Hestra Patrol Jr

The Hestra Patrol Jr is a junior five-finger ski glove: an impregnated goat-leather palm, a three-layer Ventus backhand and a removable G-Loft liner. It has no waterproof membrane. What it buys is grip, insulation and durability — not protection from sustained wet snow.

Fabric and construction

The palm is impregnated goat leather — what survives lift bars and poles. The backhand is HESTRA Ventus, which Hestra's specification describes as a three-layer polyester-blend fabric, windproof and breathable: the back of the hand blocks wind, the palm takes the abrasion.

Inside is a removable liner — G-Loft polyester insulation with a Bemberg lining. Because it pulls out, the liner can be dried separately from the shell. A Velcro cuff closure and a puller let a child cinch it unaided; Hestra Handcuffs are on the spec, not just attachment points.

Warmth and weather

Hestra rates warmth on an eight-point scale, 1 (Light) to 8 (Expedition), but publishes no figure for this style, so none is quoted here. On the spec: G-Loft insulation behind a windproof backhand, aimed at cold, dry, packed snow.

It has no waterproof membrane. Hestra names the insert on the gloves that have one — CZone, or GORE-TEX; this glove's specification names none. The ceiling for a glove built that way is water-resistant: nothing in it is engineered to keep hands dry through a day of slush. In heavy coastal snow it will wet out.

Fit and sizing

Hestra's junior scale runs 3 to 7. PTO stocks 5, 6 and 7 — both colourways, Navy and Fuschia, in all three sizes, so no size is locked to one colour.

From Hestra's size guide: junior gloves are sized by age rather than hand circumference, and Hestra publishes no chart for this style, so none is printed here. Junior size 7 and unisex size 7 are not the same glove: juniors run on a separate sizing scale, so a parent's own Hestra number does not carry across.

Who it is for, and who should not buy it

It suits a child who is hard on gear, skis mostly in cold snow, and needs a glove to last more than one winter.

Skip it if your child skis in persistently wet snow; buy a membrane instead. Hestra's Ferox CZone Jr is specified with a CZone membrane — this glove is not. If the problem is cold fingers rather than wet ones, the Patrol Jr Mitt is the mitt version of this glove, same Ventus backhand and goat-leather palm: a mitt holds the fingers in one chamber where they share heat, and what makes it warm makes it clumsy.