Tiny Tiny Gloves for Tiny Tiny Hands

Hi all!

My girlfriend is getting into ice climbing this season. She is signed up for some beginner mentorship weekends in New England this winter. 

She has some VERY small hands, and we are struggling to find good gloves for her (the sort that would be good to lead in, if she were leading). Does anyone have experience finding notably small gloves?

The short answer is....they don't exist...at least not that I have found and I have done extensive research. I am able to make do with the C.A.M.P. Geko Ice Pro Gloves. The fingers are too long, of course, but they are so grippy I am able to manage well enough to handle placing screws, fiddling with locking biners, belaying etc without having to pull them off everytime. I have a pair of kids super thin liners that I sometimes wear inside them, but I don't love how stiff and bulky it feels. It's not ideal, but this world is not designed for those of use below 5'0". Good luck, would be curious to know if you dig anything up. 

You can get winter golf gloves. Women's XS will be very small. Not super warm but in a lot of conditions good enough if you have well insulated or carbon tools. 

I was looking at gloves the other day and noticed that this brand goes to an XXS or size 5. This was started by Doug Heinrich who was at BD for many years and is quite the climber of all disciplines

https://aniiu.com/collections/frontpage

Some of the Japanese fishing gloves might work. Americans are really hot on the TemRes 282, but there are a lot of brands out there if you dig a bit, and they tend to run pretty small. I'd imagine that finding an xs or xxs in one of these brands could possibly work. My 5'1" 11yo daughter is able to use a M in the TemRes 282's. 

I'm a small female and I enjoy the Outdoor research extravert gloves. They are a nice balance of warmth and dexterity. I use them as my lead gloves. 

Jedrzej Jablonski wrote:

You can get winter golf gloves. Women's XS will be very small. Not super warm but in a lot of conditions good enough if you have well insulated or carbon tools. 

And for beginner level, you can put on dishwashing gloves outta them ( they're water proof and cost nothing) Personal experience.

BD Torque Glove will do. Size small works pretty well for me.

+1 for the Japanese fishing gloves.  They run small.  I've used the TemRes for winter chores, cold backpacks, rainy ski days and they are awesome.

I'm not an ice hero, but I know one who got me into Showa and similar waterproof insulated gloves. Cheap (relative to sport-specific options) and they climbed as well (better maybe) as my nice climbing gloves (don't do rope work with them-it'll burn the waterproofing fast). Same friend turned me on to leather insulated gloves from Rural King (Kinco), waterproofed with Sno-seal, and they have been awesome for rope handling/skiing. In the NE should be able to find both (or similar) at your local feed n' seed so she can try them on. More traditionally, I've always found OR gloves to run pretty small.

Chiming in as a tiny ice climbing woman (I'm 5'1" and have small tiny hands). My glove tote is large and littered with trial and error. With the disclaimer that I DO get these for free because I'm an athlete for them, I have found the Mountain Equipment Women's specific XS sized gloves to be perfect and fit my like... a glove. Their gloves are the reason I chose to work with them in the first place because I loved them so much. Very few glove companies make women-specific gloves and it shows in the design and fit.  

I've tried pretty much every other brand out there: BD (too much material/bulk and clipping is a nightmare/material gets caught in the clip), Hestra (size 6 is slightly too big, size 5 the fingers are too short and they don't specialize in ice-specific gloves and it shows in the designs), Rab (almost there but also just a bit too big in the XS/hard to clip/don't think they have women-specific sizing), Arcteryx (Alpha somethings were almost perfect in the fit but just too thin for leading in normal ice temps that weren't spring time and then they also disconintued them). 

I've spent a lot of my own money on gloves until I found Mountain Equipment. The ones I use for leading are the Women's Superalpine Gloves in an XS. Unfortunately they're sold out for the season but I know they are coming back with a slight redesign next season (already preordered mine). For warmer leads I use these Hard Mixed Gloves. THey're warm and fit well. Most small shops in the US can order for you! Also can get from their website: https://us.mountain-equipment.com/products/hard-mixed-glove 

I've heard some decent reviews about Caamp gloves but don't have personal experience. I know they share the same 'gecko' material as the Superalpines that I really like. 

Also haven't tried the Japanese fishing gloves! So no comparison info there either.

Once again, I don't like to shill things as a brand sponsor, but these gloves are one of my most prized ice climbing gear possessions and it's taken years for me to feel happy with a glove.