Alibi is (a) part of the name of a very cool little bar in Seattle's Post Alley across from the truly nasty Gum Wall; (b) part of the name of a movie that would be absolutely horrible except it stars Paulina Porizkova; or (c) new gloves from Outdoor Research that absolutely rock the ice.
OK, it's (d) all of the above, but for our purposes let's stick to the gloves. OR's Alpine Alibi glove is a very big brother to their full-on race gloves. A waterproof breathable GORE-TEX X-TRAFIT insert provides a snug form-fit around your hand, and 170g of EnduraLoft synthetic insulation across the thumb and back keep you warm. The whole enchilada is wrapped in soft shell material, with extra fleece on the inside of the cuff and an oh-so-supple sticky leather palm to help you conserve your grip strength on the next epic.
The Alpine Alibi gets all the details right. Rubber pads on three fingers and gel padding on the outside of your tender little wrist bones dull the pain of the inevitable repeated blunt trauma to the hand. A rubberized velcro bite tab snugs up the wrist collar, which is designed more for protection than support. A pull loop assists getting it on, idiot cords keep them attached while you attend your duties around the village, a clip is provided to keep the pair together and last but not least the DuoCinch closure on the cuff has two separate pull cords, one to tighten and one to loosen. If you've not used this system before trust us, you'll love it.
But wait, that's not all: inside the gloves are not one but two velcro pockets to hold hand warmers, one on the inside of the wrist and the other on the back of the hand, both out of the way but near your blood vessels. Overall the Alpine Alibi is one of the most intelligent glove designs out there. By design it's no work glove, you'll want a more durable palm material for that, but for going up this glove won't let you down. Fits snugly, consider a size up if you have dinner plates where your hands should be.
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