Silnylon mittens

The wet & cold is hard on your hands. They’re exposed (particularly if you’re carrying hiking poles) and so they’re difficult to protect. Waterproofing them doesn’t seem to work in the long term as water seems to always find a way through by overwhelming the waterproof layer, through seams, openings or all of them. Traditional waterproof-breathables additionally are relatively heavy for an item that is usually on your pack most of the time for the summer season.

You won’t get hypothermic from cold hands but that’s just the reason why you may get very uncomfortable: your body will protect itself from heat loss through the hands by turning blood flow down. It may turn from uncomfortable to painful and it’s no joke to set up shelter with 3 numb, limp fingers in each hand.

I haven’t found a less than perfect solution for this yet. But I’m trying…

Reasoning

Traditionally, I’ve applied three different solutions to the cold & wet hands issue:

  • Do nothing

Human skin is waterproof and truly breathable (unlike other stuff out there) so doing nothing is as good a solution as it gets while it’s bearable. The skin will also dry quick and easily once out of the wet. Unfortunately, the cold may make it too hard to stand and the wet just accelerates the cold.

  • Cover with insulating gloves/mittens

These are something I’ll usually be carrying anyway. It works well until they get wet and then they insulate little but they’re still better than nothing. Once in camp, we have yet another soaking wet piece of gear.

  • Cover with non-insulating, waterproof, non-breathable, simple gloves/mittens

When it’s cold, hands don’t sweat much so it’s acceptable to cover them with some non-breathable stuff. I’ve used simple plastic gloves/mittens like those used for picking up the fruit at supermarkets for this in the past. Also household gloves made of vinyl, latex or nitrile. The former weight nothing in your pack while not in use (a good thing) but are not too durable and once they get some hole they don’t work much. The latter are more durable and still very light but they’re tight and awckward to put on and take off with wet hands. Non-breathable stuff may be not that much better (in waterproofness) than waterproof-breathables but at least it’ll be simpler and lighter.

So far, the last solution (the non-breathable stuff) has worked best when needed so I thought about some piece of gear that keeps the good parts of this solution and tries to overcome the problems: either durability or difficult handling. One I’m at it, I’ll also try to make this new gear compatible with the insulating layer that I’ll be most probably carrying too (or some emergency solution used instead).

Silnylon mittens: they’re waterproof, non-breathable, easy to make, lightweight and they can be worn on their own or layered over some insulating glove or mitten. As mentioned, the lack of breathability is not that much of a problem when it’s really cold because hands don’t sweat that much then. On their own, the mittens will provide protection from the elements that may be enough unless it’s really cold. Over some other insulating layer, they may be good for mild winter conditions.
Shell, insulation or both together

The making

Base fabric:

  • 1.3 silnylon.

Other materials:

  • 100% polyester Guttermann thread
  • 2 mm. elastic cord
  • Two cordlocks
  • Silicone and mineral spirits

The construction couldn’t be simpler:

  • Copy a pattern out of some other mittens I already had
  • Cut two equal halves and sew them all along the perimeter (but for the obvious opening)
  • Sew a sleve along the perimeter of said opening
  • Insert the elastic cord and place a cord-lock
  • Seal the seams with the spirits diluted silicone
  • Do it all over again for the second mitten

Specifications

End size: 25 x 13.5 cm. aprox.

Final weight: 18 gr. for the pair

In use

I haven’t used them yet (just finished making them) but this is a simple enough item to spare the tests. The theory seems solid and it’s just about trying and see if it works.

I’ll take them with me to the Colorado Rockies and hope the weather collaborates so I don’t have to use them much.

Setting trends in backcountry fashion