Many years ago my brother introduced me to snowboarding. During one of our many conversation he wisely said that “one of the most important pieces of equipment is a good pair of gloves”.
I tried on many and finally shelled out just under $100 for a pair of Burton’s Gore Tex gauntlet style. They had removable liners and wrist strings so you wouldn’t loose them on the chair lift. For years I used them for everything from boarding to snow blowing and back to tossing snowballs at the kids. Simply put they were bullet proof, never leaked and my hands were always warn.
However, like myself they started showing signs of wear! At the start of this season they took a turn for the worse. The outer material started flaking off a few fingers and thread were showing in the fingers tips. Also, the thumbs lost all the outer coating and on real cold day my fingers were getting cold.
The quest was on to find replacements. At ten year plus I knew I was not going to find a pair like mine, but I really wanted to come close. I must have tried on fifty pairs of gloves and I even took a few runs in a pair of Swany X-Cell ll Gloves. They were very warm but I couldn’t get them to go over my jacket arms, just under. Two runs later I didn’t like how that felt so off they came and on went my Burtons. The other concern was how long it would take for an all leather glove to dry. Quite a while it turned out even after two runs. Thankfully the store took them back.
Other than getting gloves that I liked I also needed to get them on over my wrist guards. At this stage it’s all about making it down the hill in one piece, do I won’t board without them. After additional research I came across Hestra gloves. I ordered a pair of there Heli Gloves from backcountry.com for $ 80 and some change. According to Hestra’s sizing chart I needed a size 9, but with my wrist guards that turned into a size 10. With free two day shipping I had them in no time and at first glance I was very impressed. Like my Burton’s they have a removable liner and wrist strings, except it’s a string that attaches to the glove and an elastic material band that goes on your wrist. I don’t think you could accidentally drop them even if you tried. They feel warmer that the Burton’s as the liners are much heavier. I can easily get my hand with wrist guard into them. I may order a pair of liners that a size 9 at some point but I can use
my old liners also. All in all I’m very happy with them and I cant wait to try them out.
BTW. I did find a few loose thread on one seam but one live chat with backcountry and a replacement pair was on the way. No question asked, no hassle and they included a free UPS shipping tag.
Go here for details on Hestra Heli Gloves: http://hestragloves.com/en-us/gloves/alpine-pro/heli-glove/
Go here for backcountry: backcountry.com
Go here for details on Swany X-CELL II GLOV:
http://www.swanyamerica.com/products/productdetail/X-CELL+II+GLOVE/part_number=SX-43/454.0.1.1.20393.0.0.0.0?pp=12&
alan j quinn 