Gloves for women

Seems like basically nobody makes decent ice gloves for the tiny-handed womenfolk. All of the women-specific gloves I've seen look stiff, thick, and near useless for technical ice/mixed. Anyone out there have ideas on where to get a technical glove for a lady?

For reference, I am thinking along the lines of thin, dexterous, leather gloves like the OR Alibi, MH Hydra, BD punishers, etc. Maybe insulated work gloves?

Neither of these are along the lines of the OR Alibi, but they are both decent cold weather ice gloves.

liveoutthere.com/deals/arct…

backcountrygear.com/womens-…

I recently bought a pair of the Black Diamond Arc gloves, and they are quickly becoming my favorites for all but really cold conditions. They have a little insulation without a lot of bulk. I wear a men's small or women's medium in most gloves (wear the Arcs in size small), and these come in XS. Not crazy expensive, either.

blackdiamondequipment.com/e…

Good luck in your search!

The people on the ice climbing world cup circuit all wear golf gloves. If you're doing high end mixed climbing these would be the way to go.

Personally I always wear these gloves when climbing mixed, ice, etc: mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/MemberPi…

They're liner gloves with leather palms. I usually carry a few pair when I go out and swap them out when then get wet.

Try the women's Rab versions. I've had some great feedback from women on the Rab line of alpine gloves.

shoo wrote:Seems like basically nobody makes decent ice gloves for the tiny-handed womenfolk. All of the women-specific gloves I've seen look stiff, thick, and near useless for technical ice/mixed. Anyone out there have ideas on where to get a technical glove for a lady? For reference, I am thinking along the lines of thin, dexterous, leather gloves like the OR Alibi, MH Hydra, BD punishers, etc. Maybe insulated work gloves?

My wife really like these
camp-usa.com/products/winte…
but they are a bit light for much below 10-15 F*

shoo wrote: For reference, I am thinking along the lines of thin, dexterous, leather gloves like the OR Alibi, MH Hydra, BD punishers, etc. Maybe insulated work gloves?

Don't know about the MH Hydra, but neither Alibi nor Punishers are thin and dexterous. Alibi II are ok, but still there is too much material to make them move freely. I find them too thick for harder climbing, so unless it's really cold or low angle (even pure ice) I use golf gloves. I'm always in search of good gloves and tried on all the gloves at the Ouray Ice fest this year, and I really liked OR Stormtrackers (they come in women's version) and Marmot's XT gloves.

The same goes with leather work gloves - the smaller they get, the more dexterity they lose. After an exhaustive search, I finally scored a pair of Kinkos in small (really hard to find) but they're way too stiff.

Shoo, I've been trying different approaches to gloves over the years and have finally found a "system" that works best for me.

Gloves that are warm are usually way too bulky for maintaining a decent grip for climbing and belaying, and thinner gloves for dexterity weren't warm enough for either task as well.

About three years ago I purchased a pair of fleece windstopper gloves from REI made by Manzella (about $30 a pair). They do manufacture a womens specific glove also, identical to the mens version shown here...

Manzella Windstopper Fleece Gloves
The gloves have a textured surface on the fingers and palms that holds up fairly well to normal use and a nose wipe area above the thumb.

Here's the kicker: Try on the gloves in the store. Find a pair that fits your hands, then buy the next larger size!

I have 'large' hands, but wear the XL sized gloves for climbing/belaying and XC Skiing. The small space opf air between the gloves and your skin is what is most important. Like proper fitting boots you need this slight air space for better circulation and insulation.
Even when the gloves are soaking wet they manage to stay warm enough to function properly like wool does. I carry a second pair of these gloves in my gaiters, which keeps them readily available at the belay for changing to a dry pair. Wring out the wet pair, lay them flat in your gaiters and they stay warm and are almost dry in a half hour or so.

The combination of the windstopper and the air space works surprizingly well even when wet. I tried the large gloves, but they didn't stay near as warm as the XL's when wet.

Try this out and let me know if it works.

Edit; Leather is a poor insulator at best and without waterproofing, is a disaster waiting to happen. I recycle these gloves after they get a couple of holes in them to wear at work during the winter. I need to be able to reach into my screw pouch and pick one screw at a time while holding cold, slick, and often wet sheets of metal. This task is hard to do with numb fingers and these gloves still provide a decent amount of warmth even with holes in them like this...

Winter work gloves

Batter up...

Huh. Thread still going.

For reference, the gloves were for a lady friend with tiny, tiny hands. While I have found a near-ideal system for myself over the years, it's tougher to figure out what might work for her given the diminutive hand size and different circulation and hand warmth.

She ended up trying on a lot of gloves and settled on the BD Arcs in XS for fit. Should work nicely.