Ski Pants life expectancy

[Brad J]

I own a pretty high end pair of ski pants and I am surprise at the wear I am seeing, what is the life in ski days people are getting out of their pants. I ski a full day's 90% of the time with a lot of seat time on the lift avg 35K per day. I want to complain but I not sure what to expect.

 

[Ken_R]

I own a pretty high end pair of ski pants and I am surprise at the wear I am seeing, what is the life in ski days people are getting out of their pants. I ski a full day's 90% of the time with a lot of seat time on the lift avg 35K per day. I want to complain but I not sure what to expect.

I have a pair of black Outdoor Research softshell pants that are 5+ seasons old and they look almost new. Most days in a season, about 25. Least, about 10. Wash them about every week of ski days. My yellow Arcteryx windstopper softshell looks also quite new and its almost the same age. I have taken my share of spills even in rough snow and went down in a small avy with both on.

 

[KingGrump]

I don't think I have ever "worn" out a pair of ski pants. Usually I find new ones and move on.

That said, I have black pants with 200 to 300 ski days on them. They are a bit faded but still very serviceable.

 

[Sibhusky]

400 days or so.

 

[Sibhusky]

The spot I normally see wear is where my boot bag rubs against my coat or my pants. It actually wears through the fabric. From skiing itself? Nothing noticeable.

 

[SkiNurse]

I have never worn out a pair of ski pants. But, I wear more than one pair of pants during the season. I have sustained tears from skiing trees, etc.

 

[newboots]

I have Marmot free rider pants with 21 days on them. There is fraying on the bottom, doubtless due to walking on them in my non-ski boot footwear before I knew better. And a tiny tear from a fall with newly-sharpened edges.

 

[KingGrump]

I have sustained tears from skiing trees, etc.

Body or pants?

 

[crgildart]

I've got a large waist size with a medium inseam size.. So, I end up in a large that the cuffs drag the ground when not clicked in to skis. I try to remember to fold them up walking to and from the lifts but forget or they flip down. Like others, actual skiing no major problems except an occasional cut inside the cuff from the edges.

 

[Plai]

I (used to) buy cheap pants and the DRW wears before the fabric. Last one around 3.5 seasons, 10-15 days per.
Just upgraded to (yet unused) something goretex like material and have high hopes. Have had good experience with goretex in other active wear.

 

[Tom K.]

Goretex pants, I'd guess 200 days.

Softshell pants, at least double that.

My favorite softshell pants are Cloudveils. When they discontinued them I bought the last pair I could find online, and "archived" them.

Four years later, they are still in a ziplock bag, and the originals will make it to the end of this season.

 

[hbear]

Usually wear due to lots of cuts on the inside of the cuff from edges. If running gates, gate burns as well.

Other than that, never "wore" any out. When I snowboarded however I'd get about 3 seasons on pants as the butt area would eventually wear out due to all the sitting while buckling up.

 

[LiquidFeet]

A pair of Skea ski pants wore out in one season. I bought them on sale (they were new but from several season back). I had to re-sew several pocket seams after the first few weeks because the thread kept breaking. I thought that was odd, but I could live with it. At season's end (about 60 days on-snow) I noticed the cloth on the seat of the pants was worn thin and full of "pills." They were indeed "worn out" and useless to me. I'd never had ski pants wear out before.

I contacted the manufacturer, mailed the pants back to them, and got the runaround with many back-and-forth communications with their customer service supervisor. She admitted that she had never seen this type of wear, but was inconsistent in her follow-up on what she said she would do one email after another. I ended up with a $100-off coupon code to use on a future purchase from their catalog. But I will never buy anything made by them again, given this experience.

 

[Lorenzzo]

I have150 days or so on a couple of pair of Arcteryx. They've been laundered regularly and DWR reapplied several times. One pair was sent back in for a laceration repair. I'd say they're not half done but then I don't know what the end will look like for them or how it will come. If there's a delam in the Goretex, Arcteryx will get Goretex to cover replacement and Arc repairs damage so I think 300+ is reasonable.

They're expensive although end of season 40% off is doable which would put them somewhere in the
$300-s. If you ski a lot as I do this is where paying for quality up front is economical.

 

[Monique]

I tend to tear my pants doing dumb sh*t long before the pants show any wear ...

Jackets, now. My jacket is showing wear along the shoulder where I carry my skis. They should put Kevlar there (I remember I had an old ski jacket set up like that).

 

[oldschoolskier]

Inside cuff usually gets cut up a little. Give up razor sharp edges to save pants.....NEVER!

 

[Sibhusky]

My ski pants have Cordura bottom hem and a panel on the inside of the ankle which prevents some of these wear issues.

 

[Uncle-A]

I have never worn out a pair of ski pants, the worst that has happened is that a thread pulled out and opened a seam, it was an easy fix. I have cut the inside of the hem at the bottom of some pants from time to time but that is not the manufactures fault. The other ski pants I have out grown at the waistline or have gone out of style.

 

[SkiNurse]

I have150 days or so on a couple of pair of Arcteryx. They've been laundered regularly and DWR reapplied several times. One pair was sent back in for a laceration repair. I'd say they're not half done but then I don't know what the end will look like for them or how it will come. If there's a delam in the Goretex, Arcteryx will get Goretex to cover replacement and Arc repairs damage so I think 300+ is reasonable.

Good to know. I have a repair that needs to be done

 

[Erik Timmerman]

I killed my last pair of pants, Patagonia Rubicons, after about 600 days. My current Pataguccis have about 200-250 days on them and no noticeable wear so far.