As some of you know, part
of the Climber Online staff did a wall route this
summer in Yosemite:
The Prow (V 5.6 C2F), Washington's Column,
Yosemite Valley. Part of the preparation was
gathering the requisite heaps of gear, replacing old
stuff, fixing other stuff and generally improving upon
the gear setup with knowledge gleaned from other wall
climbs. One item that came under scrutiny were the
wall gloves. We have used thin-leather sailing
gloves, thin leather gardening gloves, thick leather
work gloves, and even canvas/leather work gloves.
Some worked better than others. Some were close to
impossible to use. We decided to do a little research
in this area and we'd like to share our findings with
you without any suspense: Ironclad gloves kick ass.
There, we said it. Better by miles than anything else
we have tried or used over the years. Now let's tell
you about them or stop reading and go buy a pair.
Ironclad doesn't
specifically make a big-wall glove, but they do have a
full repertoire of functional work gloves for niche
applications. The gloves are fully machine washable
and are made with no animal products. The suede-like
palm substrate is called 'Amara' and is synthetic.
The reinforcing pads are made with another synthetic
material, 'DuraClad'. The gloves synch down with a
heavy-duty plastic/hook & loop type closure so the
gloves won't ride up to give you the 'jumar-blister'.
The backside of the glove is made with a very tough
and breathable material. The hands never got hot even
during a summer ascent in Yosemite. One of the best
features of the glove is that it is nice and thin. No
excess padding to bunch up under your ascender handles
or limit your hand/finger dexterity. Now the very
best feature is the durability of these gloves. Not
only did they survive a three-day big wall, but also
survived the treacherous North Dome Gully descent. If
you're not familiar with the NDG, it's like Wintering
1500 feet down a loose scree slope, clinging to tree
branches and doing the odd rappel with a 80 pound haul
bag on the back for four hours (almost 7 hours for
us). After all of this, we could have jumped right
on another wall with the same gloves without doing a
single repair.
The only version that
have cut-off finger tips is the 'Framer' and that only
has the thumb, index and middle fingers cut short so
your finger tips protrude through (critical for
juggling expensive climbing gear 2,000' off the
deck). We opted to lop off the last two fingers to
have all finger tips available. You may want to keep
the full finger coverage on the pinky and ring
fingers. Our first attempt to cut off the glove
fingers between the first and second knuckles resulted
in the stitching coming undone and the finger sleeves
unraveling. A small application of duct tape got us
through the Mordor Wall (IV 5.7 A3), but the gloves
were done. On the second attempt we pre-wrapped the
fingers in duct tape and sliced off the finger sleeves
right through the tape. It worked perfectly! Now we
had well fitting wall gloves with all the finger tips
exposed. We also added a loop of 3mm Perlon to clip
them in at night. Try to fit these gloves slightly
larger than a regular pair of gloves. We bought XL's
when we would usually purchase L. Best thing to do is
check the Ironclad web site and find a dealer where
you can try on a pair.
We purchased a pair of
Ironclad 'Framer' gloves at a hardware store in
Eastern PA. Regular thin leather work gloves only cost
about $8, but you'll need to spend two hours
reinforcing them and you might want to think about
bringing an extra pair with you. Plus they are much
hotter than the Ironclad gloves. Canvas/leather work
gloves are loose fitting crap. Don't bother with
them.
We really like the
Ironclad gloves. Rock solid big-wall performer at a
reasonable price.
- From
Climber Online
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