I recently climbed Mt Akadake in Japan’s Yatsugatake range (2,899m) in winter. It was -13ºc at the hut the night before, so with the extra 1000m of elevation we climbed on the route and winds of 20-40mph, the effective temperature was somewhere below -30ºc. I wore my warmest gloves – a pair of Rab Pivots complete with Haglofs Polartec liners, which have always kept my hands warm and toasty, but this was a step too far for them.
-30ºc for 2 or 3 hours of climbing at around Scottish Grade III is hard going – the belays get very cold. Most of me was fine, but my fingers were really feeling it: scarily cold and really hard going to get them feeling good to climb an awkward step or fiddly chimney.
During the climb, it was my ring, middle and little fingers that felt the coldest, but they warmed up by the time we were down – my index fingers, however, were numb. There was no obvious sign of frostbite, so I’m making the assumption I just suffered some mild nerve damage – 4 weeks later, the feeling has mostly returned, but it’s given me a newfound respect for the cold and the fact that gloves appears to be the weak link in my gear.
Since then, I’ve bought some Heritage Inc down mittens, which are a super-warm one-size mitt I can use as an over glove for belays, but they’re way too bulky for climbing in. I’ve got my eye on some Mountain Equipment Citadel Mitts, which are apparently dexterous enough for climbing but still extremely warm. My current collection of gloves (Rab Pivot, Mountain Equipment Guide, Hard Mixed, and some old Randonees that work really well for me as a cold-weather technical glove) are fine for ‘normal’ cold weather around -10ºc, but for the really cold days, it looks like I’m about to become a mitten guy. They really do make a difference, and 4 weeks of not being able to feel my fingertips is quite enough, thanks.