Yeah, so it makes me a nerd that I’m excited about this, but I also am lucky enough to backpack a lot, so small changes to my system add up to a smoother experience.
I gave up zipoffs long ago, but I’ve been using a nice light pair of softshell zipoffs this summer that I’ve been loving, the OR ferrosi convertable. The weight, breathability, stretch and fit of these softshells is pretty much perfect for the warmer months of backpacking. When I was a more trail oriented backpacker, I used running shorts with wind/rain pants to go over them, but the more time I spend in the alpine, the more I want a pair of decent softshells for the balance of weather and breathability. Also, pockets are damn useful. For the last few years, I’ve been hiking in softshells that I roll up and down throughout the day depending on the conditions, but most of the day, I’ve got them rolled up, so that got me thinking of shorts again. Moreover, zip-offs!
So back in the day, zip offs were all cruddy loose fitting nylon travel pants with no stretch. Also the process of zipping on and off the pants was slow, and then you’d have to relocate R vs. L legs if you could even find them etc.
So what I’ve been doing with these new OR ferossi legs is just zipping them down and tucking them into my ski socks. It looks a little goofy, but transitions are way faster not having to pull over my shoes and relocate them to/from my pack. This gives me a lot of versatility with little fuss. If its cold or in camp, I pull up the ski socks and zip on the legs, and if its hot, I just roll the legs down into the ski socks. I don’t think  this would work as well with a thicker or heavier pant, but it does work well with these very thin OR ferrosi’s. Anyway, thought I would share that, since I’m finding it super useful over the last few trips. If you think its a dumb idea, no need to respond, I’m pretty happy with it for now. JustI thought I’d offer that up in case anyone else wants to try it out.
