The 7 Best Gloves and Mittens: Tested

As good as it gets short of a mitten. For a glove, that's about as much as you can ask for in terms of warmth—and exactly how one tester described the Hestra Gloves Heli Insulated after a season ice climbing and skiing in the Northeast. "My circulation is like Boston at rush hour," he says, "so whenever I saw the temps plummeting into the teens and single digits, I reached for these." The thicker-than-usual liner dishes out generous warmth (it's removable for quicker drying, but you can't wear it alone), while the water-resistant shell traps heat inside. A longer wrist gauntlet ensures no gapping between glove and jacket.

Because the Heli Insulated stays true to its name, you might expect it to be big and clumsy, but it scored surprisingly well in dexterity. Like most ski gloves, it has precurved fingers and leather palms, but the special sauce is the Hestra-unique numeric glove sizing: Instead of small, medium and large, Hestra gloves are offered in several sizes based on the length and circumference of your hand. If you size right, you should end up with a snug, wrinkle-free fit. (This sizing allows for a single unisex model, rather than men's and women's.) With a precise fit, our testers could easily hold a ski pole, adjust buckles and clip carabiners.

We awarded these gloves an Editors' Choice Award in 2023, and they continue to rate highly season after season. One skiing tester praised the Heli Insulated for its snow-specific features like wrist leashes, which let him remove the gloves on the lift to check his phone (they are not touchscreen compatible) without losing them, and the oversize gauntlets, which made them easy to put back on and kept the powder from creeping inside. Ample leather on the palms and fingers kept them from falling apart after months of handling climbing ropes, sharpening ice tools and grabbing ski edges. Buy the Heli Insulated Gloves.

After analyzing these North Face mitts on powder days both in Japan and at home in California's Sierra, our Tahoe-area tester was impressed when he peeped the price tag. “They’re half the price of many options on the market, but they definitely offer more than half the performance,” he says.

Following a string of particularly frigid and windy mornings while snowboarding in Japan, our tester rated the Montana Ski Mittens on par with pricier mitts in the warmth department. The dual layers of synthetic insulation, which The North Face claims create a warmth-trapping air pocket, functioned as advertised. He gave kudos to the warmth-boosting fleecy lining, too, calling it the "comfiest interior” of ones he tested. On bell-to-bell resort days, he appreciated that The North Face curved the silhouette of the mittens. “By mimicking the natural, relaxed anatomy of the hand, the fit is more ergonomic and comfortable all day long,” he added. 

The North Face lined the DWR-treated, recycled polyester shell with DryVent™ inserts—the brand’s proprietary waterproof and breathable membrane—and we found that the mitts didn't soak through. That said, he worried about materials and construction. “Compared to my go-to genuine leather mitts and gloves, these are certainly less beefy and confidence-inspiring when it comes to long-term durability,” he said.

One note to buyers: While the extra-large cinchable cuffs excel at keeping snow out of the mitts, they’re too bulky to fit easily under slimmer jacket sleeves. Buy the women's version and men's version.

Warmth is warmth, whether you're in Antarctica or the Lower 48. That's why our testers loved the Black Diamond Mercury, one of the warmest mitt in our test. A pile of PrimaLoft^® on both the back and palms, plus additional boiled fleece, makes them suited to subzero expeditions—or any adventure where you'd prefer warm hands. "Honestly, I only bring these on the coldest days, otherwise they're too warm," says one Colorado-based tester. "But on below-zero lift ski days, I couldn't get away with anything less."

One of those aforementioned days saw temps get as low as -6°F (plus a sturdy breeze) while skiing Colorado's Arapahoe Basin. Everything else was chilled, said our tester, except his hands. The Mercury Mitts feature a liner that you can pull out of the reinforced goat leather outer mitt to let them dry separately on longer trips, and a massive gaiter to fit over the cuffs of even your beefiest jackets.

Warmth like this is bulky, so expect fine motor skills to suffer in this mitten. While we could pull a zipper with a long tab or hold an ice axe, this mitten wears more like a boxing glove than others in our lineup and we lacked the dexterity to do more detailed work like brushing snow out of our ski bindings. Buy the men's version or the women's version.

Gone are the days of numb fingers and tingling hands when you’re chasing powder from sunup to sundown. The Outdoor Research Prevail Heated GORE-TEX Gloves are a game changer for those with seriously cold hands. “They're so comfortable and toasty against my skin, and not too hot, like hand warmers can sometimes be," says Tiara, our Washington-based tester who has Raynaud’s syndrome and tested the gloves in a range of conditions from whiteouts to spring skiing. Thanks to evenly-dispersed heating elements that aren’t simply concentrated in the palm area, these gloves keep fingers feeling nimble for about five hours on the medium setting or roughly two and a half hours on high.

However, the trade-off for all that toasty goodness is sacrificing a bit of dexterity. “Trying to buckle or unbuckle my dog's jacket or harness was a comical mess,” notes Ever, our Hike Editor based in Minnesota who wore them in temps as low as -11F. "But I had plenty of mobility for scraping off my car and opening frozen car doors, which is important.”

The Prevails—available in either gloves or mittens—are ideal for those who don't mind a bit of charging and upkeep for added heat. We experimented with heat levels to get the right amount of warmth without running out of juice. (Tiara recommends carrying at least two sets of batteries; one pair can take several hours to charge so it's helpful to be able to change them if you're out all day). The upside: These gloves are fully insulated on the backs of the hands as well as the palm and finger regions, so they stay cozy even if the lithium-ion battery dies.

Our testers noted that touchscreen capability was incredibly limited, and they were likely to quickly pop a glove off, keeping them secure using the included wrist leashes, to send a text or email.

We also liked the GORE-TEX waterproofing and that the gloves handily cinch below the wrist, a feature that Ever said kept flurries out, even when they took a tumble into a deep snow drift. They added that these gloves “have been a life-changer in the depths of winter weather, allowing me to hike for hours, shovel with glee, walk the dogs without getting grumpy.” Buy the Prevail Heated GORE-TEX Gloves or the Mittens version.

Hestra gloves are, hands down, what you want protecting your fingers when temperatures dip into (and below) the single digits. And this 3-finger option offers a compromise between the warmth of a mitten and the dexterity of a glove. Even though she wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, our tester Emma took the Hestra Fall Line out for a wintertime wander on her snowmobile in Idaho when it was -20°F. “They are warm, durable, comfortable and, importantly, they match almost any ski outfit.

Created with hard-charging, powder-chasing freeriders in mind, Hestra’s Fall Line gloves combine neoprene-impregnated cowhide with ample synthetic insulation to keep hands warm all day in gnarly backcountry conditions. Their cuffs are a slimmer profile than a lot of other snow gloves, meaning they fit nicely under jacket sleeves. Though it’s not fully waterproof, the leather is both dexterous and grippy enough for performing  tasks when transitioning or performing work in snowy, freezing conditions. “I am able to zip up my jacket, hold my ski poles, take ski poles off before loading onto the lift and comfortably drive my snowmobile with a finger throttle,” Emma noted. To aid with water resistance and moisture wicking, Hestra recommends occasionally treating the gloves with its leather conditioning balm, a sample of which is included with some Hestra gloves and mittens.

Yes, they’re pricey, but these highly durable gloves come with excellent insulation and extras like wrist leashes. “The wrist straps are comfortable and a great length, which makes it easy to take the gloves off and not lose them on the chairlift if you need to look at your phone or eat a snack,” Emma said. Buy the Fall Line 3-Finger Gloves. Or try the Fall Line Mittens or the Fall Line Gloves.

Mittens are generally warmer than gloves, as their devotees will tell you. But if you like the dexterity of gloves, the Switchbacks are a surprisingly warm five-finger option. Unlike other gloves or mittens that we tested, the Switchback comes with a liner that you can wear to add warmth. Even without the liners, the REI Co-op Switchback GTX Gloves impressed Rebeca, our tester based in Aspen, Colorado. “On the one colder day I skied, the gloves kept my hands pretty warm until the last run of the day,” she said after a subfreezing day on the slopes. Utilizing bluesign®-approved fabrics, synthetic insulation and GORE-TEX nonfluorinated waterproofing, plus cinchable wrists to keep spindrift out, these gauntlet-style gloves’ features add up to uber-warm fingers.

After 11 days of heavy use on the ski slopes, our Washington-based tester Duncan loved that the Switchback GTX still looked good as new. “I was worried the loft was getting packed down with my hands sweating in them, but it actually seems to bounce back really well,” he said. The gloves’ waterproofing offered next-level dryness, even when the exterior fabric was fully soaked through. “I never felt the outside cold hit my hands,” he said.

Our biggest complaint: They don't come with gloves leashes. "Any time I took them off on the chair, I was nervous I was going to lose one or both," Rebecca said. (An internal attachment point for glove leashes can be purchased separately.) They also lack features you might find on pricier options like warmer pockets. But there was still plenty to make these a good deal. Worried about sniffles when the wind kicks up? A nifty wipe panel on the back of each thumb has got your back, er, nostrils. And when it’s time to tidy up, just toss them into the wash. “I really like that they're machine washable, which makes me think they'll last way longer than my previous leather gloves as far as keeping the loft fluffy and the inside clean,” Duncan says.

Worth noting: Gloves that deliver such serious warmth don’t often come in under the $100 mark, which make these stand out compared to other hefty options. Buy the women's version and the men's version.

Simplicity is the name of the game with these liners from REI Co-op. They slide easily under other gloves and mittens and were just enough to take the bite out of single-digit temps when our tester was forced to remove his mittens atop Colorado's Grizzly Peak. On warmer ski tours, they were all he needed to defend against the brisk morning air while wicking sweat from his skin. The liner itself is an even blend of merino wool and polyester for a best-of-both-worlds combination of warmth and moisture management. (The merino also keeps them fresh. Our pair smelled fine after a three-day hut trip near Vail Pass, Colorado.) Cool: The Merino Wool Liner 2.0 is touchscreen-compatible on the thumb and index finger. Buy here.