Review - Black Diamond Crack Gloves

Below you’ll find our review on the Black Diamond Crack Gloves. We tested every crack glove we could get our hands on and compare the pros and cons against all the other glove options out there. (Future reference, you can see every model of crack gloves on WeighMyRack.com/crackglove).

Brand Sizing – Undersized, we’ve encountered many instances of breakage. The thumb loop can be small for thick fingers.

• These gloves tend to run pretty small compared to what BD recommends. Most folks who measure in the middle to upper of the range find themselves sizing up. Due to their soft nature, they can be undersized and stretched a bit, though caution should be taken that the thumb and finger holes are a bit tight if you have thick fingers (and are known to rip if not careful taking them on/off). The finger loops are sewn and thin, so undersizing greatly increases chance of tear out.

Hand coverage – Some of the most hand coverage in the gloves we’ve tested.

• The thumb cuff is a bit tight, but makes up for it because it also has rubber for added grip when the jams get wide.
• The outer wrist coverage is fantastic, soft, and flexible. The thinner nature of this glove means that it doesn’t have the most padding for wrist-deep jams, but we have found they reduce abrasion well.
• Knuckle coverage – These are some of the widest gloves at the knuckles, offering very good back of hand protection at nearly every size.

Jamming Performance – We recommend using these for hands and fists.

• These gloves performed ok in thinner hand jamming situations. Their thin materials definitely don’t hinder jamming like some other gloves we have tested, but we have heard and seen multiple accounts of folks tearing and rolling the finger loops when performing the knuckle-twisting types of maneuvers usually required in thin cracks.
• One of the best performing hand jam gloves we’ve found. Their thin rubber backing doesn’t offer as much padding as some, but their softness and sewn 3D shape means they stick with you and offer just that little extra bit of protection in the areas you’ll want it most. If you’re used to tape gloves, this is a great crack glove to start out with.
• For fists/stacks, we found slightly similar results as hands. Because they are sewn into a molded ‘shape’ rather than simply flat, they feel like tape more than any other glove out there. We added points for the thumb coverage which is really handy when you are in your perfect size for a fist jam, but we had to take some away for durability, because the wrenching motions while hanging full body weight on a stack definitely can be too much without some added tape. If you plan to do a lot of stacks, sizing up is almost mandatory.

Notable Features – Things that are only found on the Black Diamond Glove

• Sewn finger and thumb loops – As we mentioned above, this is the biggest advantage in terms of long-term comfort and BD nailed it. A word of warning: though we haven’t experienced this personally, the thin suede of these finger loops have been reported to blow out on more than a couple occasions. This may be due to folks undersizing their gloves, or having above average thickness of fingers. If you have big mitts, be aware this can be a weak point.
• Textured backing rubber – Definitely not something we have found to provide a huge advantage overall, though on certain rock types that are prone to polishing (certain basalts and limestones for example) they feel a bit more secure than flat rubber.
• Triangular hook and loop pad – This feature greatly improves the ‘dialability’ of this glove for different shaped wrists. Folks with longer hands or thicker wrists can angle the strap down slightly to sit in a more comfortable spot. Not a make or break for everyone, but some have found it quite nice to have.

Overall the performance of the BD glove on various rock was fairly consistent with what we found for most of the gloves we’ve tested. The key takeaways with where this glove performed best had to do with the consistency of the inside of the crack and its shape. They have felt the most secure and natural on softer sandstone and in splitter, even cracks. Once the shape of the crack starts to flare out (where the crack is wider on the outside than the inside) their thinner materials lack the structure to feel quite as secure. Though the textured rubber helps a bit on smoother, glassy rock, their low amount of padding makes them a bit more painful to squeeze the back of the hand in rock types that break with sharp corners or crystals.