 Poster: A snowHead
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I've never had soft shell trousers before, but now I do. They don't have much insulation going on, so will need something underneath.
Suggestions invited on what will keep me warm on a ski lift in December, previously used insulated trousers with just a Helly Hansen base layer which was fine - ideally I'd like something at least as warm as that.
I do have lots and lots of thermal trousers, but they are all full length. All the thicker thermal stuff I have is full length too, and if I cut them off they'd be useless for other stuff.
So I think what I really want is something that will keep be nice and insulated and padded, that is 3/4 length, and that doesn't cost much.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Monium, if you have "lots and lots" of thermal trousers, you could just sacrifice one of them? With your HH base layer underneath, they'd not get too smelly in a week?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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This is the common solution to the problem of what to wear under softshell pants when it is cold....
http://www.langtoninfo.co.uk/showitem.aspx?isbn=0785562107502
Haglofs used to make insulated 3/4 lengh pants, but I don't think they make them anymore.
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Sat 29-10-11 23:02; edited 1 time in total
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Monium, aldi merino base layer pants, you can cut them to 3/4 length as they are only about £12 thats all i used until I got my Ortovox stuff 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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livetoski has it right can't beat the aldi merino without spending 4 or 5 times the cash
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Just to add to this, and perhaps steer things in the right direction, the merino base layers aren't anywhere near warm enough for just them and the trousers. Needs to be something significantly warmer/thicker than that. I have used the Aldi merino layer under the insulated trousers and they were just about enough.
pam w, most of my thermals are for other things, and in some cases cost a lot of money to do a specific job. Not ideal unfortunately, or I would be the first to cut them up to find something useful for skiing.
So really looking for something that is about as warm as a good quality fleece layer, but without having to spend hundreds, and preferably get something fairly flexible and designed for the kind of movement we use when skiing. If you see what I mean.
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Monium, this is going to sound a little harsh, but if a merino base layer of lets say 240 thickness is not enough under your soft shells then you have the wrong soft shell pants for skiing, a good soft shell with a thin merino base layer of around 100 should be plenty down to -20.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Am I missing something about the Aldi pants? They are about the same warmness as the Helly Hansen base layer, but slightly thinner. Is there a much thicker version that they do? The ones I got last year are about the same thickness as a thin T-shirt material.
Can you explain 240 thickness? Not sure what that means.
Last December we got to minus 35 on the glacier. That is what I am preparing for, I'd rather be a bit too hot than too cold  That meant HH base layer, tracksuit bottoms, and insulated trousers, which was just about enough. I am losing the insulation, so think I'll need something warmer than just a pair of tracksuit bottoms.
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No disrespect to Aldi's gear but if I was expecting to find myself in -35 I wouldn't be wearing it 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Monium, you realise of course that keeping your wee wriglers cooked inside thermals is killing them... man up and stay cool for the future man in you, they'll thank you for it.
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Eek, when you said 'cold' i thought you meant -10C! -35C is pretty unusual.
I wore Quechua Bionassay soft shell pants when I was in Norway a couple of years ago. Temps got down to -20c and I wore a pair of Ron Hill Tracksters and a pair of Marmot DriClime Side Zip Pants underneath them. I was just about warm enough when standing in the wind. Your softshells are probably warmer than ther Bionassay ones, so you could probably get away with wearing the same layers in slightly colder weather.
Sadly Marmot have stopped making the the DriClime Side Zip Pants, although Buffalo still make a similar pant for mountaineers called the Teclite Trouser. I prefer wearing Tracksters instead of a conventional base layer because the Tracksters have a shiny face that stops them binding to the layer you wear above them.
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You know it makes sense.
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Marmot do (or at least used to) a 3/4 powerstretch fleece pant. Facewest sell 'em
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I had my first pair of shell pants last year - most days simply wore my helly hansen or under armour base layer and on the one cold day, some fleece trousers from Mountain Equipment. Clearly, I can see the benefit of having 3/4 lengths and reducing interference with my boots.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I've recently bought soft shell salos too after having killed yet another pair of conventional salos last season. I'm hoping that they are a) cooler, b) less destructable and c) make me look less like a blimp. I have some normal base layer leggings to wear underneath should the need arise.
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cran
cran
Guest
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I have a pair of cheap trespass ski trousers, but no idea if they are soft shell, or what soft shell is... they are yellow if that helps...
They cost about £30 so nothing special and we were in Norway last year in -20 and I wore them with nothing underneath except a pair of boxers and my legs were fine if anything slightly too hot after a few reds.
The only thing I needed extra to my normal ski wear was a face mask as otherwise my face got cold on the lifts.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Monium, given that you only found yourself just warm enough in thicker trousers plus a merino base layer AND tracksuit trousers, why have you switched to shell pants? Maybe keep them for the warmer days and stick to the old stuff for the minus 35 days?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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pam w, very good point. I was hoping that I'd be able to layer up and sort of adjust my insulation so that one pair of trousers would do everything from seriously cold right through to Easter in the sunshine. And two pairs of trousers in the suitcase is probably going to happen anyway but I sort of wanted to be very warm and also flexible, which the old pants weren't really giving me - they were a bit restrictive at times, largely because to be comfortable around the thighs they had to be fairly loose around the waist, leading to all kinds of other annoyance.
But the primary reason for the switch was that they were very cheap and I liked the colour 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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to be comfortable around the thighs they had to be fairly loose around the waist, leading to all kinds of other annoyance.
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Last time I bought ski trousers I had to try on absolutely loads of pairs before finding one which was right for my (fairly ordinary sort of size 12) shape. Many which were right at bum level were much too small round the waist, some were wrong in other ways. Eventually one pair just went on right - so I bought them. I had started out with all kinds of fancy notions about liking some of the styles or fabrics better than others, some being too expensive, etc etc. All that went out of the window.
I had the same hassle with jackets - some of them were positively uncomfortable, or pockets were all wrong, or neck fastenings made for Olive Oyl, or whatever.
Why anyone would buy those items online defeats me, unless they'd tried on the identical model in a shop.
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