Gear Review

Marmot Power Stretch Glove

1. comfortable
2. wind-resistant
3. limited grip
4. light

In its initial incarnation, Marmot's Power Stretch was my single most used glove in the backcountry—I loved it.

The early Power Stretch glove featured a web-like lattice of plastic on the fingers and palm to provide better grip on ski poles and ice axe shafts. This is not a trivial concern: if you like wearing liner gloves as outer gloves, as I do, sooner or later you'll discover that gripping an ice axe shaft with smooth polyester is almost impossible.

The Power Stretch's grip was certainly not in the same league as a dedicated climbing glove, like Black Diamond's Dry Tool or Torque, with their high-tech grip materials.

However, it was good enough to let you climb with reasonable confidence in a variety of everyday situations.

A negative consequence of the Power Stretch's grip technology, however, was that it was very difficult to use the glove as a bona fide liner.

The plastic lattice added just enough thickness and bulk to make it difficult to get the glove into an outer shell easily, making it a liner glove that wasn't actually a liner.

Marmot addressed this issue by junking the entire concept: next year's Power Stretch model lost the plastic grip web, in favor of plain fabric reinforcement patches.

This, unfortunately, also eliminated the glove's most appealing aspect: namely, its relatively secure grip on poles and tools. So what of the current Power Stretch model? The '09 version veers (slightly) back toward the design objectives of the original.

Marmot has added low-profile "Grip Tec" patches to the fingertips to help prevent that slick fabric-on-steel problem. In contrast, other liners, such as Black Diamond's, put a sticky Pitard's leather patch on the palm for grip. Without dedicated high-grip material on the palm, the essential lack of grip confidence remains, though the finger tip patches are better than nothing.

Marmot's Power Stretch glove remains a champ in terms on comfort, however, thanks to its use of Polartech's stretchy Power Stretch fabric, which does a fine job wicking moisture away from your skin. Power Stretch is actually a dual-construction material: the outside is wind and wear-resistant, while the inside is extra soft for comfort.

The Power Stretch glove thus works admirably as a liner glove capable of going it alone when needed—provided your needs don't include technical climbing.

» Bottom Line: Top Polartech™ Comfort, but Still Not a Top Climber.

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