“Army Surplus” Fingerless Wool Gloves

There’s nothing better than cheap, dependable, and functional gear.  Over the years one of my go-to pieces are my fingerless wool gloves.  I buy a new pair when my old ones have shredded and started to unravel to the point of being unusable.  I’ll use these on every trip except for warm summer trips.  Without fingertip coverage, I can still do things requiring dexterity.  When it gets cold, I can put on regular gloves or mittens or put my hands in my jacket pockets.

I just bought a new pair for $6.97 at a local “Army Surplus” store.  I put that into quotes because very little of the gear is truly army surplus anymore.  Any good actual surplus I see seems to come from Europe.  Most of it is faux crap that I really hope no military is foolish enough to put into use.

The pair I have are made in the USA by a company called Newberry Knitting.  With these I hike, snowshoe, use with hiking poles, and wear around camp in all weather conditions, layering .  Because they’re wool, they still keep my hand warm when wet, and are of course quite breathable.

Additionally I own and use a full fingered version, which are sold as glove liners.  I’ve never used them for that purpose and they do well enough on their own.  Same properties as the fingerless gloves, with full finger coverage of course being the added benefit.

I’ll use the fingerless gloves once the nights are dipping down into the 50’s all the way down to the 20’s.  For me they work best during activity.  If I need more warmth in camp I’ll put them on under my OR Metamorph Gloves which I got for $10 because they were “damaged”.  That combination really fits the bill for 99% of my hiking and backpacking in cold temperatures, even down into the teens. For truly frigid temperatures I have a pair of Burton mittens that I rarely need or use (good thing they were on sale).

Similar fingerless wool gloves are available on the internet for anywhere between $7 to upwards of $20+.  The exact pair I own cost more on the companies website than I bought them for at retail.  This is one of those pieces of gear that is pretty versatile, durable as well as being cheap.  Don’t buy high priced gear if you don’t have too, when you can find something effective and way cheaper.