I've discovered over the past couple climbs that those blue rubber coated "ugly" gloves (or whatever they're called) are great for ascending because they grip the rope so well. I was able to pull myself up without even footlocking and then hold the running end and slide the friction hitch up with ease. Of course, footlocking made it even easier.
However, while descending one time, I was wondering what was slowing me down so much. I stopped to check things out and realized that the friction hitch had sucked in a bit of the rubber coating and it was preventing the rope from sliding through the hitch easily.
So what I've been doing lately is to ascend with the ugly gloves and then switch once aloft to my motocross gloves. The motocross gloves are great because they have padding on the topsides of all the fingers in case my hand whacks a limb and good palm padding for descending. I also still have enough dexterity with them on to untie throw bags and tie other knots and stuff like that.
However, while descending one time, I was wondering what was slowing me down so much. I stopped to check things out and realized that the friction hitch had sucked in a bit of the rubber coating and it was preventing the rope from sliding through the hitch easily.
So what I've been doing lately is to ascend with the ugly gloves and then switch once aloft to my motocross gloves. The motocross gloves are great because they have padding on the topsides of all the fingers in case my hand whacks a limb and good palm padding for descending. I also still have enough dexterity with them on to untie throw bags and tie other knots and stuff like that.