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These are close to being our ideal cold winter legwear for
anything other than fast moving, all out dashing around,
when PowerStretch gets the nod. Ultrafleece is a brilliant
fabric for UK conditions. It's not as warm as standard
weight fleece, but the dense weave means it's much more
wind-resistant, so you can get away without wearing
overheating overtrousers for much longer. The
water-resistant DXB treatment also helps to shrug off
drizzle.
It's always had one weakness, particularly for climbing,
which is that lack of elasticity in the material meant high
steps and deep knee bends were compromised by the lack of
give in the knees. Cunning cutting made it better, but this
year ME has incorporated a panel of the new, stretchy
Powerstretch Windpro material in the knee.
This works fantastically, giving great stretch where
needed and also means that the rest of the pant can be cut
more snugly for a better overall fit. ME say the cut is
based on their latest Ultrafleece Salopettes, which use the
same panel and are, in turn modelled on the DLE Kongur
Salopette.
The waist is quite high with a broad comfortable band and
there's a zip fly for easy access in emergency situations.
You also get a neat, shock-corded ankle entry, which stops
flapping and draughts plus twin handwarmer pockets, now
lined with mesh to reduce bulk in the hip area.
We've used Ultrafleece from the Andes to Scottish winter
climbing and we're sold on the fabric. If we were going to
quibble, the waist on our test trousers used comfortable,
broad, low-stretch elastic which was fine for us, but might
be a little loose if you're very slim waisted. It would be
nice to see a little more adjustability to cinch things up
more securely.
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Top winter trousers.
Too warm for summer....
