If you want maximum warmth, the PHD Kappa Mitts might be for you, suggests gear tester James Forrest, but they do have some flaws. Are they one of the best winter gloves around? It's time to find out...
PHD (Peter Hutchinson Designs) is a niche brand known for its expertise in insulation, with a perfectionist approach to down fill power ratings, warmth-to-weight ratios and everything else geeky you could possibly think of to do with keeping adventurers warm.
It’s a brand with a small but cult following, and many mountaineers swear by its products.
True to the insulating ethos of PHD, the Kappa Mitt is an exceptionally warm, super cosy, mitt-style glove with high levels of comfort.
It genuinely provides a haven of toasty warmth and, for anyone prone to cold hands and freezing fingers, the Kappa will halt your suffering instantly.
Some will see it as PHD’s entry-level expedition mitt, suitable for high-altitude climbs or Kilimanjaro and Mont Blanc attempts. Others will see it as a high-end, top-performing hiking mitt for the coldest of winter days in the UK’s mountains. Either way, it’s a great product, but it comes with big pros and big cons.
Pros
- Exceptionally warm
- Come with wrist leashes
- Lightweight
Cons
- Very expensive
- Too warm for some scenarios
- Poor dexterity
| RRP: | £177 / $224.91 |
| Weight per glove: | 72g / 2.5 oz (small) |
| Unisex sizes: | S-XL |
Summary
The positives? The Kappa is exceptionally warm, impressively lightweight (72g per glove) and very comfortable.
It's thickly-insulated with high-quality PrimaLoft Gold synthetic insulation and it can be paired with a liner glove for even more warmth. Excellent features include a wrist leash and strap adjustment at the wrist, as well as a durable outer shell.
The negatives? It’s overkill for many trips in the UK, proving far too warm for milder days. The mitt-style (as usual) delivers poor hand and finger dexterity, while grip is average.
Some of the design features – such as the tape-and-buckle strap and the wrist leash – perhaps feel a little basic compared to what you get with bigger, more established brands.
Plus, the HS2 outer is not taped, meaning the mitts are not technically fully waterproof, while the price is rather outrageously expensive at £177 ($224.91).
In my eyes, however, the PHD Kappa Mitt is an excellent glove, and if you can afford it, why not opt for maximum warmth and comfort? For more serious mountaineers, or those who prioritise warmth over everything, it’s a top-tier option.
Design, materials and construction
The PHD Kappa Mitts are made from a number of different materials. The insulation is PrimaLoft Gold polyester. The outer is made from HS2, a two-layer laminate (88gsm). This high-spec ripstop fabric “strikes an excellent balance between lightness and durability”, according to PHD.
Across the palms you get a tough, abrasion-resistant Tempest fabric, a 100% nylon (160gsm) described by PHD as a “technically-advanced waterproof breathable material” with “good abrasion and tear resistance, yet offering high flexibility for such a tough material”.
Waterproofing and breathability
There's a strange dichotomy with this product. On the one hand, the outer of the Kappa Mitt features some high quality materials, including a HS2 wind-resistant outer combined with a tough Tempest fabric across the palms. Both of these materials are waterproof.
However, the seams of the Kappa are not taped or sealed (to reduce weight and ensure lightness), which means the stitching poses a water ingress risk and the mitts overall can’t be classed as waterproof.
So where does this leave you? Well, PHD still is very confident about the protection levels offered by the Kappa Mitts, partly because the outer will still deflect the initial effects of rain, plus PrimaLoft Gold insulation retains its insulating properties excellently, even when wet.
"In our experience it absorbs water much more slowly than other waddings, a marked advantage in wet-cold conditions", explains the brand, adding that PrimaLoft Gold insulation "offers warmth when conditions get cold, wet and windy".
Indeed, when I grilled them on the lack of seam taping, the brand was very detailed in their response.
Peter Elliott from PHD told us: "This is a mitt that'll handle getting wet through, but also a mitt that'll go down to very cold conditions. I use them down to -15C.
"We could tape these mitts, but then we'd add a lot of additional weight in tape and an extra layer of inner fabric to stabilise the PrimaLoft.
"In the build system we use, we attach the PrimaLoft to the seam so you can't then tape the seam. If you did tape, you'd lose the wonderful weight advantage and gain very little. There's no real advantage in being waterproof – and the mitts are truly too warm in really wet conditions.
"As I say, I think most people nowadays carry at least three pairs of gloves or mitts on a Scottish winter trip. I carry these as the big guns when everything else is falling short."
Warmth and insulation
This mitt is all about warmth – that’s its raison d’etre. This all comes from a very thick, plushly-lofted fill of PrimaLoft Gold, one of the best synthetic insulations available on the market.
PHD describes PrimaLoft Gold as “the ideal microfibre insulation”, utilising ultrafine fibres to “produce an insulating core that is incredibly soft, lightweight and water-resistant”.
The brand adds that PrimaLoft is “the nearest of the synthetics to the feel of down, yet tougher than you would expect” and that “PrimaLoft Gold offers the best warmth-to-weight performance in the PrimaLoft range”.
All of this means the Kappa Mitt is an exceptionally warm glove suitable for cold winter outings. As such, it’s arguably too warm for many scenarios and for many hikers it’ll be overkill. But for other hikers, the reliable warmth might be the factor that clinches their business.
Fit, grip and dexterity
The Kappa Mitt has pretty good adjustability. A tape-and-buckle strap system, which was newly re-designed for a 2024 upgrade of the Kappa, enables the fit to be cinched-in or loosened around the wrist.
This works pretty well and ensures a bespoke fit to your hand shape, although the hardware feels a little basic and the strap can leave an annoyingly long length of excess fabric flapping around.
The base of the gauntlet, meanwhile, has a stretchy cuff edging made from elastane, but it’s not adjustable via a drawcord or any other system. I found the stretchy cuff worked absolutely fine for me, but the adjustability is compromised slightly in this part of the glove.
The Kappa is a mitt, not a five-fingered glove, with a standard mitt shape and design. The fit appears to be true to size and comfort levels are very high. The cut is nicely shaped but quite roomy, with a cosy, non-restrictive interior.
It has a pre-bent shape to improve grip and natural comfort. But, as with all mitts, hand and finger dexterity are relatively poor compared to standard gloves.
Grip is decent and will meet the needs of the average hillwalker using poles or wielding an ice axe occasionally. But it’s not exceptional and some climbers may prefer the enhanced grip you get with a five-fingered, leather palm on the Rab Guide 2 GTX, for example.
Weight and sizes
Despite being exceptionally warm, the PHD Kappa Mitts are impressively lightweight. On my scales, the men’s medium clocks in at just 72g per glove. That’s a big weight saving compared to some of its competitors and definitely puts the Kappa Mitt in the ultralight category.
For example, the PHD Kappa Mitt is 36g lighter per glove than the Extremities Torres Peak, 49g lighter than the Rab Guide GTX 2 and 24g lighter than the Montane Supercell. The Outdoor Research Stormtracker is, however, 11g lighter than the PHD Kappa, but it’s nowhere near as warm.
Unisex size options range from S to XL. This isn’t the biggest size range I've ever seen, but should suffice for the vast majority of customers. A handy (pun intended) size guide provided by PHD enables you to pinpoint which size is right for your hand, based on its width and length.
Features
Each Kappa Mitt features a long wrist leash, described by PHD as “idiot loops” because they help prevent any idiotic mistakes, such as dropping your gloves on the path or letting them blow away in the wind.
The leashes are lightweight and flexible, and enable you to securely attach each mitt to your wrist. The system is detachable, if required. The mitts also come with a stuff sack (sized 18 x 10cm), which is handy for storage.
A few features are notable in their absence. You don’t get any nose wipes or clips for attaching the gloves together, and there’s no way to adjust the fit of the glove at the base of the gauntlet.
Verdict
The PHD Kappa Mitts are wonderfully warm, with tons of PrimaLoft Gold insulation, but they're very, very expensive.
Find more winter kit in our list of the best winter sleeping bags.
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About the author
James Forrest is a prolific peak bagger and long-distance walker who’s one of the most high-profile outdoor writers in the UK.
He writes regular features and route guides for Trail and has been one of our main gear testers for the last few years. James is based on the edge of the Lake District so when he isn’t off on his latest crazy adventure or challenge, he’s walking in his local fells.
James reviews every type of outdoor kit for Trail and is a real authority on everything you need for wild camping and packing light for a multi-day walk.