OR Lodestar gloves in action in Scotland
Star Rating: **** (4 Star)
Recommended Retail Price: $95
The OR Lodestar gloves are sold as gloves for 'approach,
skinning and high alpine climbing in cold conditions' for which this reviewer
thought they were ideal. The cleverly sewn seams in the leather mean that there
is an excellent dexterity in the glove and the pile liner gives a good level of
warmth. Although the gloves soak through very quickly due to the thin outer
fabric on the back of the hand, they also dry exceptionally quickly. These were
mostly tested in Scotland where they were subjected to a lot of wet weather
climbing but fared well as they stayed warm once wet.
However, the thin fabric used on the back of the hand was
found to be very fragile and was very quickly littered with holes (arguably,
these gloves are not designed for fist jamming cracks in winter...). The
leather also wore out a lot quicker than other gloves this reviewer owns and is
almost certainly due to the thin gauge of leather used. Overall we found these
gloves to be a good alpine all-rounder, performing admirably for skinning and
approaches (not too hot) as well as for climbing (dexterous and not too cold)
with the only thing holding them back being the durability which needs to be
compromised on to achieve a gloves as dexterous as this in the first place.
Things we like: Fit, Balance between dexterity and warmth, value for money.
Things we don’t like: Durability.