source: © shopzilla - taku stretch winter gloves

As the temperatures dip towards freezing, winter gloves become a necessity in protecting your fingers from frostbite, or just keeping them cosy.

Outdoor Designs has the Taku Stretch for £20. They are wind resistant, have a bubble grip palm and dry fast. They look pretty good too, with nice slim fingers. Personally I prefer gloves that aren’t too bulky on the fingers or they feel like splayed sausages after a few hours.

The North Face has come up with a real treat for music lovers who like hiking or skiing – the Etip Glove. These beauties enable you to browse your music on your MP3 player without having to take your gloves off. It’s a bit self-indulgent, but for £22, not overly so. The palms have silicone grippers too.

The Powerstretch glove by Lowe Alpine contains the Polartec Powerstretch fabric, so not only do they offer wind protection, but they also come with pre-curved fingers to help your fingers stay in their naturally flexed position. They also weigh a miniscule 38 grams, ideal for packing light. All this for £20.
Finally, we come to Marmot XT glove for £35. It’s quite a bit pricier in comparison to the others. So what do you get for your money? They are made from stretch nylon which forms a waterproof, breathable vapour barrier. The way the gloves are made guarantees the ultimate in stretch and flex, ideal for fiddling about in a back pack without too much hassle. They have been designed especially for skiing and snow shoeing, but will crossover to general mountain use. A bizarre feature is a nose wipe. I would hope with a feature like that they would cope well enough with laundering. The main thing is that your hands stay warm.

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