Mountain Equipment Men’s Ibex Mountain Pant (Black)

The Ibex Mountain Pant is a mixed weather master that best excels in cool and unsettled environments. Providing everything one could ask for in a 3-season mountain pant, they are durable, abrasion resistant, weather resistant and with all the features you need and none that you don’t.

They’re a reasonably light, mid-weight Softshell Pant with a relatively trim, athletic cut and gusseted crotch, minimising restriction when high-stepping and bridging and giving exceptional freedom of movement. For really cold winter days, you’ll probably need to layer these with a pair of thermal leggings underneath and likewise on the hottest of summer days you’ll find these pants on the warm side, but for everything else in between you’ll be hard pressed to find a more versatile and capable mountain pant.

With a purposeful and functional design, the Ibex Mountain Pant has zipped hand pockets and two smaller zipped thigh pockets, which can be left open for extra ventilation. There are also zipped ankle gussets (helpful when getting your pants on and off and to guarantee a neat fit around your boots) as well as an integrated belt and microfleece lined waistband. The knees are pre-shaped as well as articulated with a hem than is less tapered than some of our other ‘alpine’ focussed pants giving these a straighter, more conventional fit.

But what helps to make these pants so comfortable is the small amount of stretch built into the fabric. Made from 92% Polyamide and 8% Elastane, the fabric is a 210g nylon double-weave. Its 2-layer interwoven construction has four-way stretch and features a rugged and abrasion resistant outer face and a moisture wicking and lightly brushed inner face.

The composition and construction of the fabric does mean however that if you get these pants soaked, they won’t dry as quickly as some of our lighter weight pants, but that trade-off is a compromise worth making if durability and weather resistance are top of your wish list.

They’re main plus point however, compared with less versatile waterproof pants or lighter weight walking and hiking pants, is their level of durability. For alpine climbing and mountain routes that involve lots of scrambling, climbing up chimneys or offwidths and generally thrutching around on rock the Ibex Mountain Pant is tailor made. Even on snow, ice, or mixed routes, for example when alpine climbing in the summer months, the construction of the fabric is such that even when you do inevitably nick these on a crampon, or snag them on a sharp edge, any cut wont easily develop into a pant-wrecking tear.