Burliest shell pants in 2023?

[chilehed]

My Patagonias are eight or ten years old and falling apart so I'm ready to replace them. I've always been dissatisfied with how easy they are to slash up with my edges, the reinforced patches on the inside bottoms don't do much. Does anyone have suggestions on something tougher? The HH gear that Vail staff wears looks pretty heavy duty, but HH doesn't sell it to the public.

What are the toughest things on the market? Anything with Kevlar down there?

 

[jmeb]

Few options:

- Buy something with a great warranty. Patagonia and OR are leaders here. If things fall apart, use it. Many small manufacturers don't make pants explicilty because warranty claims are so much higher that unless you operate at huge volumes importing your pieces from Asia, economics don't make sense. The Patagonia Mountain utility pant in my experience frays a little bit (more cloth-y fabric) but is their burliest pant.
- https://www.skiareasupplies.com/winter.htm has very heavy duty stuff. Many folks at my hill use it when working. They are the toughest things on the market that I am aware of. But toughness comes at cost of lightness and flexibility. Think about if you really want "the burliest".
- Buy lightly used coaching gear from race coaches. Often have very heavy duty stuff that isn't easily available to the public and skis well.
- Lots of patrollers I know end up in Flylow Baker bibs or Chemical pants. Ski well, wear well. Warranty isn't quite as good as Gucci or OR but workable.

 

[DanoT]

If you want pants that stand up to abuse, then look for pants made for snowboarders.

I have Burton Gortex bib pants with several special features: some flap closure pockets are secured with both velcro and snaps, so nothing falls out when you are upside down; some pockets have mesh lining for extra ventilation. But my fav feature is a little elastic loop at the bottom back of the pant leg that you can pull on to lift the back of the pant leg. I guess this is so a snowboarder can wear the pants low slung but not end up walking on the bottom of the pant leg. For skiers however, this pant leg pull up feature means you will never get your pant leg caught between binding heel piece and ski boot when stepping in.

 

[Wade]

Take a look at the Baker bibs and Chemical pants by Flylow. Super burly shells with cordura reinforced knees and cuffs.

 

[chris_the_wrench]

I have some Patagonias that got shredded first season on inside ankles. I sent them to a shop in bend and they stitched in some burly material. 3 years later they are still bomber(80-100 days a year and I crash alot). Perhaps what you want doesn't exist and a semi-custom option will get ya there.

 

[Lilledonmarco]

Nørrona Lofoten gore-tex pro...not cheap, but I have had mine for 10 years, and I will get at least, another 5 years out of them