hand protection for crack climbing

I'm considering those hand protection gloves designed and fabricated for crack climbing.  I have never owned a pair nor seen or talked to anyone who has used them.  A quick browse of the web shows me three designs: Ocun, Outdoor Research, and Hand Jammies.  Anybody have any advice for these or any other similar products?  Are they effective?  Experienced any limitations?  Thank you!

I like them a lot for cragging on sharp rock. Tape is too cumbersome for short days, but I do use it for longer multi pitch days. 

I have had pretty good luck with the Outdoor Research gloves, although other brands offer more protection. Lots of people state they rip, but I think those people size them too small...putting too much tension on the finger loops. I haven't had them blow through yet, although they are getting close (mostly from abrasion, not ripping). The velcro is also beyond its ability to hold, so I do need to tape them closed.

Black Diamond's crack gloves look great, but their largest size is too small for me; I can't even get them on. My hands aren't gigantic, but are consistently L or XL in gloves. 

I would like to use Ocun or the new Wide Boyz gloves. Hand Jammies and others I've tried on are just way too bulky.

I'm having a hard time not making a joke about you living in a cave or being in a coma for the last 20 years so I won't do that but yes they are effective and work well.  I have the Ocean and OR gloves and both work fine.  The Ocean are thicker, sometimes too thick and if that's the case I'll use the OR gloves.   I use crack gloves now because years of sun exposure has made my skin so thin I bleed at the drop of a hat, it's more out of a courtesy to whoever is going to follow so they don't have to climb a bloody crack.

Crack gloves! They’re like shoes for your hands!

Outdoor Research gloves are thin and comfortable, but delicate. Many report breakage are the wrist in about a season of use, and OR doesn’t offer warranty on this item any more.

Ocun gloves are thick and have tons of friction, but have odd sizing (size up!). They’re not super comfy, but really protect the hands well. Great for very sharp or granular rocks. Or when it’s cold.

G7 gloves: comfier with use, super hard wearing, and easy to size. My new fav but a bit pricey.

BD gloves: thumb coverage. It’s great. 

I use the Black Diamonds.  Those are thinner and don’t get in the way of jamming narrow cracks. And those also provide thumb coverage. The finger loops and velcro straps/attachments on all brands wear out from belaying/rappelling and jamming, so I often wrap one-inch tape around each finger loop, which also protects the skin at the base of each finger, and two-inch tape around each wrist. You could wear belay gloves over the mitts, to protect the finger loops.
(Hey Kevin! How are you doing? I got five pitches at Suicide that day.)

George Bracksieckwrote:

(Hey Kevin! How are you doing? I got five pitches at Suicide that day.)

Hi George, sorry I couldn’t make it that day.  Glad you got some pitches in.  I heard there is a rattlesnake living in the crack on Flower of High Rank.   That will get your attention.

I climbed that route, wearing BD mitts, and didn’t see one. I almost stepped on one near the base of Sundance 

Nick Orticellewrote:

I like them a lot for cragging on sharp rock. Tape is too cumbersome for short days, but I do use it for longer multi pitch days. 

I have had pretty good luck with the Outdoor Research gloves, although other brands offer more protection. Lots of people state they rip, but I think those people size them too small...putting too much tension on the finger loops. I haven't had them blow through yet, although they are getting close (mostly from abrasion, not ripping). The velcro is also beyond its ability to hold, so I do need to tape them closed.

Black Diamond's crack gloves look great, but their largest size is too small for me; I can't even get them on. My hands aren't gigantic, but are consistently L or XL in gloves. 

I would like to use Ocun or the new Wide Boyz gloves. Hand Jammies and others I've tried on are just way too bulky.

What’s a comfy hand jam size? #3’s?

Great help so far everyone.  I ordered the BD model.  The Wide Boyz model looks appealing but is still in the pre-order stage.

Does anyone use the spray-on adhesive when taping up for crack climbing?

bernard wolfewrote:

Great help so far everyone.  I ordered the BD model.  The Wide Boyz model looks appealing but is still in the pre-order stage.

Does anyone use the spray-on adhesive when taping up for crack climbing?

I use Cramer pre-tape (natural resin) and it works incredibly well for keeping tape gloves from sliding around and bunching up.  You do have to be careful not to get any on your fingers or outside the taping area though, because then it becomes aid ;)

Kaden Olsonwrote:

What’s a comfy hand jam size? #3’s?

Yep, tight to ideal #3 is my perfect hand jam. 

Learn to tape

Nick Orticellewrote:

Yep, tight to ideal #3 is my perfect hand jam. 

Damn. You have some massive paws. 

I have the Ocun gloves, my first pair lasted some 500 pitches of learning to crack climb and were excellent. The wrist strap is about to blow, so I bought a new pair and accidentally sized down. I’m roughly 50 pitches into my new pair and they’ll likely break soon.

It’s my own fault.

I don’t think they’re too thick, it’s a few millimetres of difference, that’s not what is stopping you from sending.  

there's this other stuff called chalk worth looking into as well

mountain trollwrote:

there's this other stuff called chalk worth looking into as well

How’s that keep me from bleeding all over the rock?

Ocun is the one you want, a few mm thicker than the BD or OR gloves, but they do a better job.  

My preference in order of ones I’ve owned. Size medium except for Ocun which is large:

G7 - durable and relatively thin. Doesn’t slide around. fits my hand great, comfy, 

black Diamond - 2nd thinnest but wrist closure tab rubbed my wrist resulting in blister/broken skin. The closure also started breaking. Beats out the Ocun only because it’s thinner and has a thumb cover. I ended up just using tape for wrist closure.

Ocun - super durable, comfy, nice closure, not a big fan of the mesh padding on the inside, thickest

Outoor Research - thinnest, fell apart, closure not great

Of the three I've tried, here's my ranking: 

1) BD: thin, comfy, yay for thumb coverage.  I still do a wrap of tape around the knuckles under the glove if there's going to be a lot of fist jamming, otherwise I still get gobies (see pic below)

2) Ocun: too thick, but durable, pocketed velcro closure is very well designed

3) OR: nice and thin, not durable, BD have made these obsolete