Showa TEMRES 282 glove review

The Showa TEMRES 282 gloves have recently gained something of a cult following. Designed for commercial fishing in Japan, it turns out that many of the demands of mountaineering & fishing cross over - warmth, dexterity & waterproofness. I recently bought a pair and used them for a few alpine routes on 3000m peaks around the Fox Glacier and can confirm: the Showa TEMRES 282s deliver all three. Too good to be true?

Construction

The gloves are very simple: a polyurethane shell with a thin acrylic fleece inner bonded to the shell. The outer is rubbery with a speckled surface to improve grip. It is engineering to be more breathable than plain rubber washing up gloves which is apparent as the gloves do not get as sweaty inside as you'd expect. The inner fleece lining provides just enough warmth for a most climbing situations except in a very cold climate. The first iteration came in blue and many users wished for a gauntlet to keep out snow. Showa listened, and the TEMRES 282-02s come in black with an elastic gauntlet cinch.

Durability

These gloves are much more durable than expected. After using them for several weeks on a few high alpine routes, ski touring, and thrashing around on Darrans tussock I see almost no sign of wear. I used these gloves for everything from approach to belaying, leading, descent.

After much abseiling you will start to wear through the palm of these gloves, unless you're careful with use of the backup prussic on the rope.

Dexterity

The fit is close around the fingers, and since the fleece liner is directly bonded to the shell there is minimal slippage between the layers like you see in other gloves with waterproof membranes. The dexterity was good enough for lead climbing, placing ice screws, cams and even clipping the smallest Edelrid 19g carabiners.

Weight

At only 115 grams these gloves are superlight. They also stay light since they don’t get wet – think how heavy a saturated pair of gloves are.

Limitations

These aren't the glove for everything. They struggle to climb on rock beyond basic scrambling. For very hard alpine or mixed climbing you may need to grab some snowy holds also, the rubber does not provide that sticky grip you can find in a more specific climbing glove. For hard pitches I would use the Macpac Dash glove.

For cold featured ice climbing you often bash your knuckles on the ice. Ice climbing specific gloves or warmer leather gloves like Macpac Powder have more knuckle protection on the backside.

In very cold temperatures the TEMRES 282s may be too cold. In this case you could try buying a size larger, cutting out the built-in liner and wearing a thicker fleece glove.

Other reviews

Other elite alpine climbers round the world have been using the TEMRES 282s and its starting to catch on in North America. Here's a collection of what other people are saying.

Colin Haley: "They are more waterproof than any other gloves I've used for climbing, and the best warmth/weight ratio of any glove I've used. They also are INCREDIBLY durable. In Japan they are used by "all of the Japanese winter climbers," or so I was told in Kahiltna Basecamp by two Japanese climbers who were wearing the same gloves!"

Alpine Savvy: "You may have heard the car mechanic's saying: "You can have it fast, good, and cheap. Pick two." It seems gloves usually work the same way; There needs to be some sort of compromise along the way. Happy surprise: the TEMRES 282s deliver on all counts."

Kyle McCrohan: "Climbing demanded dexterity. Storm skiing needs water resistance. Aerobic activity needs breathability. I developed 'systems' of gloves: multiple gloves that worked together for a particular activity and condition. But multiple gloves are expensive and heavy. Enter the Showa TEMRES 282 Gloves, the quiver killer."

Conclusion

The Showa TEMRES 282s are an excellent glove for general mountaineering and ice climbing (in all but the coldest of temperatures) and even other uses like tramping in the rain or packing down a tent on a cold/wet morning. These gloves excel in wet snowy conditions where other gloves would quickly wet out and become cold.

These gloves can be bought from US Marine online shop Go2Marine. Due to shipping costs it is most economical to buy multiple pairs at once and share with your friends and climbing partners.

Note, these gloves size small, so get 1 size larger than you would normally. I usually wear a medium Macpac glove and fit the large in Showa gloves.