In winter, what's worse than cold hands that won't warm up? And if you're holding pole grips, you can't bring your fingers together for long to warm up in your palm.

Cold hands are worse when there's moisture in your gloves. For this reason, be aware of when your hands become too warm (see Hands too warm) because then the gloves absorb perspiration from your palms. Then when you put them gloves on with cold hands, your hands will likely stay cold.

If the weather is wet, wear thin gloves that repel water, or use Gortex overmitts.

Typically after your lunch stop, your hands will feel colder than before the stop. So consider wearing gloves one level up in warmth at the start. But have the lighter gloves ready to switch to when your hands are warm enough.

On cold days, bring liner gloves. They may not be warm in themselves but when you need to do something with dexterity, like dealing with your lunch food, or fixing a piece of equipment, removing your warm gloves or mitts and wearing liner gloves sure beats bare hands.

Take with you at least two, and maybe three different gloves/mitts. Keep the warmest mitts in your pack and only pull them out when you really need to.