If you need a new pair of gloves for winter sports, the Flylow Ridge Gloves ($50) are affordable contenders that, depending on your sport of choice, will keep your hands warm and dry for a few seasons.
First, it must be said that these are ski gloves and I am not a skier. I tested these gloves on winter hikes, snowshoeing, ice climbing days, and dog walks. They have a medium-level bulk to them for a decent insulation to dexterity ratio and make good all-around winter sport gloves for folks recreating in snow.
Dexterity & Feel
For leather gloves, the breaking-in period on the Flylow Ridge gloves is very short. I found that they had decent mobility in the finger joints and palms right out of the package, and they softened up quickly with a couple of days of use. They don’t allow for particularly delicate tasks, but I could clumsily zip my jacket or tie my boot laces while wearing them. I had no problems with snowshoe bindings or trekking poles, belaying an ice climb and tying a figure-8 knot, or walking the dog. They were fine for swinging tools up an ice climb, but I prefer a thinner glove for ice climbing when the temperatures allow. Doubling back the strap on my crampons and using my keys proved to be tougher and I had to remove the gloves for these tasks. They’re truly hopeless for opening a beer can.
The leather itself is supple while retaining durability. Both the interior lining and stretch knit cuffs are soft and comfortable. For work gloves, they’re remarkably cozy. I never found myself fighting with the lining like I do with other gloves. When I put on my synthetic Hotfingers gloves, it sometimes felt like trying to put on a shirt that was turned inside-out in the sleeves. But this wasn’t a struggle I’ve faced with the Flylow Ridge gloves.
Insulation
Impermeable to wind, the Flylow Ridge gloves perform well down to 15 or 20 degrees Fahrenheit — and honestly, colder than that and you should really be wearing mittens anyhow. As long as I kept my hands in the gloves, Flylow’s proprietary SpaceLoft™ Micropuff insulation kept my digits warm. If my hands came out of the gloves and chilled, the insulation kept my fingers at the temperature they were going in. The gloves fit true to size to a little small and I couldn’t comfortably wear a liner glove inside the Ridges. If you find yourself taking your hands out of your gloves, consider sizing up to allow for liners or opting for mittens.
Waterproofing
As with any waterproof gear, these will require reapplication of waterproofing. The triple baking process with Sno Seal™ beeswax did a great job of keeping my hands dry the first few times. Particularly abrasive sports like climbing (specifically belaying), where the rope drags across the leather, will naturally require more frequent reapplication of a waterproofing wax like NikWax. After two days of belaying, enough of the waterproofing had been rubbed off that the leather was wicking water. This is not necessarily unexpected, but a reminder that gear performs better when you care for it according to your use.
You can see the wear patterns here in the photos above. The discoloration denotes where the gloves have soaked through on a particularly wet third day of ice climbing before retreating.
Final Thoughts
I like the Flylow Ridge gloves; they served me fairly well throughout the season. They’re on the more affordable end of the spectrum: at full price they retail for $50, whereas other waterproof, insulated leather gloves are two or three times the price at REI.
They’d be a good work-to-play glove for cold temps, taking you from chopping wood to the ski trails easily. If you want a sleeker evening look, they also come in black.
