Cold Hands, Solved: The Best Ski and Snowboard Gloves of 2025-26

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Ski and snowboarding gloves don’t just keep your hands warm. They need to protect your hands from run-ins with trees and your equipment including bindings and sharp ski edges. And if you take your ski kit fit seriously, they also need to fit your overall look. Tan leather classic ski gloves are great but they might clash with your neo-retro neon jumpsuit.

Rab’s Khroma Freeride Gore-Tex Gloves are our favorite ski and snowboard gloves overall because they are built to last, but are also light, extra-soft gloves that preserve dexterity despite heavy insulation. The other two gloves (and one mitt) highlighted below are also great no matter your winter pursuit—take a look and find the pair that’s right for your hands and your ski or snowboard terrain and conditions.

Want the lowdown on more great snow sports gear? Check out the rest of Men's Journal 2025-2026 Ski Awards, where we’ve tested everything from outerwear to après-ski gear to bring you the best of every category—jackets, pants, bindings, and more.

Best Ski and Snowboard Gloves at a Glance

• Best Overall Ski and Snowboard Gloves: Rab Khroma Freeride
• Best Budget Ski and Snowboard Gloves: Kinco Lined Pigskin Leather
• Best Ski and Snowboard Mitts: Swany Calore
• Best Heated Ski and Snowboard Gloves: Gordini Forge Heated

Best Ski and Snowboard Gloves of 2025-26

Best Overall Ski and Snowboard Gloves: Rab Khroma Freeride

Rab has built out an impressive ski gear lineup over the past several years and its “freeride” Khroma line is top-shelf stuff. The Khroma Gloves pair a flexible Pittards Armortan leather on the hand and fingers that transitions to a stretch nylon fabric from the wrist through the cuff. This makes the gloves durable and protective where they need to be while staying light and flexible where they don’t. Primaloft Gold insulation packs a lot of warmth for its weight and is strategically placed where you need it most. The synthetic insulation works even when wet, but the Gore-Tex Plus Warm membrane keeps moisture out and lets it escape when you heat up.

Overall, the Khroma Freeride gloves are light, extra-soft gloves that preserve dexterity despite hefty insulation. They’re also built to last with just enough leather durability where it matters and backed by the Rab Promise to repair or replace anything that fails outside of normal wear.

Best Budget Ski and Snowboard Gloves: Kinco Lined Pigskin Leather Work Gloves

If you have a habit of losing gloves, you might not want to spend $100 or more on ski gloves. The classic Kinco Pigskin Work Gloves have been a favorite of old-timers and ski patrollers for decades and you can usually get a pair for $30 or less.

These are lined gloves, not truly insulated, so they’re not the warmest for those frigid January ski days, but the thick pigskin leather completely blocks wind and repels water when properly treated. (The gloves come with a small packet of Nikwax that’s enough for a single treatment for the pair.) The thick leather means you don’t get much dexterity in the fingers, but they break in reasonably well with regular care and use, and it’s impossible to beat the performance and longevity for the price.

Best Ski and Snowboard Mitts: Swany Calore

Swany is a Japanese company with Upstate New York roots and if you were a ski or snowboard kid in the 1990s, you probably had a pair. They’ve quietly been making great ski gloves for decades and the new Calore mitt is a nice blend of glove dexterity with mitten warmth. It’s one of the brand’s warmest options, but selectively applied Thermolite Micro insulation puts bulk where you need it only so you don’t feel like your hands are useless marshmallows.

Inside are finger channels which help replicate some of a glove’s dexterity while keeping cold air from circulating around your fingers and cutting your ski days short. Swany’s X-Cell Mitt is another great mitt option, but the Calore mitt has a more updated look and isn’t nearly as bulky, featuring a short, fixed cuff instead of the aggressive gauntlet look.

Best Heated Ski and Snowboard Gloves: Gordini Forge Heated Gloves

There’s a lot you can do to try and prevent cold hands such as maintaining your core temp with proper layering on your body, using well-insulated gloves, and using hand warmers, but some folks just can’t keep their hands warm. Whether this is due to health or circulation issues, heated gloves are pricey but can often be the last hope for the perpetually cold.

Gordini’s Forge Heated Glove System uses a small battery that tucks into the cuff to power a computer-controlled temperature regulation system. You can connect the gloves to their app that displays the temperature inside the gloves and manage certain controls, but for the most part, the system is automated to maintain a comfortable temperature for your hands. The gloves themselves are a well-made Gore-Tex lined gauntlet-style glove that works well even with the heating system turned off.