Hestra Leather Fall Line Review

One of our review teams' favorite models for its all-around feel, durability, and toughness. While we loved this glove for more mild temperature days that weren't particularly stormy, its slightly below-average warmth and weather resistance kept it from being a real all-arounder that we'd recommend to someone as their only glove despite its excellent dexterity, comfort, and toughness. With that said, if you are someone who is going to own multiple pairs of gloves, this is an excellent option when coupled with another model for when the temperature dip or a moist storm is in the forecast.

Performance Comparison

Warmth

The Fall Line is a great glove in so many ways, though offering a high amount of warmth isn't one of those ways. We see this as a positive in the sense that maybe extreme warmth is not what you're after, or a negative, as they are bomber, but on the thinner side of the spectrum, offering less insulation than many of the contenders in our review. Don't get us wrong; these gloves still offer warmth, and we were comfortable when wearing them in 10-15F temperatures. If these temperatures sound ideal to you, and dexterity and durability are what you're looking for, the Fall Line's level of warmth might be perfect.

To help keep their wearer warm, the Fall Line uses a polyester lining (AKA fleece lining), which feels nice and cozy, allowing damp hands to dry quickly; they just weren't as warm as other models we tested. That said, most of our testers still found these gloves kept their hands warm when worn down to 10F, as long as the weather was mostly dry. We do think that the low-profile neoprene cuff and foam on the back of the hand likely contribute to this glove's overall warmth.

Dexterity

The Fall Line is made from quality material with a great design that gives them excellent dexterity. While these gloves feel marginally on the stiffer side when you first try them on, they soften up quickly (in half a day of use or less). We found that in real-world use and in our side-by-side motor skill tests (like writing our name and manually unlocking a car door), the Fall Line was among the top scorers.

Water Resistance

The Fall Line offers respectable weather resistance when out in the field. If you purchase these gloves, an important tip to keep in mind is that you must be dedicated to re-treating the exterior leather to maintain the weather resistance found with most models. If treated regularly, these gloves will serve you well, staying dry in fairly wet snowstorms. If you do not have the time to treat them on a somewhat regular basis, they will not offer the weather resistance that we assume you're in need of. The frequency of retreating them depends on what activities you're using them for and how often you use them. We found ourselves retreating them 1-2 times each season after using them for 50+ days of skiing in the stormy and wet Pacific Northwest climate.

Durability

The Fall Line Glove is easily among the most durable gloves in our review. We have used these gloves extensively skiing in-bounds, touring, digging pits, and handling ropes while lowering friends and clients into technical ski entrances. After two years of pretty intense use, we are especially impressed with how well these gloves are holding up.

Should You Buy the Hestra Fall Line?

These gloves aren't astronomically priced, but they certainly aren't cheap. There are very similar options on the market that cost a lot less, so unless you are committed to the Hestra brand, we'd recommend other gloves.

What Other Ski Gloves Should You Consider?

If you like the looks of this glove for its moderate warmth, leather construction, and minimalist footprint, we recommend the very similar (but less expensive) The North Face IL Solo Pro FUTURELIGHT. The Black Diamond Legend is about as warm, and has much better dexterity, though the Fall Line is more durable. If you are looking for the best glove on the market, we love the Arc'teryx Fission SV, and if you are instead looking for a great glove that is also inexpensive, the Gordini GTX Storm Trooper II is our recommendation.