Ski gloves for very wet conditions

Very wet conditions -wet snow or rain- present a fundamental problem for ski glove design. Skiing, by its nature, is a cold weather winter sport so most gloves are designed with insulation levels meant to keep your hands comfortable in sub-freezing temperatures. To address the warm-wet problem, most ski glove manufacturers add a water-proof barrier called a membrane insert. It is basically a plastic glove inserted between the shell and insulation / liner of the glove.

They are famously purported to be "breathable", but that is not all it is cracked up to be. The reality is, they are much less breathable than advertised and most often create more internal moisture / sweat than they ever prevent external moisture penetration. 

Most ski glove manufacturers have effectively decided to compromise ski glove comfort and performance for most days in order to perform better on the rare day it is warm and wet. Most ski days are not warm and wet. Most of us choose not to ski in the rain.

Your "water-proof" insert gloves may work better than your much-more-breathable non-insert glove for a short period of time but it's only a matter of time until both wet out.

Lastly, the unavoidable problem with ski glove design for wet conditions is that they all have giant holes in them, where you put your hand in. Water always finds a way inside.

I know of these things as a child of Mount Hood, Oregon and a ski glove designer and field tester.

By far the best options for skiing in very wet / rainy conditions are:

3) Carry a second pair of gloves.

2) Buy a glove with removable liners. When the forecast is for very wet conditions, pull out your trusty $5 rubber gloves from Home Depot. Slide the removable liners inside the rubber gloves/ shells and keep them under your jacket cuffs so water doesn't run down your sleeves into your new miracle gloves.

 1) The best option is to buy Free the Powder X-Model gloves and mittens with removable liners and ADD our Lite Liners (Red Liners), which will fit perfectly inside a $3 pair of lighter rubber gloves from Home Depot. Either gauntlet or short cuff gloves will work with this strategy, but short-cuffs are nice because you can prevent leakage by keeping the cuffs under the sleeves of your coat.