Running Tights

For winter hiking I use a pair of Ibex Dash Tights and they work very well. They are a pretty good thickness of wool with a softshell front so they are great in cold windy conditions. Unless it is super cold long underwear is not needed. With the addition of Wild Things Epic wind pants I have a pretty solid all around setup from rain to snow to blasting wind.

I have some old Patagonia powerstretch-like loose (manly!) tights that can do winter and morning in shoulder seasons. It's nice to be able to roll them up to the knee. I've worn them without anything over and not felt too self conscious. They are like fleece pants, just a tad less vulnerable to wind.

It's safer to always bring your goretex pants, but to save wear and tear and weight, I too use wind pants or even shorts over them sometimes, for day hikes or up to three days if the weather is 1000% solid. My windpants are Kmart microfiber cheapos, not waterproof at all. Mediocre wind-blocking ability goes great with the too-warm tights, and makes them nice to use separately on hot days. Mmmm microfiber..

Fiddling with layers though is a pain, most of the time it's better to have a tad much insulation with big venting to counteract. In the pic below, I was trying the tights and cheapo wind pants layer on the bottom, versus an old North Face synthetic liner jacket over a t-shirt. It was easy and quick to adjust up top (ziiiip), but it took more effort to dig out and put on the wind pants. Fortunately, it was (barely) cold enough so I never had to remove my boots, windpants and tights, exposing myself, then replace the windpants and boots, while my friends ridicule and throw snowballs.

Just the fact that removing tights means removing your boots, er trailrunners, means you do tend to go longer than you should, and get too hot. It takes about 20 degrees and stormy conditions for me to really want long undies beneath a hard shell while moving.

Note the Camelback Mule holds a shovel nicely.

I wear them pretty much every hike. (now that it's cold)

I have a Nike pair that has kept me really warm. On my last two hikes (temp. down to single digits) I layered the nike tights under a pair of EMS powerstretch fleece tights. Worked perfect. Not noticeably sweaty at all, blocked wind great, kept me warm. For temps above single digits, I have sweat a lot wearing two pairs though – not fun.