The North Face Mountain Pant - Women's - 2008 BCS

It would take a category five hurricane to get you wet or cold in these puppies. There is layer upon layer of gore-tex, thick fleece and god know what else in between you and the outdoors. All of this protection makes these pants bulky and HEAVY. In the days of lightweight everything, these stand out as a frontrunner in the leadweight category. I only wear them if I know I will not have to take them off and carry them around. So basically a day on the slopes or snowshoeing or maybe a quick mountaineering excursion (although that last one hasn't actually happened yet...) They aren't heavy when I am wearing them or anything. Definitely love the warmth and protection of these pants, but you are going to be limited by the weight. If you just want waterproof shell pants, buy some Arc'teryx instead.

These pants are the best...very warm even in the most extreme cold windy conditions.

Bought these and love the weight but they definitely run large. I returned for a smaller size. I like that they are not low riders. I'm tired of getting snow up my butt!

I bought these pants to do polar field work in Greenland.
They are not what I expected, but worked very well.
They are lined, and quite heavy, which makes them warm, comfortable and sturdy. I did not manage to get them scratched, and they definitely will last longer than a simple 3-layer gore tex shell. However, I would not use these to go mountaineering: too heavy, bulky and not stretchy.
I think that they would be very good for downhill skiing/snowboarding though. With a thin liner underneath, you'd be set!

2 great things about them:
- on the sides, there are velcros to adjust the waist: It is very useful! Depending on the weather, I can put more or less layers, and adjust the size of these outer pants. The max I have put under are slim liner, fleece pants and primaloft pants. It fits!
- The pocket on the right leg is large enough to contain a 2x5 notebook, pen, knife.. All these really useful things when you are outside for work.

Bottom line: these pants are very durable, and great for people who spend a lot of time outside, but they are not a light weight mountaineering shell.

Fully lined and quite heavy, not what I was expecting for gore-tex pants. Returned this pair and opted for Arc'teryx Sidewinder SV pants.

I wrote a review for these pants in the men's section, but thought I should add one here also, since I actually bought a pair in the women's size. These are fantastic pants, the fit is perfect and they are warmer than I expected. The adjustable waist allows me to wear with a thin base layer only, or add fleece for extreme weather. I own 4 other pairs of shel tyoe pants(TNF Venture, Marmot Flash, Under Armour Bead pant) and these are definitely the best. TNF does it yet again!

I'm returning these pants because of the fabric's texture. They are gore-tex performance shell, which feels quite soft. I think they do not feel hard and sturdy like ski pants should. They may or may not work just as well, but I trust the feeling of a harder fabric more.