The Rab Guide 2 GTX is designed to be a premium-quality, high-performing, fully-featured glove designed for serious mountaineers. But does it deliver enough to land a place on our list of the best winter gloves?
Well, it ticks all of the boxes: it’s warm, waterproof and comfortable, and offers good grip and dexterity.
The materials used are first-rate, including a Gore-Tex ePE waterproof membrane, a Pittards leather palm and PrimaLoft Gold synthetic insulation, while the design boasts a pre-curved shape, roll-top fingers and a long gauntlet.
You get loads of features, too, such as a removable wrist leashes, adjustable cuffs and nose wipe tabs.
The negatives? At £135 ($170) they are very expensive and the top-tier design (and price-bracket) potentially makes them over-kill for the average hillwalker.
Indeed, they're probably better suited to serious winter climbers and scramblers, who need a good balance between warmth, protection and dexterity for fiddly rope-work and tool handling.
They're rather heavy, dexterity is good but not exceptional and they aren’t as cosy, comfy and warm as mitts.
But having said all of this, the Rab Guide 2 GTX gloves are clearly impressive and won’t let you down, even in the depths of winter. If your pockets are deep enough, they're a wise choice.
Pros
- Fully-featured, including useful wrist leashes
- High-quality materials
- Warm and waterproof
- Good grip and dexterity
Cons
- No women’s specific version
- Expensive
- Quite heavy
- Not touchscreen compatible
| RRP: | £135 / $170 |
| Sizes: | XS-XXL (unisex) |
| Weight: | 121g / 4.3 oz (per glove, size small) |
| Insulation: | PrimaLoft Gold and high pile 60g/m2 insulation to the back of the hand. Bemberg and PrimaLoft Gold 100g/m2 insulation on the front |
| Waterproofing: | Gore-Tex |
Design, materials and construction
The outer of the Rab Guide 2 GTX combines a robust Gore-Tex membrane with high-quality Pittards leather.
Supple Pittards leather is used across the palm, rear of the hand and up-and-over the roll-top finger tips and thumbs, thus ensuring a precise fit, flexible dexterity, good grip, minimal seam exposure and improved durability. The inner of the glove features a high pile lining and PrimaLoft Gold insulation.
The glove’s outer is made from 76% polyamide, 20% polyurethane membrane and 4% elastane. The palm is 100% goat leather, the Gore-Tex insert is 100% ePTFE and the insulation is 100% recycled polyester.
The construction technique is called ‘mapped 3D construction’ by Rab, with a ‘zoned’ approach, meaning different materials are used across different part of the glove to provide bespoke benefits.
The thinking here is that different thicknesses and cuts of material are needed in different parts of the hand.
Consequently you get PrimaLoft Gold (60g/m2) across the back of the hand, while Bemberg and PrimaLoft Gold (100g/m2) are used across the palm, the latter being optimised for grip control. You also get a pre-curved shape to fit the natural contours of the hand better.
Waterproofing and breathability
The Rab Guide 2 GTX features a new Gore-Tex ePE membrane for its waterproofing and breathability.
Generally speaking, any glove using a Gore-Tex liner –a well-known, market-leading, third-party brand – will come at a price premium, compared to an in-house, proprietary waterproofing technology. But many would argue Gore-Tex offers a higher chance of reliable and long-lasting protection.
During testing, I found it kept the rain out well, although (of course) more time is needed to truly test its long-term performance in atrocious conditions.
I'd describe breathability as okay, but – depending on the weather conditions – I still found it quite easy for my hands to get clammy and sweaty in the Guide 2 gloves.
One nice design touch is the way the protective outer extends inside the cuff of the glove for improved all-round protection from rain and snow. Rab says this is particularly useful at “reducing freeze-thaw melt when clearing snowy ledges”.
Warmth and insulation
The Guide 2 GTX is one of the warmest gloves in Rab’s range, with a 4/5 warmth rating in Rab’s internal grading system. Only gloves such as the down-filled Expedition 8000 Down Mitt have a 5/5 rating.
The Guide 2’s warmth comes courtesy of the PrimaLoft Gold insulation and a high pile lining. The inside of the gloves don’t feel as soft or cosy as some others gloves on tes, and the insulation doesn’t seem as lofty or plush – instead it’s more wadded and flat, almost.
But, even so, the all-round warmth levels are impressive and certainly suitable for sub-zero conditions in the height of winter.
The PrimaLoft Gold used in these gloves is described by Rab as “efficient synthetic insulation that provides just the right amount of warmth, breathability and stretch to keep you moving fast and free, perfectly adapted to stop and start activities”.
Fit, comfort, grip and dexterity
The Rab Guide 2 GTX is a glove, not a mitt, with a standard shape and design. The fit appears to be true to size and comfort levels are high.
The cut strikes a nice balance. While the Guide 2 is quite a heavy, warm and fully-featured glove, it doesn’t feel excessively bulky and instead feels reasonably close-fitting and streamlined, somehow.
Adjustment closure and opening of the base of the glove gauntlet (located further down the forearm) is excellent, via a drawcord that can easily be operated with a single hand. This works superbly and is easy enough to do, even when wearing the gloves.
There is one omission in terms of adjustment, however. There is no way to tighten or loosen the fit of the glove around the base of the wrist, so you have to hope the fit works well for the shape of your hand – although the cut worked absolutely fine for me.
Rab says the Guide 2 GTX has been designed for “dedicated winter mountaineers, outdoor professionals and guides”, with a “durable yet dexterous” approach that makes “rope-work and tool handling easier, reducing hand fatigue on long days”.
This seems like a fair and accurate description. The Guide 2 GTX delivers first-rate levels of grip, surpassing the performance of many others in this metric, with the textured, grid-like leather across the palm proving very tacky.
This is very useful for scramblers and ice axe wielders, but probably not that important to the average hillwalker.
Dexterity is pretty good, too. Of course, as a warm and fully-featured glove, the Guide 2 is slightly bulky and thick on the hand, so dexterity isn’t exceptional and can’t compare with a thinner, liner-style glove, but this is about as dexterous as it gets while remaining warm and weatherproof.
Weight and sizing
The Rab Guide 2 GTX weighs 121g per glove (small), according to our scales. Compared to many others this is rather heavy. Per glove, the Rab Guide 2 GTX is 13g, 40g and 49g heavier than the Extremities Torres Peak, Alpkit Gabbro and PHD Kappa respectively, for example.
While the extra weight isn’t necessarily overtly obvious in-use, the Rab Guide 2 GTX does, perhaps, feel a little heavy and bulky on the hand, and certainly the 242g (8.5 oz) total weight will add more bulk to your overall backpack weight, on days when you’re carrying but not wearing the gloves.
For some hillwalkers the hefty weight will be a deal-breaker and seem excessive for their needs, while others will see the Guide 2’s benefits as sufficient recompense for the extra weight.
Unisex size options range from XS to XXL. Rab provides a handy (pun intended) size guide, detailing which glove size will be right for you based on your hand length and circumference measurements. Using this guide, I opted for the small version and it fitted fine.
Features
You get a few nice features with the Rab Guide 2 GTX. For a start, a little clip enables you to securely connect the two gloves together, when required.
Each glove also has a long leash, with a super-stretchy band to go around your wrist. Wrist leashes are an excellent feature, enabling you to totally remove your gloves on occasion, without risking losing them. Instead they remain connected to your body at all times. The Guide 2’s leashes can be removed if you don’t need them.
A small rectangular tab of leather with a loop of fabric is located on the glove gauntlet – known as a pull-on tab – and make pulling the gloves on easier too.
You also get a patch of soft material across the base of each thumb, which can be used as a nose wipe.
Verdict
The Rab Guide 2 GTX is a superb gauntlet-length mountaineering glove with excellent grip, warmth and protection – but it’s expensive, heavy and overkill for the average hillwalker.
Looking for more ways to stay warm in cold weather? Take a look at our list of the best insulated winter jackets.
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 hiked all 1,001 mountains in the UK and Ireland in three years), 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.