Biographical Info
Name: Danny Sedivec
Age: 22
Gender: Male
Height: 6' 0" (1.83 m)
Weight: 165 lbs (75 kg)
Email Address: pezfuerte@yahoo.com
City, State, Country: San Diego, California, USA
Date: January 6, 2005

Backpacking Background: I started backpacking about five years ago taking mainly three to seven day trips. I hike mainly in the southwestern US with the majority of my experience in the California Sierras, as well as a few trips in Arizona and Nevada. Although I push myself during the day, I like to be comfortable in camp but I still try to keep my pack as light as possible. The climate that I hike in is predominately dry, however, on summer trips in the Sierras I often encounter afternoon thunderstorms. During the winter I am an avid skier frequenting areas throughout the California Sierras as well as occasionally snowshoe backpacking in the same areas.

Product Info
Manufacturer: Granite Gear
Product: Aptitude Gloves Men's Medium
Year of Manufacture: 2004
URL: http://www.granitegear.com
MSRP: $49.00 USD
Weight as Measured: 3.7 oz (105 g)

Product Description: The gloves are black with the Granite Gear logo on the back of the hand. The palm and underside of all fingers is made of the Pittards WR100X Digital Armor Tan leather. The gloves' cuffs are fleece, and very soft and warm. The remaining fabric of the gloves is made of three different layers of material. One is Durastretch, the second is Vapex, and the third is a Fleece Laminate. The combination of the three fabrics is said to be waterproof as well as cut and abrasion resistant. There are two webbing loops on each glove. One that runs across the outside of the middle finger at the second knuckle allows the gloves to be hung with the opening down to keep snow from getting in them when they are not being worn. The other is sewn into the cuff on the bottom of the wrist allowing the gloves to be hung with the opening up.

Field Information: Thus far, my testing of these gloves has been done exclusively in the Lake Tahoe area of California. I have worn them on two separate occasions, both downhill skiing at Kirkwood Mountain. My two days of testing were in very different conditions. Day one was in sunny weather with temperatures ranging from 40 F (4 C) to 50 F (10 C). Day two was cloudy and lightly snowing with temperatures spanning 20 F (-7 C) to 32 F (0 C) and with winds gusting to 15 mph (24 kph). For those who don't know, Kirkwood Mountain is located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains with a base elevation of 7,800 ft (2377 m) and a peak elevation of 9,800 ft (2987 m).

Field Results: As a whole, the Granite Gear Aptitude gloves performed excellently. The manufacturer's stated goal is to keep the hands warm while also allowing the user full dexterity. They definitely hit that mark with the Aptitude gloves.

In my two days of testing I found the gloves to be very warm for the conditions. On the warmer of the two days, the gloves were hot, but they breathed enough not to force me to take the gloves off to allow my hands to cool down. On the colder day, I was amazed at how windproof the gloves were. When riding up the chairlift with an apparent wind of about 15 mph (24 kph) I could barely feel it through the gloves. They kept my hands warm and the wind out, which is nice especially since wind chill is a big factor when playing outdoors in the cold. My only disappointment with the gloves is that they were not fully waterproof. When skiing on the colder of the two days, I took a big fall in fresh powder. By the time I had got my skis on and gotten back to the chair lift, my hands were feeling the moisture from the fall. This dampness made for a cold ride up the chair, and it took about one to two runs (30 min) for the gloves to dry up again.

As for dexterity, the gloves are quite useable for how warm they are. They are definitely not as dexterous as thin liner gloves, but they are very close, and substantially warmer. With the Granite Gear Aptitude gloves, I was able to manipulate with ease anything I put my mind to. I could effortlessly zip and unzip my ski jacket. I had no problem unzipping a pocket, removing a folded trail map, and opening it to read. The gloves are dexterous in that they allow the user to easily grasp and manipulate small things such as a zipper. However, they do significantly reduce the sense of feeling in the fingers, so trying to find and handle something with out seeing it is rather difficult. For example, I have a season pass at Kirkwood that is hung around my neck by a lanyard. At the bottom of every lift I would have to unzip my jacket (no problem with the Aptitude gloves on), then pull out my season pass to show the lift attendant. Pulling the season pass out by the lanyard was a shot in the dark if I didn't look down into my jacket to see where the pass was hanging. This fact is not so much a criticism, as it is a fact that this glove, along with many others severely reduces the ability to feel things with the fingers.

When it comes to fit, the gloves were perfect. I sized the gloves based on Granite Gear's sizing chart, and they fit perfectly. They are quite snug on my hands, and do not slide around or shift, even when aggressively using my poles while downhill skiing. One thing that I found slightly bothersome was the stitching on the inside of the fingers, especially the thumb. At the tip of the fingers, where the material comes together, it is bunched up and sewn together so that it sticks out on the inside of the glove. This is mildly uncomfortable, and a little annoying because whenever something is grabbed, it feels like there is an extra bunch of fabric between the finger and what is being grabbed. As I know nothing about sewing, I don't know how or if this problem could be fixed, but if it could it would make the gloves a little more appealing to me. In the two times that I have used these gloves, they have suffered no apparent wear or tears. The gloves have been very durable to this point, and are in as good a condition as when I took them out of the box for the first time. One other feature that I really liked about these gloves is the material on the back of the hand, which includes the backs of the fingers and thumb. This material is quite soft, and therefore excellent in wiping my nose. I frequently get a runny nose in cold weather and with this soft material I can wipe many times a day and not worry about getting a rough, red, chaffed nose.

Overall, I really like the Granite Gear Aptitude gloves. The three things that I like the most about these gloves are their warmth, durability, and the ease with which you can do things while wearing the gloves. My one major concern is with how waterproof the gloves actually are. I was also bothered by the stitching on the inside of the fingers and thumb. Although this did not hamper the gloves’ performance, it was mildly annoying when wearing them. In the next several months, I plan to test these gloves even more rigorously than before. I will test them more in snowy conditions to give their water repellency a second chance, and see if they really are waterproof or not. I will then test the gloves in drier conditions, where it is still cold, but there is not moisture to deal with. Lastly, I will put the durability of the gloves to the test by using them on climbing trips to see how they withstand the abuses of belaying, rappelling, and scrambling over rough, rocky surfaces.