Rain pants

Montbell Versalite Pants, only 7 ounces I believe, with ankle zips.

O2 rainshield pants: my XLs weigh 5.2 ounces and are relatively cheap

http://www.rainshield.com/

Have you ever thought of purchasing a more durable rain pant to do double-duty as your rain pant and trekking pant? Depending on where I'm going, I wear my Rab Bergen Pants which are made of eVENT and run about 11 ounces. They are very breathable and vent well in the legs due to zippers that run up to my thigh. They're heavier then the 5-8oz rain pants many are quoting, but since they work double-duty and also serve as a rain pant, maybe that's a better option for you. I ordered mine from the USA online from a UK company. Many will ship to the states, so look around for the best price if you're interested.

Montane makes some insanely lightweight pants that are breathable with zips. Get ready to spend though, as they come from England and the exchange just gets worse and worse.

I will be opting for Go Light Reed's this year. At 6 ounces and $70, they should do fine…I did like my polypro pants from BPL, but alas they were rather bulky and melted one night when I got too close to the fire.

Waterproof pants in the Sierra's in the summer as an everyday garment sounds rather hot, even with eVent. Marmot precip tends to be slow to breath.

I think that the idea of using a rain pant as the main pant for all but the summer is great, assuming that it is breathable enough (i.e. eVent). I have one that is 14oz and use it for that purpose. For summer time though, if you need a more durable pant that is waterproof and breathable, I am not too sure … for non-bushwacking the O2 Rainshield is really a no-brainer, but otherwise … I am at a loss too. Lightest eVent pants seem to be at 10.5 oz for Integral Designs ?

Thanks for the replies.

I have my eyes on the Golite Reeds. I also noticed the Epic pants by Mountain Hardwear. How do these compare? I guess the moral of the story is that if you want lightweight pants, you will have to take off your boots/shoes, am I right? I've never been able to get pants on over my boots without full zips.

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James, Do you find that the Rab Bergen pants are noisy when you're hiking? (swish-swish-swish…etc?) I thought about doing exactly what you're talking about when I was shopping for rain pants last year, but eventually decided against it because I don't like the swish-swish-swish of nylon pants most of the time.

In reply to the OP, I have a pair of Outdoor Research Celestial pants, which have 1/2 length zippers and are made out of Goretex Paclite and weigh about 7.4 ounces. I can put them on without removing my hiking shoes (New Balance 907 trail runners). If you're wearing boots (and you want to keep wearing boots), you should probably look at a rain pant with full zips. Arc'teryx's Alpha SL pants are made of Paclite and used to have a nearly full zip, but it looks like they've revised them to have only ankle zips. Maybe just bite the bullet and get a Goretex XCR pant with full zip if you want to put them on over boots.

I would stay away from the proprietary wp/b's like Conduit, Hyvent, H2No, Precip, etc., because they are usually based on PU membranes, which are less breathable than Goretex and eVENT.

For three season trips I like to use Mountain Hardware "Transition Tights". These tights (fit loose) are windproof, shed light rain or snow and are fairly warm. Weighing 8oz one can surely find lighter options but these tights are dependable and tough.

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Maybe I'm bowlegged or paying attention to other things when I walk, but I don't find my Rab Bergen pants make any more or less noise then my jacket. So I guess it's a moot point overall…for me anyway. As I mentioned, it's an option I use during certain times of the year and also depends a lot on what the weather looks like. If weight and weather were no option, I'd use a pair of GoLite pants I have (the name escapes me) which are extremely light and ventilate very well. eVent breathes well, but it is still more restrictive then non-rain pants.