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Here is my personal opinion - most of the Grand is flat water. Neoprene gloves don't breathe and constrict blood flow, but if you are getting soaked or swimming they are the best option; unless you go for dry gloves - but they still don't breathe.
So I think that having two gloves is the solution. One for the flat water and one for the whitewater. While guiding in Alaska I mainly used NRS's Reactor gloves. They worked well most of the time, but on really cold and rainy days they were marginal. And while swimming in glacier water they simply delayed your hands becoming useless due to the cold.
While sea kayaking in similar conditions I tried using my North Face steep tech gore-tex ski gloves instead (because my hands were freezing in the Reactor gloves). My hand were many times warmer and more comfortable despite the fact that my hands ended up a bit damp. I tucked the gauntlets of my gloves inside my drysuits neoprene over cuffs and it kept most of the rain and spay out. This combo deals with most splashes well, but if you swim it would be worthless.
So my advice - get a good pair of warm neoprene gloves, and a pair of gore-tex seam sealed gloves with a couple of liners. One liner for camp, one for the river so you can dry out the others if they get wet. Wear the neoprene for big rapids, but enjoy warm dry hands the rest of the time.
Check out scuba diving sites for lots of glove options - they have a tremendously larger selection than NRS/Cascade. |
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Grand in Winter - 2 gloves New 
BoaterTalk 
