Reviews > Clothing > Pants and Shorts > Ibex Approach Tights > Cora Shea > Field Report

Field Conditions I've used the Approach Tights on about twenty field days since my Initial report, if only to sleep in at night on some field days. If you've come here from reading my Initial Report, you probably have guessed that I loved these tights from the first day I skiied in them. Today, not much has changed. Winter Use: (10 days total) Skiing and Mountaineering in the Sierras, California Weather: Cold (-5 to 65 F / -20 to 18 C) with some snow, hail, and wind Elevation: 8000 ft to 11,000 ft (2500 to 3400 m) Terrain: Snowy and mountainous Use: I wore these tights under my bibs and inside my ski boots for many days of skiing in the backcountry. The bibs came off at night, the tights didn't. Basically, this amounted to a week-plus of living in these tights. Brief Comments: Simply said, the tights are amazing. We had a cold and snowy winter this year in the Sierra, and as a multipurpose underlayer in cold weather, I've not experienced an equal to these tights. I felt that I just could not sweat enough to get the tights wet, and whenever I zipped up against the wind, the tights were always ready to be toasty warm the instant I covered them with my shell. Wow. Spring Use: (6 days total) Mountaineering in the Sierras and San Bernardinos, California Weather: Cool (15 to 65 F / -10 to 18 C) with some wind and snow Elevation: 8000 ft to 11,000 ft (2500 to 3400 m) Terrain: Snowy and mountainous Use: These days mostly involved short trips where I'd hike in late at night, and then have a very aerobically challenging day the next day. Again, the tights stayed on the whole time, but were shoved in mountaineering boots instead of ski boots and were worn for much shorter periods each time. Brief Comments: On these trips, I got less frustrated with the small difficulties of the tights (such as re-adjusting the high waist under my bibs after a bathroom break) but also was not able to appreciate their great attributes (no stink over long trips, great fit in ski boots) as much because of the shorter style of the trips. Overall, the tights worked well but seemed much more spectacular on the longer winter trips. Nighttime-Only Use: (4 days total) Los Angeles, California Weather: Mild (30 to 75 F / -1 to 24 C) with some wind and rain Elevation: 8000 ft to 11,000 ft (2500 to 3400 m) Terrain: Snowy and mountainous (still!) Use: These are the days where I carried the tights during the day because it was too warm to wear them, and slept in them at night. They served as a warmer layer at night, like fleece pants. Brief Comments: When compared to long underwear, the tights are much more bulky, and when compared to fleece pants, the tights are lighter and more compact. However, I did miss some advantages of fleece pants, such as side zips to put them on without having to strip. Plus, the tights weigh nearly as much as my insulated pants, without having the same insulative value. So, I liked wearing the tights much better than carrying them, because when wearing them their superior wicking and aerobically-insulating value came out.

Field Use Opinions Fit: I love the fit of these tights. When worn alone, I've done lots of lounging, stretching, relaxing, and other activities that I can do only in a set of pants that I feel completely comfortable in. When worn under bibs, the fit gets somewhat complicated because of the high waist. My bibs have a drop-away seat, which allows womanly relief when any type of long underwear is used (not just those types with a thru-zip), but since the waist of the Approach Tights sit well above my belly button, it is quite a job to wiggle the waist back up where it belongs under the bibs after every potty break. Thin shirts tuck really well into the tights (again, more easily without bibs) and the tights layer easily under all my shells and stay put. Even beyond the great body fit, however, is the great ankle fit. I appreciated this good fit the most when skiing on my winter trips. I wear pretty tight ski boots (tight enough that the thread lines of my socks actually leave imprints in my shins) and the tights are pretty much the most comfortable inside-ski-boot layer I've worn. They're even more comfortable than my thinnest long underwear. This benefit became less obvious as I switched to my looser and lower-ankled mountaineering boots in the spring, but these have become my favorite skiing layer just for the ankle cuffs alone. Comfort: These tights are very comfortable on me. They conform well, and stretch beyond my limit of flexibility. Also, even though the fabric is not necessarily soft, it is certainly nice-feeling on my skin. I've worn the tights directly on my skin for days on end with no adverse affects (even with long underwear I sometimes get some skin irritation from a sweat and fabric wear combination). The tights feel best when they are worn as intended - with the waist pulled high and the ankle cuffs lying right at my ankles. When the waist is at my waist, the crotch sags akwardly and although I can pull the ankle cuffs up, they aren't very comfortable up there because the tights then bunch around my thighs. Thus, the tights don't have many venting options. Which is fine, because they have such a wide comfortable temperature range (from very cold when under layers to about 50 F or 10 C when worn alone and I'm working aerobically). Warmth: These tights are quite warm. They are as warm as my warmest expedition-weight long underwear, but not as warm as my fleece pants. The best part of these tights is that they've never felt clammy even once. I've felt clammy with even light long underwear under shells at times, and I've certainly felt clammy when doing anything aerobic with fleece pants. Thus, I'd say that their wicking ability is certainly their strongest point, and helps the tights actually be warm when I need them to be. The tights stay dry and warm with any amount of sweat I've poured into them. Weather Resistance: This is the tradeoff for exceptional wicking ability, but not by much. The tights are not very wind resistant at all (not that they were advertised to be) nor are they water resistant. When new, water spray would bead up on the outside, but after a week of use, the fabric just got damp when snow melted on it. Additionally, dry powder sticks to the outside of the tights, so I preferred to layer the tights under shells for the majority of the test so far. And, with their great wicking, they perform so much better under shells than alone that I find no reason to wear them alone in bad weather.

Summary Overall, the Approach Tights have been excellent. They are quite warm and thus not well suited for warmer weather activity, but in cold weather I have found them to be the ideal everything-layer. When windy, I need a shell over them to stay warm, and dry snow tends to stick to the outside, but besides that the tights wick like nothing else and are always warm for me. Likes Dislikes A Great fit Not very wind resistant Wool stays dry and warm like magic! Hard to pull high waist up under bibs Ankle cuffs are comfy in ski boots No easy cinch on the waist string

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Reviews > Clothing > Pants and Shorts > Ibex Approach Tights > Cora Shea > Field Report