Serious winter legwear from the Kiwi maestros of rugged gear and clothing, but is it up to the British winter?
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Macpac Mission Pant
Tested
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Price:
£120.00
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Weight: 470 grammes
(medium)
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Features: Winter
mountaineering / alpine pant using Polartec Powershield,
Windpro and Stretch Ripstop PTFE fabrics. two hand pockets -
one with key clip - and one zipped back pocket, zipped up to
knees, Stretch Ripstop PTFE fabric on ankles and seat for
abrasion protecion, adjustable ankle cuffs with velcro tab,
zipped fly , elasticated waist band with adjustable webbing
belt.
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Great weather resistance and mobility from the kiwi gear
gurus.
Some users will want braces or a bib design for technical
use.
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The Concept Winter pants are tough to get right. You may be
able to de-layer up top, but leg wear - particularly when there's a
harness involved - tends to be on for keeps, so the ideal is a
combination of weather protection, breathability and mobility. That's
pretty clearly what Macpac is trying to achieve with the Mission
Pant.
Features There's nothing particularly radical about the cut of
the Missions, the real innovation is in the fabrics and the way
they're used. The front of the legs is made with Polartec's excellent
98 per-cent windproof stretchy Powershield fabric, while the backs of
the legs get stretchy Windpro, which is more breathable, but much
less wind and water resistant. Finally a tough
Stretch Ripstop PTFE reinforces the
insides of the ankles - crampon patches - and the seat
area.
Otherwise, well, you get a heavily
elasticated waist, articulated knees and zips up to the knees on the
outside of the trouser leg plus an adjustable ankle fastening.
In Action We've been using the Missions over our feeble excuse
for a winter and we like them a lot. First impressions were good -
the fleecy inner surface of the pant makes for instant warm feelings
and the stretch fabrics - even the reinforcement - meant that Fred
Astaire, or even Jean Claude Van Dam, high-stepping was unimpeded.
Fit is reasonably generous, though well cut, and our medium was a
little large even, so definitely try before buying.
The best single-layer winter leg protection we've found in the
past has come from Windstopper pants like ME's G2s, however in humid
UK conditions they can be too sweaty, while more breathable options
like normal Schoeller and Powerstretch aren't always warm or weather
resistant enough.
The exotic fabric cocktail used by Macpac though achieves a really
useable compromise. The Powershield front of the pant is highly wind
and water resistant, but still very breathable, while the stretchy
Windpro backs of the legs up the overall breathability of the
garment. What you end up with is a sort of halfway house between 100
per-cent windproof fabrics at one extreme and fleece at the other. In
cold conditions it's ideal and even when you're chucking out the
heat, things never seem to get too torrid.
Incidentally, Macpac bills the leg-zips as aids to pulling on the
pants, but they work equally well to vent the lower leg during
mind-numbing, thigh-burning, hill ascents...
We've used the Missions mainly for winter mountain walking and
scrambling where they performed well. For more technical, full-on
winter use, some will prefer a higher bib cut and / or the addition
of braces. We found the broad, elasticated waist band and belt combo
kept things in place better than most, but all pants tend to work
their way downwards used with a harness and pack. You'll also need to
wear some sort of snow gaiter in powder conditions, though the inner
leg and seat reinforcement is just what you need for protection from
crampon scuffs and on seated belay stances.
Great all round winter mountain and alpine leg wear that's become
pretty much our first choice. The cunning use of fabrics provides an
excellent balance between warmth, weather protection and
breathability and the fabrics' stretch qualities allow for unhindered
movement as well. Some users will prefer a bib-type pant for
technical use, but the waist band as it is stays pretty well put and
adding a set of braces would be easy enough. We like these a lot and
while £120 isn't exaclty cheap, you're getting a very good bit
of kit for your dosh.
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Performance
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Value
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Pushed for
time:Great compromise winter and alpine mountaineering
legwear. A cunning cocktail of stretchy fabrics gives a
great compromise between warmth, weather protection and
breathability plus enough mobility to dance the odd pasa
doble... Only real minuses are the lack of factory-fitted
braces and, in an ideal world, some zip-out internal snow
gaiters. Otherwise all is peachy and these have become our
winter legwear of choice.
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