Montane’s Tigertooth Pro Glove is a technical softshell alpine glove that provides enough dexterity, warmth and water resistance, to hold a mountaineering ice axe in the ready position in cold winter weather. The problem with most high dexterity gloves is that they don’t provide enough insulation when gripping an ice axe is cold winter weather. The pick and adze get really cold which radiates into your hand and is very uncomfortable.
You’d think it would be easy to find insulated, water-resistant gloves capable of this level of dexterity but they’re actually few and far between. Most gauntlet style mountaineering gloves are monstrous fat-fingered affairs that are impossible to wrap around an ice axe adze and pick, particularly ski mountaineering axes like the ultralight Camp USA Corsa Ice Axe that have shorter adzes. I know many people who use this particular ice axe, including myself, because it only weighs 7.2 ounces.
When holding an ice axe, you need to grip it so that your thumb, index and middle finger are wrapped the adze part of the axe, so you can fall on the pick and use your bodyweight to break a fall. While my crampon footwork is usually good enough to prevent falls, I have had to self arrest a few times in my hiking winter hiking career, where the consequence of an uncontrolled slide would have been very grave.
Glove Features
The Montane Tigertooth Pro Glove is constructed from Polartec Power Shield Pro, a breathable softshell fabric that is windproof and highly water resistant. The gloves have short gauntlets to prevent heat loss from your wrists, but lack keeper cords to prevent them from falling off your arms or blowing away in a gale if you drop them.
The gloves are insulated with a non-removable fleece pile liner which dries very quickly between hikes and still provides warmth if your hands sweat and make it damp. The liner has an articulated Neoprene cuff to seal in warmth and prevent snow or moisture from falling inside the gauntlet and wetting the insulation as well as an adjustable hem to prevent heat loss.
The palm and fingers are covered with water-resistant leather that softens up with use and provides an excellent grip. The finger tips and palm seam are pre-curved for increased dexterity. The back of the knuckles are padded with Neoprene for warmth and protection when using ice tools, and the middle fingers have a carabiner loop on the outside for harness storage (large enough for a wiregate biner), when not in use.
Weighing 7.5 oz in an XL (5.7 oz in a size M), the Tigertooth Pro Gloves run small, like pretty much all Montane clothing. My advice is to size up by at least one size.
Disclosure: Montane provided Philip Werner (SectionHiker.com) with a sample pair of Tigertooth Pro Gloves for this review.
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How would these be for climbing Mt Washington?
Funny you should ask. That top photo was taken on the summit of Washington. The pile provides plenty of insulation as long as yu’re fairly active, but you’d want a heavier glove if you were just standing around. I was very impressed with the gloves and their ability to sheld wind and cold through. I wouldn’t wear them for warmer weather because they are fairly thick, but they’re an excellent choice when you need dexterity and temps are below freezing.
I’m actually looking for a better pair of gloves that are warmer than what I currently have. I usually wear a thin pair of glove liners, and a pair of REI synthetic insulated gloves, water resistant, not water proof. They are pretty thin which makes dexterity better, but my hands still get cold when gripping onto metal things, such as the riser on my bow when I am practicing archery or bow hunting. I’m actually looking at getting some insulated leather gloves for this, I’ve heard a decent pair of cheap leather work gloves are excellent at keeping your hands warm from conductive heat loss, such as when touching metal. For the really cold weather, I’ll go for the mittens usually. It was 6 degrees this morning here and my finger tips were numb driving to work before my car warmed up.
How about wearing a thin leather glove under those mittens you can get, where the top of the mitt folds back? That would work for bow hunting, I reckon.
I know the ice fishers around here love them. I had a pair many years ago but they were terrible. Probably because they were old and didn’t use any modern insulation. This was probably 10 years ago I had some, and outdoor gear in general was not all that impressive back then.
How do these compare to the OR Alti gloves?
Those fat fingered mountaineering gloves I mention…they’re OR Alti Gloves. I can’t hold an ice axe with them.
I put hockey tape on my ice axe which helps insulate from the cold. It has a cloth feel to it and it adds quite a bit of added grip. Holds up great to ice and water and cold which is why it’s used on hockey sticks. Very durable.
Outdoor photographers have the glove conversation every winter. So far, I have two sets:1. a lighter weight spandex glove/ fleece fold-back mitt set (bought at Bass Pro in the hunting section, but I haven’t seen them recently, and the big appeal was that these were ladies’ gloves that came in ladies’ small) for above 25F The fold-back mitts have little magnets sewn into them to hold the fingers cover and thumb cover open and out of the way. 2. heavier softshell-like stretchable gloves under insulated windshell traditional nylon ski mitts, cobbled together at REI. These are good for all-day outings at 20F and below – I take mitts off when I want to shoot photos, keep mitts on when just using poles.