Best Hiking Gloves 2023 | Liner, Sun, Rain, Cold, Snow – GWC Mag

The Complete Hiking Glove Quiver

Our perfect quiver is as-follows: One pair of midweight fleece liner gloves or flip mittens. One pair of sun protection gloves. One pair of waterproof rain mitts. One pair of puffy mitts. Having access to this combination of four hiking gloves will protect your hands on 95% of trips without the need for anything else. Layering rain mitts over puffy mitts over liners is warm enough for use in temps well-below freezing. Note, you are unlikely to need all four of these hiking gloves on any one trip.

A Basic Fleece Liner or flip mitten Does 80% Of The Work

When it comes down it, a basic fleece liner style hiking glove or flip mitt covers you for about 80% of backcountry scenarios. If we are packing for just about any 3-season trip, we recommend including a pair of lightweight gloves. This is the first base you should cover when building out a glove quiver. They should be dexterous and breathable enough to use hiking uphill in the cold.

Where To Store Your Hiking Gloves On Trail

Of course, where we store our hiking gloves depends on the weather and conditions we expect to face. If we expect to be frequently putting gloves on, we might store them in a hip belt or pants pocket. If we think we will only use gloves while approaching a windy summit or taking a cold break, we may keep them in an exterior pocket, but not in prime real estate pockets described above. You may also choose to store the gloves in your fleece jacket pocket, as you will likely the use them simultaneously. For backpackers who don’t expect to use their gloves until they get to camp, you may wish to store them inside your puffy jacket pockets.

How Much Better Are The Best Hiking Gloves?

To be honest, most hiking gloves are fairly interchangeable. The best fleece liners might only be marginally better than the average fleece liners. Thus, most of our picks are based on personal experience. We have not, of course, tested every single glove.

Thoughts On Touch Screen Compatibility

This is a fairly unimportant feature to us. Even if gloves are conductive and touch screen compatible, they are likely still to clumsy to use to manipulate an iPhone. For uses where touchscreen dexterity is paramount, we prefer fingerless hiking gloves.