Outdoor Research have certainly done their job with the Arête 11 in producing highly practical gloves to keep hands warm, writes Mike Gormley.
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I needed some warm and versatile gloves on my very mixed trip into the Southern Hemisphere and I got just that with these Arête 11 gloves from Outdoor Research, aka OR. I must admit I am one of the last to put gloves on, preferring to have my hands free, but this is not always such a good idea. However I have to say these gloves go a long way to encouraging me to me to put my gloves on earlier.
The bonus with these is that you, in reality, get two pairs of gloves for the price of a single pair. The outers are highly wearable and robust with very water-resistant, as well as soft and pliable, goat leather palms as well as goat leather on the high wear areas on the back. Also on the back are small pull loops to help you pull the gloves off. There is a Gore-Tex layer to assist the waterproof capability and Endurloft insulation for warmth.
So, the outer is well catered for to take the knocks and provide a lot of protection yet be flexible and dextrous. All this capability is given further back-up by an inner glove which is entirely separate if needs be, and I have found these to be very good on their own; I use them often like this if I just need something to keep the chill off and be easier to do things with and get off more easily when necessary. Very handy when using a screen device or, like me, if often with a camera in my hands. Although hardly necessary, the inners have small hook and loop fastenings to secure them when inside the outer gloves.
These inner gloves are made of a fleece comprised of Merino wool, acrylic and polyester. The forefinger and thumb have screen-friendly pads, which work well and these days are an essential capability. “Warm hands, warm heart” as the saying goes, and these worked for me. If my hands are cosy it goes a long way to keeping me feeling warm.
It is worth saying OR have a significant range of gloves for both male and female users so if these Arête 11s are not what you are looking for, there may be others from the range. Also of note, the gloves I have been trying have now had some small but significant detail upgrades for 2024/25 season. Namely on the back of the inner glove there is now a small pocket to take a ‘hand warmer’. This said, these are great gloves. The Arête 11 Gloves come in a variety of colours including, as here, Black.
[images © Jean or Mike Gormley]
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