When I first started climbing big walls in Yosemite 15 years ago, I’d wear leather gardening gloves to protect my hands. The would generally fall apart after one or two walls. What made matters worse was that the stitching in the fingers would dig into my digits and hurt my tendons.
I swore off wall gloves for years since none seemed to work as well as I liked. They were either too bulky, too flimsy or too poorly made.
About two years ago I finally decided to give them another go. The exact moment occurred as I was waking up on a bivi midway up El Cap and my hands ached so bad I could barely close them. The previous days or hauling bags, flaking ropes and jugging fixed lines had worn my palms and fingers down.
When we got off the wall I purchased a pair Iron Hand 3/4 length fingerless gloves by Metolius. These, to borrow a cliche, saved my skin. They also allowed me to still physically handle my gear, such as a the hauling device (which is one of those items that just cannot be dropped) and belay device. These gloves didn’t dig into my palms and fingers and have stood up well to abuse.
Last week while climbing the Direct route on Half Dome I used the Black Diamond Transition gloves. Though full fingered, the leather is thin enough that I could still feel the gear I was handling at the belay. (I never lead with climbing gloves.) After topping out after two and half days on the the wall the gloves still looked brand new. And my hands weren’t damaged.
These days I carry climbing gloves for all types of roped climbing. I belay with them on, rappel with them and use them to flake ropes. Since my hands don’t hurt this means I can climb more often.
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