Wind Pants

I find wind pants unnecessary. If I am hiking on trails, I wear shorts and if that's not enough for the weather I put on my rain pants. I find that the "breathability" issue is not really a problem for my legs (unlike my upper body, where a wind shirt is nice to have). If my trip calls for off-trail travel, I wear a pair of soft shell pants for leg protection but roll them up if I need some ventilation.

Wind pants can fit in well or not depending on the rest of your gear. Shorts of any kind plus wind pants can be a good combo. Tights plus the wind pants works too.

The typical hiking pant made of some dense wave of nylon is already quite windproof so it would be kind of redundant to carry also wind pants but it might also be a lightweight option for dry spares if you skip any rain gear for the legs and accept hiking with wet pants.

I hike in shorts and opt for no rain pants, so I picked up a pair of Montane Featherlite wind pants for double duty. Another pro for wind pants is protection against mosquitoes.

If you wear zip off nylon pants like the REI Sahara pants, it is a waste of effort. Wind shirts are more out of harms way, but you sit on pants and the cuffs take a beating. Slide across a rock or log with wind pants and you'll shred them. If you want to go that way, buy some used running pants in thrift store. Unlined ones are about 6oz and if you shred them, it won't bring tears and cussing.

As others said, rain pants work as well and have dual purpose.

I carry windpants for the following reasons:

1) Blocks the breeze against your bare skin when wearing shorts.
2) Helps reduce chill worn over hinking pants in the rain.
3) Blocks bugs when wearing shorts.
4) Can be worn alone or with windshirt when washing cloths in a laundromat or outdoors.
5) can be worn as an emergency backup or while repairing hiking pants.

Currently I use wind pants only for keeping my sleeping bag clean. I pull them on over my hiking pants before bed.

If needed I would use them for dry clothing in case everything else got wet or even around camp if necessary (never needed them for either)

Thank you all for your responses, I normally hike in nylon trail pants, so I guess that packing wind pants would kinda be redundant. Thanks again, John

Hello,

Last month I did an article on a long term usage of the Montbell Dynamo Wind Pants.

http://hikelighter.com/2012/01/26/montbell-dynamo-wind-pants/

The Montbell U.L.Wind Pants are made of even more durable material and weigh less (they lack ankle zippers).

John B. Abela
HikeLighter.Com