UL rain pants

Hi Tim, can you “get by” with rain chaps? They were de rigueur back in the 70’s but are finding a renaissance, and for good reason. They definitely breath better then true pants, are lighter, cheaper, and simpler to take on an off. Mine are over a decade old from Sierra Designs, but here’s a couple of recent make:

https://www.garagegrowngear.com/products/minimalist-rain-pants-by-3fulgear?

https://www.montbell.com/us/en/products/detail/1132145

Yes, Antigravity Gear makes awesome rain gear.  Well, my sil jacket is amazing – sorry I know you’re asking about the pants – but if I wanted the pants I’d buy with confidence based on their jacket quality.

This is an underserved part of the market: Light, inexpensive, ventilated, rain pants. If they are not WPB, then I want full-length zippers for ventilation (that rules out LHG, AGG, Dutchware, and 3FUL).

AstaGear is the only well-known company I could find making full zip silpoly rain pants (other than custom work like Timmermade). There are also some on AliExpress.

I recently sent a pair of ZPacks Vertice pants to the seamstress to have zippers added. They are very light pants (~3 oz/90 g), but the ankles are too narrow for on/off over shoes. It’s a poor design although the fabric is excellent.

The most usable off-the-rack UL rain pants I could find (other than Asta’s pants, which are new), is OR Helium UL (~6oz). They have ankle zips and 2-layer (“2.75L”) Toray fabric (it’s a new fabric for 2026, replacing the older Pertex Shield).

(My experience has been that rain pants are better for cold weather than they are for rain (when a kilt or just hiking pants are usually more comfortable). In cold weather, wet or not, it’s great to have a layer in the pack that goes on/off quickly over whatever footwear and other pants I might be wearing. Full-zip WPB rain pants work well for that, but most are heavy.)

Tim, if you like everything about the LHG pants except their length, you could cut the bottom of each leg off above the zipper (leaving a seam allowance—I’d leave an inch), then trim however much you want to remove from the legs, then sew the bottom part of the legs with the zippers back on. You can add some seam seal over the new stitches but you might not find it necessary. Best of luck.