climbing in Mountain Khakis...

MK waist line causes me to hike them up before getting on a route. They do well then, but if I don't hike them up, there are issues with high-stepping and other moves, because the crotch then remains too low. Mks wear out quickly if you wear them everyday like I do, because I love them that much, but I would never pay retail price for them.

I have a pair of Patagonisyourmoney pants I climb in the summer which I have been extremely happy with both durability and mobility. If you snosealed them they would be perfect.

Bob Packwood wrote:Glad to see everyone letting out their inner fashionista! I nominate this thread for the "Most Metrosexual 2009" MP award. Also nominated for "Tough to Care 2009"

Bob,
Living in Longmont you just don't understand how important making the right style choice is when it comes to the question of, "Which pants will I climb in today?"

Next time you are in Boulder we can hit up Patagonia and the PrAna store if you need help selecting the pants that will send the right message at the crags!

MK's are nice pants - to wear to the office/ work, maybe outside hiking or hanging out at camp, doing yard work. Maybe if you are slabbing it alot they would be good, but if you are climbing cracks - particularly wide stuff - they dont wear well. Pretty much ripped out the seams on the sides of the knees quickly. Same happened to my arborwear pants.

I performed this experiment myself several years ago- bought the double layered knee arborwear pants, single layered knee arborwear, MKs. The single layered arbor wear performed the best, the double layered knee ones pretty much were trashed after one weekend at indian creek. Seems like I wore out the ass of the MK's quickly but that was due to polishing a chair with my ass back then.

Go to your favorite thrift store and buy some nice dress slacks- you can look sexy at the crag that way. It can be cheap.

That or look into some Sporthill type pants - the ones without zippers on the legs- they have a variety of styles and seem to hold up pretty well.

Option 3: you can go back to the old days of lycra and tube socks.

I like my MKs overall, but I prefer non-double-knee Carhartts, primarily because of the price differential. I bought a pair of twills last spring and have probably worn them at least three times a week ever since (with a bunch of bouldering thrown in) and they're great, so I got a pair of the canvas ones, which are considerably better in terms of protecting your knees (I don't climb anything too abrasive though). It's not surprising to see people cragging in jeans (although I prefer the gussets/flexibility/breathability of MKs to denim) but I don't get the $70+ 5.10/Prana jeans.

I'm trying to get a pair of Patagonia Simple Guides for nordic skiing/climbing. They seem well-designed, and all the guides at Exum wear them.

thanks everybody for the input, i do a bit of slab climbing and dont really tackle that many cracks that large, so im gonna give the mountain khakis a try, the worst that could happen is im out 70 dollars...on well thanks a lot for the input, i'm definatly going to be picking up a pair of the arborwears to try out, i definatly like the concept of a pair of carhartts witha gusset, good stuff....

12.99 costco jeans. Totally anti-fashion. Save your money for gas, beer and gear. Surprisingly, they last longer than carhartts.

Ed Culnane wrote:I have tried all sorts of climbing pants, all of them had their faults: not tough enough for basalt columns, can't see my feet, too expensive, not enough range of motion, etc. I could not find the perfect climbing pant on the market, so I made my own out of Carharts. I get positive comments about them every climb. Check them out on my website: edculnane.com

SPAM, way to dig up a 2yo thread after joining today and spamming about your website/brand

I used 5.11 taclite pro pant, it has double support on the knee area and bottom area. It also have the internal knee pad pocket, so pretty useful if you need a kneepad. It's 60/40 Poly/Cotton rip stop fabric with Teflon coating. I find it's pretty comfortable when climbing with it, it does not restrict my motion too much.

I usually just wear my Spiderman costume.

Rich Farnham wrote:Check out Arborwear. They make pants for Arborists that are basically gusseted Carharts, and WAY cheaper than Mountain Khakis. They have canvas and jeans. Pretty much my favorite pants for climbing if I don't need to be in synthetic clothes. -Rich

Another vote for arborwear the gusset makes all the difference. I do have MKs but those are my "fancy pants"! LOL

Steven N wrote: Another vote for arborwear the gusset makes all the difference. I do have MKs but those are my "fancy pants"! LOL

+1 for arborwear -they make a tech pant that is synthetic, it is very durable

MK also makes a nylon pant that is ok as well.

i climb in grammici pants and they are durable and I can move in them