The North Face Montana - Women's Review

The North Face Montana Glove is an insulated glove with a women-specific fit, available in a range of colors and sizes. These gloves feature proprietary, medium-loft, synthetic “Heatseeker” insulation for added warmth, a PFC-free durable water repellent (DWR) coating for increased weather resistance, and synthetic leather palms. Cinch straps and adjustable gauntlet cuffs help keep the gloves in place and protected from wind and snow. The Montana gloves even offer effective touchscreen capability, all at a reasonable price.

Warmth

The Montana Gloves are reliably warm for chilly days on the mountain. The proprietary insulation fibers have hollow cores to trap as much heat as possible while maintaining better loft and durability over time. We especially loved the super-soft, recycled Raschel fleece, which is always inviting to slip into at the start of a cold day of skiing.

The long wrist gauntlet features a cinch to keep drafts out. The relatively soft polyester outer shell allows some wind to penetrate during a full blizzard or high-speed run. During our controlled freezer test to compare insulation value, the Montana Gloves lost a bit more heat than other directly comparable options. We also noticed that on warmer days, the thick fleece lining caused our hands to sweat, and they felt colder later on. But for cold days, these are sure to keep your hands cozy and comfortable.

Dexterity

The Montana Gloves leave a bit to be desired in terms of dexterity. The fingers are relatively long compared to the palm, and the extra insulation at the fingertips makes it harder to perform detailed tasks. We often had to remove them for precise tasks, like grabbing zippers to pull out our phone.

Even though it was often tough to complete fine motor tasks, the Montana Gloves are just fine for the things that you need to do on any given day at the resort. The ability to use a touchscreen is a bonus – you can easily check text messages or a resort map without removing your gloves.

Water Resistance

The Montana Gloves offer passable water protection. While they're not the best in the lineup, they kept our hands dry during wet storms. When it was cold, dry snow, they stayed completely dry. During our water submersion test, the exterior wet out slightly, but no moisture reached the interior. The nose-wipe fabric was fully saturated, though, so we would expect the same on an exceptionally wet ski day. Fortunately, the synthetic fabric dries relatively quickly.

Due to the soft exterior fabric, we expect the water-repellent treatment on these gloves to degrade over time. It would be worthwhile to wash them occasionally with a waterproofing treatment to improve performance and longevity. For nearly every ski day – unless you regularly ski in the rain – the Montana Gloves perform well enough to keep your hands warm and dry.

Construction Quality

Some quality trade-offs in materials and construction are inevitable with the lower price tag of the Montana Gloves. While not constructed from high-end materials, these gloves are reasonably durable for regular use. Faux leather is not as durable as genuine leather. But it is cheaper, which seems like a fair tradeoff, especially since the Montana Gloves showed only minor signs of wear after our test period.

They held up well throughout our testing period, but we did notice minor wear on the faux-leather palm and on the stitching around the wrist gusset. If you ski occasionally, the Montana Gloves will likely last you a long time; if you ski most days throughout the winter, we would expect these gloves to wear out within a couple of seasons.

Features

The North Face Montana Gloves are highly functional, featuring all the bells and whistles expected in a standard ski glove. They include cuff loops to make it easier to pull them on, wrist straps to help prevent them from being dropped from the chairlift, cinch straps to improve fit, adjustable gauntlet cuffs, and effective touchscreen capability. We also appreciate the soft nose wipe featured on each thumb.

It would be a nice addition if they included a removable liner glove (similar to the mitten version. For extra-cold days, a zippered hand-warmer pocket would also be a welcome bonus.

Should You Buy The North Face Montana Gloves?

We highly recommend The North Face Montana Glove for any casual skier. It's an exceptional glove at a very reasonable price point. If you use this glove for a few days per season, you'll be more than happy with its performance. The exception is anyone living in exceptionally cold climates where temperatures frequently drop below zero – you should consider warmer options.

What Other Women's Ski Gloves Should You Consider?