Gear Review

Black Diamond Dry Tool Glove

tacky grip
nearly waterproof
not for coldest weather

Climbing a steep slope with an ice axe puts your hands in contact with a lot of water. If you wear ordinary ski gloves, they'll quickly get soaked, even if the snow is cold and dry. Black Diamond's Dry Tool merges a neoprene glove with a very tacky leather palm for outstanding grip and water resistance.

This isn't a totally waterproof design, but it's close, making the Dry Tool a fine spring mountaineering glove. As a winter glove, the neoprene probably doesn't offer enough insulation on its own, unless your hands tend to run warm.

I used these gloves for an extended, thousand-plus vertical foot self-arrest session (intentional!) on Mount Williamson's west face in very wet conditions. Hidden ice in the mushy spring neve made for a severe test of the Dry Tool's grip. The ice and snow randomly tried to wrench my axe from my hands. Thanks to the outstanding tackiness of the leather palm, however, the ice lost. My axe stayed firmly in my hands—and my hands stayed dry.

The Dry Tool, of course, can be used in even more challenging mixed-climbing environments, though that's beyond the scope of my endeavors. A benefit of the Dry Tool's pedigree, however, is that the glove is thin and form-fitting, making for good tactile feel—in case you do need to do a little climbing.

Be advised that this same feature makes the Dry Tool less effective in colder weather. There just isn't enough insulation to make the glove functional in colder temperatures.

For a lightweight Spring climbing and ski touring glove, I put this at the top of the list.