The Hestra Ergo Grip Wool Terry Gloves Review.
We’re all looking for that perfect glove for ski touring and in the case of the Hestra Ergo Grip Active Wool Terry, I may have found it. Cool enough on the skin track, warm on transitions and dextrous enough for rope work. How do these thin ski gloves known for their contrasting color index finger patch fair in the field? Let’s find out.
Overview
- Material: Goat Leather, Gore-Tex Infinium and Wool Terry
- Weight: 137 grams for the pair
- Size Tested: 9
- Country of Origin: Vietnam
What are the Hestra Ergo Grip Wool Terry gloves?
The Hestra Ergo Grip Wool Terry gloves is, at its core, a 5-finger nordic skiing glove. It has pre-curved fingers, its palm and fingers are made of rugged Goat leather and the back hand is made of Gore-Tex Infinium. The short cuff has a leather backed velcro closure that fits the glove tightly. This glove is far more than a nordic skiing glove though.
Sweaty palms or Hands of Ice?
The first thing I look for in a touring glove is leather palms and fingers. If I’m going to spend a majority of the day gripping plastic handles, the gloves need to be leather palmed. The leather fingers and palms on the Ergo Grip Active Wool Terry are made of Goat leather. Why goat? It’s not so the gloves can help you climb like one but because it is, when compared to cow or pig, the strongest of the leathers commonly used for gloves. It also tends to be very supple making the gloves dextrous, which I can attest to.
The Ergo Grip Active Wool Terry stood up well to repeated slamming against heliski baskets, hours on the skin track, and against the sharp blades of shovels digging snow pits and heli landings. Bear in mind, these aren’t Kinco gloves either. They are ski gloves, not work gloves. Their leather is thin to allow for better dexterity and will thus wear out fast if you are using them for activities they are not designed for like putting chains on your car, or working at the local sawmill. I wouldn’t expect them to last a full season heliskiing either, but for the two warm weeks I did, they excelled.
The leather is treated right out of the gate but the leather is by no means waterproof, and I would hazard a guess, this goes for all leather gloves. They need treatment. Hestra provides a small pouch of wax with the gloves that should last two treatments. It’s best when the wax is slightly warm, the gloves too. When you run out there are small tins of wax from Hestra available at all Hestra dealers or you can seek out Snoseal, my personal favorite.
Ergo Grip not Kung-fu Grip
GI Joe knows what a kung-fu grip is but what the heck is an Ergo grip? Ergo is short for ergonomic meaning designed for comfort in the working environment. In the case of ski gloves, that means staying warm while skiing, cool on the uphill, and not bunching up at any point. Overlapping material will easily cause a blister.
The Ergo Grip shape is created by using smaller pieces of leather on the fingers with a very distinct zig zag stitch. I thought the exposed stitching may be the achilles heel of the glove but the stitching shows no sign of wear.
Thanks to the stitched panels, the Ergo Grip Active Wool Terry is very curved. This curve keeps the gloves from having any excess material bunching up in the palm of the glove while holding ski poles or whatever other tools you may be using. Less bulk equals less chance of blisters, less hand fatigue and less material to rub around and prematurely wear out.
The Ergo Grip Active Wool Terry gloves are nimble. Rope work is a breeze with these on. Working with carabiners and tying and untying knots was comparatively easy when compared to a fully insulated downhill glove. If you are looking for a similar glove with touchscreen ability, the new Ergo Grip Wool Touring may be what you need.
What is Gore-Tex Infinum?
Gore-Tex Infinum is a windproof, not waterproof, membrane that covers the back of the hand of the glove. It has great stretch qualities, sheds light precipitation and breathes well.
I can confirm that the back hands of the Hestra Ergo Grip Active Wool Terry breathe well. It’s rare that I saturated the back of the hand, or even showed signs of sweating, but on a few occasions I did soak through the palm. The Infinium shed light precip well and after a solid month of use, still looks brand new. This is an already well tested material and something I look for in uphill gloves.
Wool Terry not Scary Terry
Wool terry, sometimes called wool pile, is a knitted wool lining that is made of small loops that trap air, much like down. It is a little rough to the touch but not itchy at first. It does soften, though marginally, with time and repeated wear.
The liner, in this case wool terry, is not removable. Therefore, if you have sweaty palms, cleaning these gloves means washing the leather as well. I haven’t found the need to wash the gloves after a solid month of warm wear. The wool has stayed odor free which is something I can’t say for synthetic insulated gloves. The glove is fairly small so if you have to resort to full glove washing it should dry relatively fast.
I was able to wear the gloves from just above 0 degrees to about -10. I would definitely wear them on the uptrack on temps slightly lower than -10, but not before warming up in a thicker glove. All the same, I would always have back up gloves for the down. I have light Raynauds so when my fingers go, they GO. This typically happens during transitions.
Overview of the Ergo Grip Active Wool Terry
These gloves are fantastic. I originally got the Ergo Grip Active Wool Terry gloves for splitboarding with the main intent of wearing them on the ups only. I was familiar with the Ergo Grip Active gloves as one of our pilots wore them while flying and I knew some folks who wore them nordic skiing so was confident they’d do well. Little did I know, they would do so well at just about all aspects of snowboarding.
I’ve worn the Hestra Ergo Grip Active Wool Terry gloves splitboarding, both up and downhill, doing rope rescue practice and while heli-boarding. I’ve managed to wear them for the entire day on Spring missions where temps hovered around 0. The only time I changed them out is as they saturated from hot hands and snow exposure while changing over bindings. I don’t fault them for this, it’s part of the game.
The size 9 fits me perfectly. Having been a 9 for ages this is nice as I feel either my hands have shrunk or glove sizing has subtly changed. Overall stretch of the leather has been minimal which means the gloves that were true to size on day one are still true to size on day 40. The Velcro closure is great. With a snug pull it tightens down comfortably and stays put.
The Hestra Ergo Grip Active Wool Terry has been an exceptional glove for splitboarding and I do not see that changing anytime soon.
Who are the Hestra Ergo Active Wool Terry gloves for?
If you are looking for a thin, hard wearing dextrous glove for the up and often, for the down, then the Hestra Ergo Grip Active Wool Terry maybe just what you are looking for.
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Black Sheep Adventure sports was provided with a free pair of the Hestra Ergo Grip Active Wool Terry to review. This in no way affected our opinion nor the review.