Outdoor Research Latitude Mitten - 2009 BCS

I use these in the heart of winter.Riding the lifts and backcountry skiing.
I like to have warm hands and be comfortable.

Nice combo. The inner gloves aren't the warmest or the most waterproof, but good for dexterity when ice climbing, skiing without too much bulk etc. When they get wet and cold, end of a pitch or you're at the top of the mountain and its blowing a gale, pull on the mitts and the goretex does what its meant to - the gloves dry out with the warmth of your hands. Wearing the combo is great for colder situations. Only real drawback is the "leather" glove surface is not tough, brother's got basically worn out after a week of rope handling and rap's.

These gloves are a bargain considering you get a softshell glove as the liner. By my math, thats $70 for the Gore-Tex mitten, $50 for the liner(which is cheaper than if you were to buy them separate). The Gore-Tex Paclite shell keeps the wet Cascade snow out and is very thin. I was in search of a mitten than I can use layering options and this is perfect for me. The cinch-able gauntlet on the back of the wrist is very easy to adjust with mittens on. So are the loosening and tightening tug cords.

The liner is of top quality and performs very well on its own. I was hesitant to choose this glove as the liner seems to never be pictured, just the outer mitten. After the convincing of a local store employee whose friend owns a pair I decided to give these gloves a try. When using trekking poles and snowshoeing the liner performs fantastic. I have not tested its waterproofness, but my hands have remained dry while playing in the snow(including a backcountry snowball fight). Around town the gloves fit in decently well with a business coat. I will post some pictures to give justice to the liner. Having a fingered glove underneath the mitten also improves dexterity(though is not as warm as a mitten liner). If I was going for warmth I would have purchased the Alti mitten, but for a lightweight, extremely packable shell, the OR Latitude Mitten are hard to compete with, especially for the price.

I bought a pair of Latitude Mittens for a trip to Antarctica, and they were just about perfect!

The outer mitten really was waterproof and windproof, which meant I had a cozy place to tuck away my hands when I wasn't using my camera. The temperatures at the time weren't particularly cold, so I really just needed good wind/water protection to stay warm.

I tested the waterproof quality time and time again, dipping my mittened hands into the near-freezing water to fish out sea ice from a zodiac or rock samples on the beach. The fabric is definitely waterproof, but my slight criticism is that the opening wasn't quite wide enough to easily fit over the sleeves of my parka. I got lazy about struggling to get my sleeves tucked in, and the mittens aren't particularly long, so in one case a stray wave washed over the top of the mitt leaving me with icy frozen fingers inside.

The glove liners were a bit bulky for me, but I was still able to adjust the controls on my camera. And they were wind resistant enough that most of the time my un-mittened camera hand didn't freeze during landings.

The drawstring idiot straps on the mitts were invaluable when quickly pulling off the outer mitts for sudden photo ops.

These mittens come in two parts: A gore-tex mitten shell and an insulated glove liner. I was expecting the mitten to be insulated as well but it's nothing more than a thin layer over the glove. This kind of defeats the purpose of having a mitten in the first place where your fingers are all in contact and not separated, as in a glove.

Didn't bother wearing them (intended to use them for skiing). Returned them and got the Hestra Heli Mitt instead. Exactly what I was looking for.

I've been using this glove/mitt combo for the past month in very wintry conditions while hiking in the Catskills mountains of NY. Temperatures have ranged from 5 degrees to 35 degrees and there has been anywhere from 6 inches to 3 feet of snow. I've been hiking both on-trail and off-trail, so I haven't always had the luxury of a nice, clear trail to follow and sometimes need to use my hands to brush away snow-covered trees obstructing my path, or to help push myself up a hill. I find the softshell glove to be adequate warmth until down to about 25 degrees or so and then I need to add the outer mitten for anything colder than that. The combination of glove and mitt work very well together and the wrist leash of the mitt allows for me to quickly remove the mitt without dropping it, so that I can take a photo or perform some other function that requires more dexterity. The outer mittens will also work very well on their own in wet but warmer weather.Softshell Glove:One problem that I've noticed is that the softshell glove's palm is not waterproof and gets wet somewhat easily, either by my sweating inside the glove on a warmer day, or by my placing my hands on a snowy rock while trying to hoist myself up a steep section of trail. If the palm of the glove gets wet, it doesn't dry and my hands start to get extremely cold, so I end up having to carry an extra pair of warmer gloves to put on under the mitts after the softshell gloves get too wet.Mittens:The outer mitts, on the other hand, are excellent and incredibly versatile. They are very lightweight on their own and make a huge difference in warmth when layered over the softshell glove or another glove. They will also work very well in warmer weather when I need a waterproof mitt to use above treeline in alpine zones such as the Adirondack High Peaks or the White Mountains in New Hampshire.Conclusion:I probably should have just bought the outer mitts (the OR Endeavor Mitts) and used them with a waterproof softshell glove bought separately, since the inner glove that comes with these are only usable for a few hours before getting too wet for proper function in winter conditions. However, in cold, dry conditions they would probably be great.