BC DuraWeave Alpine Pants

I initially ordered these in large, but exchanged for medium. I'm 6'2", 190, 33" waist. Size medium is roomy enough for both a base layer and the EB guide pants underneath without feeling snug. Ive also used these with a heavy fleece pant as a stand alone insulating layer. These fit great and feel bomb proof. These pants won't leave on wondering if you brought enough protection from the elements. Other pants I've used get pretty thrashed along the hem due to crampons, rock, etc. Pricey, but these are ready to take a beating.

These pants would be perfect hardshells for mountaineering if the pants had a full side zip. When it starts nuking and you need to put these on while standing on a ledge, no one wants to take crampons off or try to gingerly put these on with a 7/8 side zip while avoiding punching a hole in them with something sharp. Like several products from EB, some design flaws make it in but feedback is integrated into a 2.0 version (eg. no fly in the trail cool boxer brief, no hood adjustment in the evertherm jacket). EB should be listening more to their climbing guides, there is no way a guide would sign off on a 7/8 side zip climbing pant. If I showed up on a climb with these pants, they would send me to the rental shop for a new pair.

Bomb-proof mountaineering pants, very durable and waterproof. However, maybe I have gotten used to stretch-fabrics in most of my hiking/mountaineering gear, these feel a little cumbersome. If you're going to tackle a winter ascent of Rainier or Denali when it is awful conditions, these are your pants. For almost every other application, I felt that these were a little stiff, noisy, and mildly restrictive. Also, I was hoping that these could double as a backcountry ski pant, but I don't want to use external gaiters and the mobility restriction would probably frustrate me on the ascent. Again, great pants for when your life depends on staying dry... but most people will probably be okay with something more comfortable.