BackpackGearTest.org - Ibex Guide Lite Pants Rebecca Sowards-Emmerd

Reviews > Clothing > Pants and Shorts > Ibex Guide Lite Pants > Rebecca Sowards-Emmerd > Field Report

Tester Information

Name: Rebecca Sowards-Emmerd

Location: Los Altos, CA

Age/Sex: 27/Female

Height: 5'5" (1.65 m)

Weight: 130 lb (59 kg)

Email: rebecca@backpackgeartest.org

Website: http://www.calipidder.com

I began backpacking in the summer of 2000 after moving to California. Although I started off carrying everything but the kitchen sink, my style has shifted to lightweight gear and techniques, though I am known to carry a few luxury items. First in my heart is summer backpacking, but I also enjoy snowshoeing, skiing, and snowcamping, as well as long dayhikes and peak climbing. I spend time outside during weekends year-round in the deserts and mountains of California. My weekend hikes are often 'spur-of-the-moment', and usually occur in and around Yosemite National Park, Desolation Wilderness (near Lake Tahoe), and Sonora Pass in the Sierra Nevada mountains, as well as Lassen National Park and Mt. Shasta area in the Southern Cascades.

Product Information

Name: Guide Lite Pant

Manufacturer: Ibex

Manufacturer website: www.ibexwear.com

Year of Manufacture: 2004

Listed Weight: 18.2 oz (average)

Measured weight: 16.5 oz (womens small)

The Ibex Guide Lite pants are an elastic waisted pull-on pair of pants made from Climawool, Ibex's proprietary softshell fabric. Softshell pants allow me to get away with a single layer of clothing that provides what it normally takes two layers to do - insulation and wind/water repellency. Softshell is also remarkably more breathable than typical winter wear, preventing the build up of clammy sweat. Although it doesn't provide 100% water protection or extreme insulation, softshell technology is ideal while active. It eliminates uncomfortable bulky and thick multiple layers, allowing me to move more easily on skis and snowshoes.

The Guide Lites have a simple design with an elastic pull-on waist, two zippered front pockets, and zippered expandable panels at the ankle to accommodate bulky boots. Softshell pants like these have become my favorite bottoms of choice for winter activities such as snowshoeing and skiing, and the Guide Lite Pants fit the definition of my 'perfect winter activewear'.

Field Information

The Guide Lites have gotten quite a workout during the Field Testing period. I have worn them no fewer than 20 times in conditions ranging from below freezing and windy to hot and sunny. More specifically, I wore them in the following locations and conditions:

1. Yosemite National Park: An early season cross country ski day trip followed by a hike through sequoia groves. There was snow on the ground in some places, but the temperatures reached into the 60s F (~15 C) and the sun was shining. The Guide Lites were worn as a single layer.

2. Castle Peak, north Tahoe: A day snowshoe trip to Castle Peak near Donner Summit. Conditions were sunny but very cold and windy. The Guide Lites were the only bottom layer I had on.

3. South Lake, near Bishop, California: Two days of cross country skiing along the road to South Lake, temperatures were mostly warm and sunny, in the 50s F (~10 C).

4. Rock Creek, above Tom's Place, California: The same activity and conditions as the South Lake skiing.

5. Happy Boulders, Sad Boulders, Dreamers, Buttermilks, all near Bishop, California: I wore the Guide Lites while bouldering in these areas where conditions were rather cold (near freezing), but without snow for several days during Thanksgiving week.

6. Wildrose Peak, Death Valley National Park: A hike through the snow to the summit of Wildrose Peak, in cool (but not freezing) and sunny conditions.

7. Panamint Dunes, Death Valley National Park: A hike through desert brush and sand where the Guide Lites were worn as a single layer with temperatures around 50 degrees F (10 C).

8. Emigrant Campground, Death Valley National Park: I wore the Guide Lites around camp during a wind and dust storm (for a few moments before taking shelter), as well as in the evenings as temperatures dropped to around freezing.

Note: 2-8 were on the same 9-day road trip over Thanksgiving week. The pants were worn constantly during the entire trip with only a single washing mid-week during a hotel stay.

9. Emigrant Lake, near Carson Pass: An overnight snowcamping trip where the Guide Lites were worn as a single layer during the snowshoe hike in warm and wet snow conditions, as well as an outer layer while sitting around camp when temperatures dropped to around freezing. This is the first time I wore the pants on an overnight trip and layered.

10. Point Reyes National Seashore: Pushing the upper temperature limit of comfort for the Guide Lites, I wore them on an overnight backpack to Wildcat Camp at Point Reyes National Seashore. The hike started along a cool shaded trail, but eventually emerged to the sun-drenched coastal trail where it was hot and sunny.

11. Various locations: In addition to the above activities, I wore the Guide Lite pants around town and as regular daily clothing on several occasions.

Field Report

I have been fortunate that over the past two months I have gotten outdoors quite a bit. I have done everything I love to do - backpacking, hiking, car camping, bouldering, skiing, snowshoeing, and more. As seen from the list above, I have been able to wear the Guide Lite pants in so many conditions that I have already become quite familiar with the comfort range and capabilities of these pants.

In summary, the Ibex Guide Lite pants are a delight to wear. The fit is absolutely perfect with the exception of the waist belt length problem discussed in detail in my Initial Report. It is my opinion that the best hiking clothes are the clothes I forget I'm wearing. If something is truly comfortable I shouldn't notice it. Well, I don't notice the Guide Lites when I'm wearing them - they feel like a part of me. The brushed wool interior is soft enough that it feels nice against bare skin and no bottom layer is necessary. The waist is neither too tight nor too large. Ibex describes them as semi-fit, and to me the pants seem to fit that definition - roomy enough to layer and move, but cut so that there isn't extra material and bulk getting in the way while active.

The Guide Lite pants are definitely best used in winter and colder conditions. I have comfortably worn them in temperatures ranging from well below freezing to around 70 degrees F / 21 C (while active), and find that although I am comfortable in them at any temperature, there are better choices when the temperatures are pushing 60 F (15 C). I tend to sweat a lot, and the Guide Lites allow the moisture to evaporate quickly and efficiently at lower temperatures. Once it gets a little warmer (50 F (10 C) and above) I start to feel a bit of moisture buildup under the pants. However, once I stop moving and sweating they dry very quickly. In the wide range of conditions in which these pants have been worn, not once have they retained moisture for more time than I would like or expect.

For example, on one of the days of skiing along the South Lake road, I forgot to wear gaiters. In the fresh but wet snow the bottom half of the pants got rather wet. After getting back to the car, removing my skis, and putting my gear away, there was a 15 minute drive back into town for lunch. By the time we were 5 minutes from town I noticed that they were already dry. I estimate that it was less than 20 minutes from pretty soaked to dry, and I was impressed! I found that unzipping the bottom panel allowed them to dry out the most efficiently.

On the opposite end of the temperature and conditions spectrum, the snowshoe trip to Castle Peak was cold and extremely windy. Although the temperatures weren't much below freezing, the wind chill made things considerably more uncomfortable than they should have been. I was extremely pleased how well the Guide Lite pants blocked the wind. They exceeded my expectations in every way. All day, I was only concerned with my top half, on which I was constantly rearranging layers to make more comfortable. The bottom half was perfectly comfortable the entire day.

On my first snowcamping overnight trip with these pants, I wore them as a single layer while snowshoeing during the day, and layered with Patagonia Expedition Weight Capilene while sitting around camp at night. I didn't do any activity when I had the double layer. However, the pants allowed enough room that the bottom layer didn't bunch up funny and moving around camp was perfectly comfortable. I wouldn't hesitate to add a secondary layer while active after this experience. Wearing the pants as a single layer in camp I was a bit chilled, but once I added the layer underneath the Guide Lites I was very comfortable. The pants were damp around the bottom due to not wearing gaiters, and somehow I'd sat in the very wet snow for a while without thinking and my butt was nice and wet. After setting up camp, I sat myself down on a Ridge Rest pad for a while and my butt dried out just fine. The bottoms never completely dried because I was constantly trudging through the deep snow to the 'ladies room' because I was too lazy to put my snowshoes back on. The base layer did stay dry, though, so the Guide Lites did a good job of keeping the wet off of me.

This was also the first backpacking trip with the pants. For the day trips I always carried a pack with a waist belt, but the load was always light. For a snowcamping overnighter my load was comparatively heavier, about 25-30 lbs (11-14 kg) (depending on the amount of water and food and wet gear in the pack). I found that the waist is a little thick and wrinkly to rest comfortably under a pack belt. Toward the end of the first day I noticed a bit of irritation from the pack belt and waist combination. The second day it was noticeable for the first few minutes of hiking but it wasn't irritating enough to annoy me all day. This was with a ULA P-2 pack.

I next used the Guide Lites for an overnight when I went to Point Reyes. My pack, a Gregory Tega this time, was much lighter in weight as the hike didn't require snow gear. There was no irritation on this hike. I think the problem before was a combination of the pack belt, the waist of the Guide Lite pants, and the weight in the pack. During the long term phase I will try additional pack and weight combinations with these pants.

In addition to the comfort of the Guide Lite pants, I have been very impressed by their durability. During several days in Death Valley we did a lot of off-trail desert hiking through brush and rocks. There were several occasions where I caught the pants on a pokey branch or prickly cactus, expecting certain damage to my beloved pants. Every time the pants emerged unscathed, and I still go over them regularly in extreme detail looking for any signs of damage, certain that no normal pair of pants could survive what I've put them through. So far, so good!

Though the material seems indestructible, the Achilles Heel of these pants seems to be the stitching. There are several places on the pants where the stitching has come loose or undone. So far this has not happened in large or critical areas, but I'll be keeping my eye on further wear or damage and report on it in my Long Term report.

These pants are very easy to own. The washing instructions allow for washing in a normal machine, but suggest that they be line dried. So far I have followed these instructions every time and the pants still look as fresh and clean as the day I got them. This also allows me to observe their quick drying time - of all of my synthetic hiking clothing that is line dried, these are the thickest and also one of the quickest-drying!

Since these are pants I wear hiking and backpacking, one of the concerns I had going into this test is that the wool in the material would make the pants stink when they got wet. And who wants to wear stinky hiking clothes? I mean really stinky, not hiker stinky. So far these concerns seem to be irrelevant - on the many occasions where the Guide Lites have gotten wet I have never noticed a wet wool smell.

To revisit the waist belt issue from my Initial Report, my experience is still the same. I do not use the belt and have let the webbing slip into the tube of material around the elastic waist. They fit perfectly fine without the belt so this does not bother me at all. However, if I had tried these pants on in a store, or received them in the mail as a paying customer, I would have returned them after my first impression. Luckily, in the name of testing I chose to put up with the annoyance and I am very happy I did. Since I don't use the belt it has become a minor issue (for me, at least), and everything else about the Guide Lite pants is so wonderful that I don't care.

I have many more winter and cold-weather trips to look forward to during the Long Term testing phase, and the Guide Lites will be used on every one. It has been an incredible pleasure to test these pants so far and I will continue to put them through everything I can!

Ibex

Rebecca Sowards-Emmerd