Warm weather pants

Hey TAY,
I've been skiing in the PNW for a few years now, and have found keeping cool challenging when the spring and summer come around. What pants do you typically wear for spring and summer skiing/mountaineering? It sounds like the old Ferrosi worked well, but apparently OR changed the fit and they no longer fit over ski boots. The Cirque seems almost perfect, but too warm, and lacks vents. And the Trailbreaker seems to only be available in black, or a two tone option that screams euro tech pants. Arcteryx seems to have some good options, but $$$!

I like to think the ideal pant would be:
1. Thin and very breathable
2. Lightly wind/water resistant
3. Have good sized vents allowing comfort in temps between 20 (with long underwear) and 60 (by themselves)
4. Have a trim fit to allow for crampon use without a lot of snagging
5. Can be worn after skiing to a bar without looking "hardcore"
6. Not too spendy - don't want to feel bad about thrashing them when it gets 'shwacky or when mountaineering.

Got any go to options? What are you going to be using all summer?

How about the First Ascent / Eddie Bauer Guide series? Don't have crampon protection, but you could sew something on. I've got the convertible option, which do fit quite nicely over my Dynafit TLT 6 boots (with some room to spare), and love those a lot. Crazy sale going on right now, too.

Don't know what this is worth, but I bought a pair of First Ascent pants because they seemed to check all the lightweight boxes, but the stitching started unraveling and a pocket blew out almost immediately. The basic fabric seems fine, but the workmanship is terrible. If anyone finds the perfect summer pant (stretches, breathes, vents, reasonably trim, doesn't cost much, and has useful pockets), I'd love to hear about it. Oh, and durable too--don't forget durable. 

As we know, the same brand and model of clothing is often sourced at a variety of factories, so stuff that is sold as identical can vary widely. In other words, YMMV.

Mark 

I hadn't been on TAY in a while, but I saw the new layout and started looking around. I guess a post about pants will be my first on the new site... 

I believe that they're discontinued, but I ski in a pair of white or off-white Patagonia rock-guide pants and a sun hoodie in the summer. The pants are really thin but have some stretch and softshell properties. I have a pair of 3/4 zip rain pants that I can pull on over them if I'm getting cold or when I start the day and don't want to mess around with base layers.

I think all that really matters is synthetic, thin, lightweight, and light color.  

I generally use a pair of light-colored thin/stretchy (like softshell but thinner?) pants, usually whatever OR's selling at the time. I get 2-4 summers of all-round use out of them before crampon strikes and tree branches take their toll and they get replaced.

Light colors make at least a big psychological difference, perhaps more.

Marmot Scree pants work well for me. If it's really hot, just a super-thin synthetic hiking pant or spandex leggings.