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The Ortovox Freerider Cozy Mitten Changed My Mind on Snowboarding Gloves

Originally posted on SNOWBOARDER | By Josh Sullivan | Last updated Jan 15, 2025 4:12 PM ET

Intro:

Finding the right gloves and mittens shouldn’t be hard, but there are so many dang options, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Ortovox’s Freeride Cozy mitten took me by surprise. It made bitter cold days in the northeast seem like small potatoes.

MSRP: $160

You can shop for them here.

Product Features:

Smart material mix for optimum warmth and functionality
Warm padding made from recycled merino wool
Windproof and water-resistant

What Ortovox says:

Maximum warmth and comfort: Even in knee-deep powder, the FREERIDE COZY MITTENS keep freeriders’ fingers warm. That’s down to the smart material mix: On the outside, soft goatskin leather, a two-layer construction and robust PERTEX® ensure a windproof and water-resistant finish. The 120 g/m² recycled merino wool padding guarantees maximum warmth. The MERINO FLEECE GRID lining is comfortably soft on the skin and especially breathable. Reinforcements on the thumb and palm ensure good grip and make the mittens even more durable. An adjustable neoprene cuff with hook and loop fastener, a carabiner loop and removable loss protection round off the versatile range of features.

What Snowboarder says:

Up until this season, I’ve been rocking my same old, beat up, Nikwax encrusted leather mittens that I bought before anyone had ever thought twice about what the word pandemic might mean. I bought other pairs of gloves and mittens, but I kept coming back to the old faithful. I thought I might never wear another pair again.

Ortovox’s Freerider Cozy mitten has definitely changed that.

Most notably, the Freerider is constructed with merino wool and fleece, which means two things: wet mittens dry faster, and the mittens (and my hands) won’t smell bad after wearing them for a long time.

Its PERTEX outer layer blocks even the worst winds, and despite a couple of falls (and a couple of hand-drags off of park features), my hands never got wet. The goatskin on the palms and thumbs is really soft, and there was no awkward breaking-in period. At just .39 pounds, these are some of the warmest lightweight gloves I’ve ever worn, and the fact that they stayed dry kept them that way.

The Freerider is constructed with powder slashes and snowstorms in mind, but it performed well in the bitter cold of Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. I even rode it for a day at Virginia’s Wintergreen Resort, where the day started out sunny and above freezing, and ended with the start of the biggest snowstorm in five years. The temperatures during which I tried out this mitten were bitter cold, but I didn’t need any glove liners to accompany me.

There are a few key design details that has made this my favorite mitten so far. My favorite piece of the design of these mittens is the cuff: There’s nothing that frustrates me more than trying to tuck your jacket over your gloves or mittens. The Freerider has no massive oversized cuffs, and no fancy drawstring, simply a cuff that is the same width as the rest of the mitten and a Velcro strap. The wrist straps are also sturdy, not something that feels like its going to snap off and leave me going down the mountain with just a single glove, reminiscent of a certain pop star.

The one thing to keep in mind when purchasing these gloves is that they are intended for freeriding, just as the name suggests. While the goatskin that is on the thumb and palms is great for comfortability and flexibility, it is softer than much of the leather used on freestyle or park gloves. If you spend a lot of time tweaking grabs and grabbing your board, it might be a good idea to look into another mitten.

This article first appeared on SNOWBOARDER and was syndicated with permission.

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