When hiking or running, it is usually my hands that cause me the most issues. While I can sometimes end up with fatigued legs or hiking injuries, the most common problem, in both summer and winter, is cold hands.
The main reason for my hand problems is Raynaud’s Syndrome, which causes them to go numb and for my fingers turn white. Numb hands are a nuisance, plus there is the inevitable pain when the blood returns to the fingers. Prolonged numbness has the potential to cause frostbite, too.
But, thankfully, I have found one really good solution over the years. During the winter season, it’s my favourite hiking gloves that are an essential item of kit.
However, these gloves make my companions laugh every time they see them because of the size!
Big gloves, warm hands
Of course, most hikers will wear winter gloves and many find mittens are better than gloves because they keep fingers warmer. The down or synthetic fill protects hands from low temperatures, wind, rain and snow.
But I have rarely seen anyone in the UK wearing my style – and size! – of hiking mittens
First came my Berghaus Ulvetanna Hydrodown mitts and then – when I'd worn out these gloves over many seasons of winter hiking (and skiing) – I bought a pair of Black Diamond Absolute Gore-Tex Mittens.
Both mitts look like big puffy boxing gloves and one friend described them as “like winter duvets for your hands”.
Black Diamond says their mittens, which are double layered, “excel in the world's harshest environments” and have a temperature range of -18°F to -40°C (-28°C to -40°C) (these are not temperatures commonly experienced in Scotland) and they weigh close to 450g per pair.
I confess I used to be embarrassed by the size of my winter mittens. I am a slim female and the rest of my kit looks like it fits me, however the gloves are seriously out-size.
It’s probably the first thing that strangers see when they meet me on the trails because they are quite prominent on the ends of my arms and while I am using trekking poles.
People have laughed and pointed at me because of the big gloves that are more often used in severely cold conditions, such as during adventures in Antarctica or on Mt Everest.
But these mittens keep my hands warm where no others have done, or can. I have tried so many pairs of gloves and mittens, especially those that are smaller, more compact, lighter weight and less conspicuous.
At the first sign of chilly fingers or when my hands are starting to become icy, such as when stopping on a mountain for a bite to eat or when it’s blowing a cold wind, I pull the mittens from my backpack with a major sense of relief. (I also feel the weight of my pack reduce and suddenly there is a lot of extra space in my hiking pack).
I am willing to admit that the size of the gloves makes them a bit impractical because of the puffiness, yet these mittens do not feel heavy when I am wearing them and without them I'd find any kind of dexterity with frozen hands very difficult.
I do have heated gloves that also work well to warm up my hands but they require charged batteries to operate and they only last a few hours, rather than for the entirety of a day-long hike.
These days, walking friends are very used to my "boxing glove hiking gloves" and they hardly ever comment. It's only when a passer-by has a double take that I remember I am sporting mittens that are at least double the size of everyone else's. Do I care? Not a bit! If my hands are warm, then I'm a happy hiker.
