I still, however, prefer my insulated rubber gloves to anything else on a classic, sloppy Pacific Northwest pow day. But rubber gloves don’t breathe, so even if you are protected from outside moisture, your own sweat will eventually make your hands wet.
Breathability and an ability to wick moisture, then, were perhaps the best attributes of the XCR Short. If I can avoid it, I prefer not to wear gloves while I hike because my hands get excessively sweaty, but with this glove I had no problem keeping them on when I was really exerting myself. What little moisture did build up when hiking quickly dissipated when I took a break and gave my hands a chance to cool off.
When I did need to take off the gloves, the wrist straps were greatly appreciated. Especially on a chairlift or when I just needed to take the gloves off for a second, it was nice not worrying about finding a place to put them.
The wrist strap lies flush with the wrist and slides smoothly under and out of a jacket sleeve. With other short gloves, like Hestra’s Vertical Cut Freeride, the wrist strap can stick up awkwardly from the glove and get caught on my jacket when taking the gloves on and off; I had no such problems with the XCR Short.
Occasionally, though, snow would drop into the gloves while they dangled from my wrists. With most gloves, I’d expect an incident like this to leave some moisture in the glove for the rest of the day. With the XCR Short, however, I was pleasantly surprised to find that once I put my hands into the gloves, the snow quickly melted and was wicked away.
While I never lost much heat from interior moisture in these gloves, I did find the XCR Short to be overall a little underwhelming in terms of heat retention on really cold days. At -15 C/5 F temperatures in Niseko, I had a hard time keeping all of my digits warm for more than a few runs. To be fair, everybody else seemed to be having trouble staying completely warm at these temperatures. Nevertheless, I had hoped that the XCR Short could handle cold like that.
I tried to combat the cold by wearing liners inside my gloves, but I didn’t quite have enough space to make this work. (Note: I have a medium-sized hand, and a Hestra size 9 gives me a comfortable, yet precise fit. If you prefer warmth to dexterity and expect to be skiing in a lot of colder weather, I would suggest sizing up so liners are an option.) On several blizzard days in Japan, I also noticed the wind biting through the Gore-Tex part of the glove, which added to the cold.
Another really nice features of the XCR Short that I have neglected to mention so far is the snot wipe. A section of softer material is placed strategically on top of the thumb, and is wide enough for the largest wipes.
While the XCR Short may not have done everything that I had hoped, or stood up to very severe winter conditions, it is still a very nice glove. After half a season, the gloves still look and feel just like new. The fit and comfort is excellent, similar to other Hestra gloves that I had tried.
My Vertical Cut Freerides, for example, are still in great shape after three and a half seasons (~175 days of use). They’ve packed out a bit, and so are a slightly colder than XCR, but out of the box a size 9 felt the same for both gloves. The XCR also doesn’t get quite as wet in really wet conditions, but otherwise the dexterity and comfort of both gloves were very similar. In my book, though, the superior Velcro closure, snot wipe, and wrist cuffs are all valuable extras of the XCR.
On extremely wet or cold days, I would still recommend a more specialized glove than the XCR Short, but for 90% of the conditions you are likely to encounter in a given winter, this glove will do the job. If you do decide to purchase this glove, I doubt you’ll be disappointed.
I think the reviewer forgot to mention one important fact: These gloves are very nearly the most expensive I have ever seen. At over 120 Euros a pair in my local shop, I’d expect them to not only be perfect, but to include a wet-bar and a massage function.
Best gloves ever? A pair of heavy welder’s gloves from Tractor Supply baked up with Sno-Seal two or three times at the season’s start. Had mine for 5 years. Work everywhere, dexterity is only getting better, and they cost me 25 Bucks.
Yes these gloves are very expensive, but for the price you get an exceptionally well-made glove that will hold up in a variety of conditions. They are not perfect and I must admit that I prefer a cheap pair of gloves from the hardware store in some cases. If your welding gloves work well for you, great. The bottom line is gloves work differently for different people. Despite the price, I think that people who buy this glove (like JayT) will be satisfied with their purchase.
AG
I’ve been using these gloves for the past 6-8 weeks and love them. Found them discounted for “only” $120 on evo. Expensive, yes, but worth it. Super comfortable and they worked fine for me even on really wet days.
I’ve had a pair of Hestra Heli gloves for 3 seasons and they are soooo worth the money. Can’t remember what I paid but definitely over $100. Mine don’t have goretex but I’ve never gotten wet and I ski in the Pacific Northwest; it snows clam chowder. The best thing about Hestra gloves is the fit I find so many gloves out there have an extremely poorly made liners that have seams all over the place and get all bunched up and they are too narrow in the fingers and therefore ever so slightly restrict bloodflow. Hestra gloves have the seams stitched inside out so the outside of the liner looks goofy with all of the seams but the inside is completely seamless and totally smooth! Also, I’m a huge fan of removable liners, which my Heli gloves have.