/snowboards for example. On the other hand, leather does need to be treated well to make it last, which means using appropriate cleaners and conditioner/reproofers to maintain water repellency and flexibility. Synthetic palm materials don’t need looking after in the same way.

Pipe/spring gloves

Thinner gloves without insulation are often used in the terrain park and halfpipe for ease of grabbing when doing freestyle tricks, hence the name pipe gloves. The “spring” name comes because while the style is appealingly low-profile, the downside is they're not very warm, so they're best worn when the weather's good, especially if cruising pistes rather than energetically hiking the pipe. Park-orientated gloves and mitts also tend to have a silicone pattern printed on palms and fingers, which also helps with sticking that grab.

Pockets/vents

Why would you need pockets in gloves? To pop in your lift pass or a handy warmer perhaps, or keep some spare change. Found on a few gloves, they're usually on the top of the hand, and can double up as a vent to allow air to circulate on hot days. Some innovative mittens open all around the hand to release the fingers (covered by an inner glove) for extra dexterity or cooling.

Pre-curved or articulated fingers

Empty gloves rarely have straight fingers, but look as if your hand is still inside. That's because they've been cut, shaped and stitched to emulate a natural, relaxed hand position, which helps with fit and dexterity. Better fit means better blood flow and mobility, ultimately meaning warmer hands. A lot of stitching on the fingers can affect ability to feel and dexterity, so there's a move to cut down on it with ever smarter patterning.

Protection

Abrasion hotspots such as fingertips, palms and thumbs, and impact hotspots like the back of hand and knuckles, benefit from an extra injection of durability, so some gloves use tough reinforcing materials in these areas, and maybe extra padding on the back of the hand.

Retaining clips and loops

A clip on each glove is useful for attaching the gloves to each other when you take them off so they don’t get separated. The mysterious loop often found on one finger, particularly of more backcountry-orientated gloves, is so they can be attached to you finger ends up, preventing snow getting in. It’s also good to hang them this way up to dry overnight, above a radiator for example.

Touch-screen friendly

With the advent of smart phones came thousands more gloves dropped from chairlifts, inspiring the invention of materials that allow you to use the phone without taking gloves off. At the super techie end of the scale there are gloves with buttons that can link up to phone controls; at the less techie end there are always wrist leashes. However, they don’t prevent cold hands (though, glove liners with touch-screen-friendly fingers do).

Waterproofing

Because they have so many seams, most gloves are not made of waterproof material – seams have a tendency to leak. Instead they have a waterproof, breathable layer called an insert or membrane, which helps stop water soaking through to the hands. Some glove brands use their own technology, others have waterproofing by a specialist such as Gore-Tex. The breathable part is useful so that moisture from over-heating hands can escape. In the same way as jackets (see everything you need to know about buying a ski jacket), some gloves are more waterproof and breathable than others, with more effective (more expensive) inserts.

Waterproof coating

To stop water soaking into gloves they may have a thin water-repelling coating, often called a DWR (Durable Water Repellent) treatment. Many are made using perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs), which are damaging to the environment, so there has been a move to find green alternatives.

Wrist leashes

AKA idiot straps, these attach gloves to wrists so you don’t lose them if you need your bare hands to fiddle around with kit on a chairlift. If you’re really sure this will never happen to you, some gloves have detachable wrist leashes.