REASONS TO BUY
Dexterous for its warmth
Inside feels soft and cozy
Durable
Above average weather resistance
REASONS TO AVOID
Expensive
Leather needs to be retreated slightly more than other models
Hestra Army Leather Gore-Tex Review
A solid all-around winter glove with excellent water resistance and durability
Credit: Hestra
RELATED: The Best Ski Gloves of 2025
Our Verdict
The Hestra Army Leather Gore-Tex is one of our favorite all-around gloves, particularly for wet climates and moderate winter temperatures. It's one of the most durable gloves on the market, which helps justify your hefty investment. It has decent dexterity for most skiing needs, but it can't compete with the best gloves on the market when you need to use your fingers for delicate tasks. Mediocre dexterity aside, we love this glove for all kinds of winter recreating.
Compare to Similar Products
 This Product
Hestra Army Leather Gore-Tex | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards |  Best Overall Ski Gloves | Best Overall Ski Mittens |  Best Bang For Your Buck Mitten | Best Bang for your Buck | |
| Price | $127.96 at Amazon Compare at 3 sellers | $180 List | $95.96 at Evo Compare at 4 sellers | $65 List $65.00 at Amazon | $75 List $74.99 at Amazon |
Overall Score  |
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| Star Rating | |||||
| Bottom Line | Expensive but durable, this leather do-it-all model is cozy and provides sound weather resistance | The best glove on the market, these gloves are the complete package | Boasting a toasty level of warmth, this mitt protects your hands well at a fair price | A warm and comfortable mitten at an excellent value | This solid ski glove provides warmth and weather protection at a budget-friendly price |
| Rating Categories | Hestra Army Leather... | Rab Khroma Freeride... | Black Diamond Mercu... | The North Face Mont... | Gordini GTX Storm |
| Warmth (25%) | |||||
| Dexterity (25%) | |||||
| Water Resistance (25%) | |||||
| Construction Quality (15%) | |||||
| Features (10%) | |||||
| Specifications | Hestra Army Leather... | Rab Khroma Freeride... | Black Diamond Mercu... | The North Face Mont... | Gordini GTX Storm |
| Double or Single Glove | Single | Single | Double | Single | Single |
| Gauntlet or Cuff | Gauntlet | Gauntlet | Gauntlet | Gauntlet | Gauntlet |
| Palm Material | Army Leather (goat leather) | Pittards Armor-Tan® Goat leather | Goat leather | Synthetic leather | Polyurethane |
| Inner Glove Material | Bemberg | Pile | Recycled fleece | Raschel fleece | Polyester |
| Waterproof Material | HESTRA Triton three-layer polyamide fabric, leather | Gore-Tex Plus Warm | BD.dry | DryVent | Gore-Tex |
| Insulation Type | G-Loft polyester | 100 g Mapped Primaloft Gold (main). 133 g Primaloft Gold (back of hand), 133 g Primaloft Gold grip control (palm) | 340 g PrimaLoft Gold, high-loft fleece | 250 g Heatseeker Eco (back of hand). 160 g Heatseeker Eco (palm) | Megaloft |
| Special Features | Removeable wrist leash, unisex sizing, carabiner clip | Removeable wrist leash | None | Removeable wrist leashes | Handwarmer pocket, removeable wrist leash |
| Nose Wipe | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Our Analysis and Test Results
Performance Comparison
The Hestra Army Leather Gore-Tex is a solid all-around glove that performs decently across the board.
Credit: Jeff Dobronyi
Warmth
The Army Leather GTX is on the warmer side for ski gloves, but it isn't incredibly warm. Our hands felt adequately protected on most winter days, but when the temperatures dropped below normal, we were left wanting a little more warmth. They have a cozy fleece lining that feels spectacular when you slip them on and plenty of synthetic insulation.
This over-the-cuff model fits easily over our ski jackets and cinches down for a warm seal.
Credit: Jeff Rogers
Dexterity
The Army Leather GTX offers better-than-expected dexterity, especially considering the amount of warmth and leather provided to the wearer. When performing tasks that require fine motor skills, such as manually unlocking a car door and writing our name with a pencil, this contender scored about average. We found we could manually unlock a car door, but our handwriting turned out very sloppy when writing our name.
The Hestra Army Leather Gore-Tex is dexterous enough for most skiing tasks, but it comes up short where fine motor skills are needed.
Credit: Jeff Dobronyi
Water Resistance
As you might expect from the name, the Army Leather GTX uses a Gore-Tex insert inside a water-resistant leather. This glove was one of the most water-resistant in our fleet, offering optimal protection. It excelled in our bucket-of-water comparisons, as well as in real-world use.
Durability
This glove is tough! Like other Hestra Gloves, the leather lasts longer when a leather conditioner is applied, as it helps keep the exterior leather water-resistant. Applied one or two times per year, the conditioner will extend the life of this (and all) contenders. Throughout our testing, we found that this glove did not have any durability issues whatsoever.
Our test team is impressed with the durability of this glove. Even after several seasons of abuse, it is still holding up nicely.
Credit: Jeff Rogers
Features
This glove has a solid number of extra features that make it easier to use, like low-profile wrist straps and a velcro wrist cinch. It also has a hanging loop on the pinky to facilitate faster drying. The gauntlet is large and easily fits over any ski jacket cuff. The gauntlet pull cord is easy to manipulate.
We love the keeper leashes, which make it impossible to drop a glove on the chairlift. If you don't like them, they are easily removable.
Credit: Ian Nicholson
We like the included carabiner (not for climbing) that keeps the gloves paired together when not in use. This clip is a bit large and dangly if you keep it on while wearing the gloves, but we don't mind it too much.
The Hestra Army Leather Gore-Tex is a decent all-around glove for most cold days of the winter.
Credit: Ian Nicholson
Should You Buy the Hestra Army Leather Gore-Tex?
This is among the most expensive gloves in our review, and it doesn't perform as well as the best gloves on the market in terms of warmth and dexterity. They are super water-resistant, so regular skiers in wet climates might want to investigate further. But for most winter recreationists, we think there are better gloves out there that will save you money and serve you better.
The Hestra Army Leather Gore-Tex gloves perform well across the board, and are a perennial favorite for many skiers.
Credit: Jeff Rogers
What Other Ski Gloves Should You Consider?
For a similar price, you could score our Editors' Choice, the Rab Khroma Freeride, or the Arc'teryx Fission SV, another top performer. Both of those gloves have more warmth and dexterity, which are the two most important performance metrics in our test. If you are looking for a less expensive option, the Gordini GTX Storm is a great choice.
—Ian Nicholson and Jeff Dobronyi
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