ProView – C.A.M.P. G Blizzard Gloves Review

This past year has seen me back in my old stomping grounds of the Pacific Northwest, climbing frozen volcanoes in the spring and skiing down them in an attempt to build fitness for a summer in the alpine. With all the fun and games on these steep slopes, it has been a pleasure to have a couple of new pairs of CAMP’s latest G series gloves to test out. Somewhere along the move out West I misplaced my favorite pair of old touring mitts that served as my daily drivers on the skintrack, but the G Blizzards came along just in time to replace them for spring missions. The latest version of these has some updated features that made them a great jack-of-all-trades which helped them fit right into my extensive glove roster.

Fit

The G Blizzards fit true to size like all the other gloves I have tried from CAMP. The size medium felt a bit restricting trying it on right out of the box, but like any leather glove they softened and fit perfectly after a short time using them. I wear a size medium (hand circumference 8”) in most brands, and I stuck with that for these gloves with no issue. The finger proportions on these gloves filled out perfectly, something I would expect from any high-end glove brand. I found the gloves to have great dexterity and had no issues manipulating carabiners or small levers on my ski bindings.

Construction

The gloves are made from goatskin leather on the palm and fingers, with a felt thumb patch and a neoprene backing that leads down to the cuff. The felt patch was a nice touch for those freezing mornings when my nose is constantly dripping, and the neoprene cuff structure allows for a generous amount of movement in the gloves while still offering good weather protection.

The inside of the Blizzards was a felt material, unlike the fleece liner I found in the similar G Crest gloves I tested earlier this spring. In contrast to the fleece liner, which I found helpful for grip in the gloves when climbing, the felt liner of the Blizzards seemed to allow for smoother on-and-off transitions of the gloves. Both styles of liners had no issues inverting when pulling a sweaty hand out of them after a hot descent late into the morning.

The Primaloft insulation in the gloves definitely did its job, as I had them on for several pre-dawn starts where I was clutching cold ice axes in below-freezing temps with little-to-no heat escaping my hands. I’m also not sure if I can explain why, but these gloves also didn’t ever overheat on me when temperatures turned too warm as the sun lit up the snowpack.

My best guess would be that the neoprene backing allowed for more breathability, but I honestly don’t know if I could contribute it all to that feature alone. Eventually these winter gloves did get too warm as the day wore on, but the temperature range that felt comfortable in them was really surprising to me.

Features

It appears as if this latest version of the G Blizzard has one large difference compared to last year’s model. Whereas the prior design had a plastic buckle and cinching strap located on the back of the wrist, the new model moves the closure method down to the bottom of the cuff with a simple Velcro patch on an elastane strap. This feature was adapted from the G Crest model, which had already employed it, and I think this was a great change. The old strap style would cause awkward pressure points from the plastic buckle and restrict wrist movement against the rigid strap.

The new velcro/elastene combination allows you to snug the cuff closed to prevent snow entry, but due to its stretchy nature, it never chokes down on your wrist. The other stand out feature of these gloves is the wrist leash. I talked about these in my review of the G Crest gloves, but as someone who was previously not a fan of wrist leashes, these ones totally converted me. They are perfectly designed so that the gloves aren’t bungee-ing miles from your hand in the wind, and also low-profile enough that you will never feel them annoying your wrist.

Application

To put these gloves to use, I mainly prioritized them as my pair for the approach on a skin track and the ski down mountains. In this regard, they functioned very well as gloves that could easily be pulled on and off as I took my phone out to capture photos or read the map. On a few climbs later in the spring, when I was slimming down the number of gloves I would bring on climbs, the Blizzards had to serve as not only my belay gloves, but also my on-route climbing gloves. I wouldn’t say these are going to be my new gloves for climbing WI4 ice routes, but for the moderate snow, occasional lower-angle ice, and easy mixed climbs I encountered with them, they worked great. Good leather fingers are always appreciated when grabbing cold rock in the alpine, and the longer cuff helped keep my dry when digging gear placements out of deeper sugar snow. 

As expected, due to the fancier insulation these gloves did a great job of keeping me warm on some particularly nasty alpine starts that were cold enough to freeze my Gatorade in the bottle. What really surprised me however was how long I was willing to keep these gloves on during the warm late-morning descents that preceded this. As many of my friends know, I am a wimp in the heat. For some reason I can’t quite explain or attempt to quantify from any specifics with the gloves, they seemed to not bother me as much when the day grew hotter and I was thus able to keep them on longer. This really solidified them as a glove that I could trust to bring alone on missions where I would normally bring several pairs to satisfy my goldilocks gear needs.

The Final Word

I’ll probably mention this on every review of a glove that I ever write, but I am a big believer in having a good quiver of handwear to cover the multitude of conditions that you might reach in the mountains. That being said, if you are looking for one glove to cover the range of your sports, the new G Blizzards might be the glove that gets closest to that mark. They’ll keep you warm and dry on winter powder days, secure and dexterous on some easy climbs on the way to the summit, and allow for comfortable transitions to shutterbugging your friends as they slog along behind you. For a great-looking glove that will keep you covered in the mountains, you should get your hands on (in?) a pair of the newest CAMP G Blizzards.

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