Black Diamond Enforcer Glove Review

The Black Diamond Enforcer Gloves are designed for ice climbers and mountaineers who need gloves that not only keep their hands warm but also protect their precious fingers from the painful beatings that so often occur when rubber arm sets in, and bad technique causes your knuckles to hit the ice before the pick makes contact.  Personally I believe proper technique is a better solution than fancy gloves, but I must admit I’m certainly not immune to the occasional scream-inducing bash.  As luck would have it, I did need some new warm gloves so I agreed to give these a try.

The futuristic d30 shock absorbing gel, molded into the back of the glove, is flexible under normal situations but seizes up upon impact, molecules locking together, to absorb energy and create a protective barrier between your fingers and the not so forgiving ice.  When I got the gloves early in the season all I could think was, “shock absorbing material, really?”

While descending from a day out searching for new ice, I’d gotten a bit ahead of my partner and started contemplating these new gloves.  Since I wasn’t finding any actual ice to bang my knuckles on I thought, what the heck, this wall looks tough enough, I’ll just punch the crap out of it and see how it feels. I punched the menacing rock once, and decided I could handle a bit more and punched again, this time a bit harder.  Soon I was going at it full boar.  As my partner rounded the corner he stopped in his tracks, got all wide eyed and just shook his head as if this was just another one of my moments he’d never be able to explain to anyone else.  There I was boxing away like I was in the title bout of my life.  I took the gloves off and handed them to him, “Your turn. Try to make it hurt”.  In the end we were both quite amazed at how hard we could punch without feeling much pain.  Shock absorbing material? Check! I’m a believer.

All around these gloves impressed me.  While I still carry two pairs, one for leading and one for belays, I found these to work quite well for those dripping wet cold leads, where thin gloves cause me to loose more energy just trying to stay warm than I would waste on the extra effort big gloves require for placing gear.  With a pre-formed curve they are quite dexterous for their size, and wrap around the ice tool nicely, perhaps reducing a bit of pump from gripping the tool.  But I’ve been most amazed with their warmth and water resistance.  I have yet to get cold hands in them aside from one bitter day in the negatives.  And my hands always seem to stay dry even on extended days out.  I wore them all day long on a cold ascent of Dreamweaver in spindrift conditions, and the wrist cuff performed wonderfully, keeping the snow out while not being bulky and awkward like so many gloves I’ve worn.

I love the clip in loops on the middle finger, a must with ice gloves, allowing you to clip them to your harness on the warmer leads while keeping the snow and ice from annoyingly collecting inside.  While I first thought the lack of a wrist strap might cause a loose feel, they seem to stay on my hand well and work good for those of us that still use leashed tools from time to time.  Lastly, the palms seem to be holding up quite well to numerous high speed rappels.  They show no signs of burning through even the first layer of leather which is quite rare.  They are a bit on the expensive side so you will probably want to protect them a bit more than I have but I wanted to see what they could handle and I must say I’ve been impressed.  A quality glove that I hope will last longer than those I’ve had in the past.  Time will tell.

Ryan Jennings is an avid ice climber, father, and Roaring Fork Valley real estate expert.