This post may contain affiliate links.

Outdoor Research Cornice Gore-tex Mittens

Outdoor Research Cornice Gore-text Mittens

If you go winter backpacking, snowshoeing, or mountaineering, you are going to want to bring at least one pair of mittens. Some people will even bring two pairs in case one gets wet. Personally, I bring a pair of mittens for warmth and a pair of gloves for added dexterity.

When selecting mittens and gloves for winter conditions, here are a couple of must-have features that you should look for:

Removable liners: You need a mitten or glove system that has liners and a removable shell so you don’t overheat and sweat. Sweat in winter is nasty because it freezes in place and chills you, so you have to be extra vigilant about removing layers when you get hot and slow your activity levels to the point where you can stay dry. You can also put removable liners in your sleeping bag at night to dry them.

Waterproof, breathable shell: When you sweat you need a shell fabric that has the ability to vent moisture and prevent it from getting in. Higher denier (tougher) Gore-Tex shells work great for this. EVent shells are also available which may be more breathable but are also slightly heavier.

Gauntlets: These cover the veins in your wrists and eliminate heat loss there. They also prevent drafts from entering your parka/soft shell sleeves and chilling your arms. The gauntlets should have built in tighteners and leashes or tethers that prevent them from being blown off your hands or from getting lost.  This would be very dangerous in cold weather conditions.

Anatomically curved fingers: On thicker gloves, dexterity and comfort are greatly improved if the palms and fingers are anatomically pre-curved.

For example, I own a pair of Outdoor Research Cornice Mittens, shown above.

The Cornice mittens have a removable liner with fleece on the palm and lofted insulation on the back of the hand for extra warmth. The shell is a seam taped waterproof, breathable, highly durable Gore-Tex 3-layer 330 denier Cordura shell that is anatomically curved for better dexterity. The gauntlets have elastic locking cinches at their base which you can tighten down to keep the wind out, in addition to an idiot cord. There’s also a nice wrist cinch strap that you can tighten to keep the mitten from slipping off your hand.

Disclosure: Philip Werner (SectionHiker.com) purchased this mittens with his own funds. 

7 comments

  1. When you refer to idiot cord, is that a leash for the glove? If so, I would also put that in the Must-Have section for winter gloves. Having your gloves inadvertently blown away is at best painful, at worst it will cost you fingers..

  2. Uh, yes. I'll clean up the post to make this clear. Thanks – it's an important clarification.

  3. Are these similar to the Mt baker mitts? i don’t think they make the cornice anymore.
    would you consider this acceptable for a winter summit of Mt Washington, or should i go for the Alti mitts?

  4. The Mt Baker mitts will be fine. People tell me the Alti’s are too warm for use in the White Mountains, although gloves are one of those personal items that vary a lot. Make sure you bring more than one pair though. You probably don’t want to wear these when climbing because you’ll be sweating so much. The nice thing about a separate shell glove is that you can switch out different liners. Check out the gloves at EMS. I bought 4 pairs of heavy fleece gloves this morning for $10/pair.

  5. Mittens are important but we need an article about
    WINTER PANTS!

    I have two kinds of winter pants:
    1. fleece lined nylon cargo pants (mine are from Duluth Trading and are excellent)
    2. Insulated ski bibs/pants for extreme cold (mine are Thinsulate insulated and GTX laminated)

    Naturally i wear long johns under both pants, for warmth and to keep the pants cleaner inside.

  6. Section Hiker’s recent post on winter gearlist includes pants for moving and while in camp: https://sectionhiker.com/winter-backpacking-gear-list-explained/ But, I second the suggestion that a more complete discussion or even a “Ten Best” on cold weather pants would be valuable. Personally, I’ve almost completely stopped wearing long johns while moving, because they are too hard to take off if I get too warm.

  7. would you recomend this mitts for -30°C in hight altitude (Aconcágua 6960m, for example)?
    thanks in advance

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Solve *