Montane Extreme Mitt - AW22

Product Information

Gloves have individual fingers that allow you to move each finger separately. Mittens usually only have a separate thumb (although there are some on the market with a separate index finger that gives you increased warmth with decreased mobility. It’s fairly beefed up, but despite this, there’s still good dexterity. It has a very slightly pre-curved construction and the leather is supple enough without being flimsy. This covers the whole palm and then wraps around and over the index finger. Used on its own we've found the inner is good for fair weather walk-ins, gearing up and camping. The 300-weight polyester fleece feels very snug, and comes a long way up the arm for super wrist coverage. However the fabric provides no wind protection and of course wets out instantly in damp above-zero conditions. You do pay a premium and give up a little breathability with increased waterproofing, so we’ve included a few non-waterproof gloves in this test. These are more suitable for winter walking/running where you’re spending little time with your hands on snow. Be aware that the Pertex outer fabric might offer good breathability and dexterity but it won’t have the same kind of durability that some of the other gloves here can boast – the Rab and Salewa for example. The leather on the palm is also quite thin. We couldn’t see this withstanding consistent abuse from climbing or skiing.

People are often surprised when I tell them not to forget their sunglasses when they are heading to extremely cold places, a rookie mistake if there ever was one! The sunlight at high latitudes and altitudes is usually incredibly bright, especially when you consider the pure white reflection off the snow and ice. As with sunburn, don’t be caught out by the temperature or clouds up above. In a recent expedition to Alaska, one of my teammates experienced severe snow blindness which can be very painful and last for days. Protecting your eyes with sunglasses or goggles is crucial for safety. They also provide a great shield from the wind from moving ice and snow in polar climates. Eye protection should always be high up on your list of adventure essentials! The glove feels very light and nimble, with a supple goat’s leather palm that has been further reinforced with quality leather from Pittards (a leather supplier that’s been around for 200 years) around the thumb to survive constant use with climbing tools.

There’s so much information available online when we’re shopping now, that it’s easy to find lots of detail about products like Montane Extreme Glove. This is of course really helpful, but there’s almost too much information available, so it’s important to know exactly what you’re looking for. The palms are reinforced with a grippy, rubbery material that is fairly robust, but not as tough as leather. We wouldn't want to climb tens of rough Cairngorm routes in these. It essentially comes in two parts. There’s the outer Pertex Shield waterproof shell, then there’s a removable inner liner (the insulation). This liner includes a divider for your index finger which adds some points for overall dexterity. Overall, however, the the high-loft fleece lining does still make this mitt a lot less dexterous than a glove. That’s generally a given though.

Rab have built the Guide Glove in a pre-curved way that fits the natural shape of your hand to ensure your ability to clench or grip isn’t affected too much by the leather reinforcements and insulation. It has touchscreen usability built into the finger and thumb and a generally dexterous and light feeling meaning that phones can easily be held and used. We brought this in for the test not for its mountaineering credentials (it’s definitely not a mountaineering glove), but because it creates a brilliant ‘active’ glove for those of us who like to move at high tempos around the mountains in winter. In short, gloves tend to offer more dexterity, but less insulation, whilst mitts offer more insulation but less dexterity.

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Price – as you’d expect the price of a product can be an instantly recognisable factor on what sort of quality you can expect. Whoever came up with the phrase “you get what you pay for” pretty much hit the nail on the head. Whilst it’s not always the case and there are many bargains to be had, you can as a general rule, expect the higher priced products to offer better quality than a the cheapest option. We’ll dive into the price of Montane Extreme Glove in more detail in a moment. At first glance these mitts look pretty chunky, but when you put them on you realise that most of the 'chunk' is behind the hand, meaning the Nebula mitts are surprisingly dextrous (for their size). That got us thinking though, that we’re looking at every possible item from Montane so it would be good to narrow our search down even further and only look at Montane branded products within the gloves category. The cost of Montane gloves

We've some of the best mitts on the market in this test, and although mitts generally break down really into two different types; the rugged waterproof Mitts that you can actually use for technical climbing (obviously not as technical as gloves), and the super-fatty pairs for those who are either wheezing up at high altitudes or want something for winter Alpine bivvies (masochists!), we've mainly covered type 1. The exception to this is the super lofty Berghaus mitts, which are very fat and very warm, but not dextrous. Read the review for full info! The down insulated Ulvetanna mitts from Berghaus are by far the warmest in this test and are clearly aimed at extremely cold temperatures and high altitudes. They are overkill for Scottish winter, but could be a finger saver in the harshest of Alpine winter conditions. But they are best suited to the Greater Ranges. Another factor that can be a great indication of product quality is the brand. Brands like Montane are of course extremely well known, especially for gloves.

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It’s also worth bearing in mind that the amount of insulation required depends on the activity you’re buying the glove for. For example, a winter climbing or ski touring glove will need slightly less insulation than that of a walking glove. A glove that will be specifically used when sitting on belay ledges on the north face of the Ben will require a fair bit of insulation. The liners felt great, with a micro-fleece on the palm side giving a warm touch and also quite a lot of dexterity, and a puffier thermolite insulation behind the hand for added warmth. The little extras were all there with Mountain Equipment obviously trying hard to make these the perfect mitts. They have small tabs for clipping them on to a 'biner, and carrying them on your harness (cuffs pointing down, no snow inside), and they have a really nice elastic wrist loop, and an effective one-handed cuff closure system. Our only tiny criticism of these mitts was that the elastic on this was a little long, so when we pulled them tight it was a bit distracting - answer was, we cut 3cm off the end of the elastic - job done. When buying gloves, the quality of the product is going to be one of the factors that you really scrutinise before you commit to buying.