On further inspection it becomes clear that where the ME Pinnacles differ slightly from the BD offering is in the fit/sizing. The ME mitts are slightly smaller sized, with a very slightly smaller sized cuff. They are a little more technical in their fit, and hug the hand well. Our test team climbed Scottish grade V in these bad boys, as well as days skiing, and the obligatory wet walk-ins and outs! They have performed excellently throughout and it was actually very hard to tell the difference between these and 'Best in Test' winners from Mountain Equipment. They were very very similar in spec.

The material the product is made from is often a sign of the quality for gloves. Take a look at the product details over at Cotswold Outdoor to get a feel for this. Summary: Overkill for Scottish winter, but if you are Polar-bound, or off to Alaska or the Himalaya, and need something super warm, these fatties would be brilliant. My 'system' comprises of a couple of pairs of liner gloves, the Montane Extreme Mitts and some great big Gore Tex shells that will go over everything if necessary. This gives me loads of potential combinations. Liners, liners & shell, liners & mitts, mitts, mitts & shells or even liners, mitts and shells in serious weather. It’s also worth bearing in mind that the amount of insulation required depends on the activity you’re buying the glove for. For example, a winter climbing or ski touring glove will need slightly less insulation than that of a walking glove. A glove that will be specifically used when sitting on belay ledges on the north face of the Ben will require a fair bit of insulation. You can tell these are a well-thought-out product, and the little extras like the red loops to clip them to a harness (upside down of course) and the slight curve to the palm to follow the natural shape of the hard, means they aren't just a big bag full of down.

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Used on its own we've found the inner is good for fair weather walk-ins, gearing up and camping. The 300-weight polyester fleece feels very snug, and comes a long way up the arm for super wrist coverage. However the fabric provides no wind protection and of course wets out instantly in damp above-zero conditions. The little extras were all there with Mountain Equipment obviously trying hard to make these the perfect mitts. They have small tabs for clipping them on to a 'biner, and carrying them on your harness (cuffs pointing down, no snow inside), and they have a really nice elastic wrist loop, and an effective one-handed cuff closure system. Our only tiny criticism of these mitts was that the elastic on this was a little long, so when we pulled them tight it was a bit distracting - answer was, we cut 3cm off the end of the elastic - job done. These gloves are definitely ski and snowboard focussed but they should make for a very capable winter hillwalking option.

Robert Pollhammer is the founding director of the notoriously challenging Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra, billed as ‘the world’s toughest and coldest ultra’. Whilst Montane athlete Jordan Wylie has taken on several polar adventures, including the Yukon Ultra and, most recently, the Antarctic Ice Marathon. In this review we've looked at warmth, dexterity, water resistance, durability and overall design. We've climbed, skied, hiked and camped in these mitts at low temperatures and in terrible weather, and here are our findings. Gloves have individual fingers that allow you to move each finger separately. Mittens usually only have a separate thumb (although there are some on the market with a separate index finger that gives you increased warmth with decreased mobility.The down insulated Ulvetanna mitts from Berghaus are by far the warmest in this test and are clearly aimed at extremely cold temperatures and high altitudes. They are overkill for Scottish winter, but could be a finger saver in the harshest of Alpine winter conditions. But they are best suited to the Greater Ranges. Quality-wise they are extremely tough, made from some softshell and mainly brown leather, with a reinforced leather patch on the wear point on the palm that has kevlar stitching. Weighing in at (for the size) a fairly light weight of 307g the Ulvetanna mitts are are not waterproof, but are windproof and filled with a hydrophobic down, so do offer some wet weather performance; however they are designed for temperatures where water will be in a white, frozen form, not in the rain type form! They have a leather palm for added grip and durability, and this, combined with a good fit (for a fat down mitt) does add quite a bit of usability to the mitts. The glove feels very light and nimble, with a supple goat’s leather palm that has been further reinforced with quality leather from Pittards (a leather supplier that’s been around for 200 years) around the thumb to survive constant use with climbing tools.

That’s why we’ve pulled together this list of key factors for Montane Extreme Glove below, to help you choose if it’s the right product for you and your budget. There’s so much information available online when we’re shopping now, that it’s easy to find lots of detail about products like Montane Extreme Glove. This is of course really helpful, but there’s almost too much information available, so it’s important to know exactly what you’re looking for. If you’re unsure then I’d err on the side of caution and go for a slightly warmer glove than you imagine. There’s nothing worse than a numb pair of hands halfway through your day. When buying gloves, the quality of the product is going to be one of the factors that you really scrutinise before you commit to buying. They are clearly a high quality product and seem well put together. They have really easy to use drawcords, nice and chunky, and a large gauntlet that covers the wrist easily. We had them in size large, and they were roomy for the size, swallowing hands easily.I’ve gone through heaps of gloves following my time spent crashing around the mountains. Almost all the failures have involved the palm or fingers wearing or splitting apart. This makes sense, of course. The palm takes the brunt of the wear whilst out in the mountains, so it always helps to have gloves that have a high quality leather – or something equally durable – in that area as well as clever stitching methods to avoid the seams splitting open.

In short, gloves tend to offer more dexterity, but less insulation, whilst mitts offer more insulation but less dexterity. The idea of carrying two gloves is to keep the warmer pair as dry as possible. When winter climbing, on particularly wet days, I’ll travel with a third pair that I can switch over at belay stances, or when my main gloves become a little too damp to perform. Mitts: perhaps not the sexiest of outdoor clothing, but if the weather is at its worst, or you suffer from cold extremities, then these are the things that will make the biggest difference to your hands. Aside from the choice between a mitt or a glove, insulation also has a big influence on how dexterous a glove is. In short, more insulation equals more warmth, but that trade off is a less flexible glove. You’ll have an idea yourself how much insulation you require. These mitts are fat, very fat. These mitts are warm, very warm. These mitts are not hugely dextrous due to the previous two facts, but you can't have it all!

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Insulation-wise, Helly Hansen have chosen PrimaLoft Gold fill – 80g of it – which means good insulation even if moisture has managed to creep past the waterproof liner. They’ve coupled this with a very comfortable microfleece lining. Full Specifications The palms of the mitts have a grippy reinforced material that seems fairly hard wearing (so far) but we don't think it has quite the beef of a real leather palm (get it!).