How To Choose Trek Pants — The Ultimate Trekking Pants Guide 2023

Here is a guide on how to choose the perfect trek pants without losing your mind.

Buying trek pants can get confusing as they are not everyday wear. You can’t just buy them off the shelf. Why? Because not knowing what qualities to look for in a trek pants can keep you confused for hours

That’s where this guide on how to choose a trek pant comes to your aide. It’s a bit of a deep-dive, so stay on until the end. (And, bookmark it to save time later)

I also want you to know I am not a brand endorser of any of these pants. These are good pants used extensively by a group of people who mistreat them the most — our trek leaders. They put them through the ultimate test almost every day of their lives.

And for ease of navigation, here’s a quick table of contents that lists everything you will find in this guide:

• How To Choose Good Trekking Pants
• 3 Types Of Trekking Pants To Choose From
• Trekking Pants For Women
• 8 Best Trekking Pants From Decathlon
• Most Commonly Asked Questions Around Trekking Pants

With that structure in mind, let’s start with the first section.

How To Choose Good Trekking Pants

A. Look At The Material

It’s important to know which material works for trekking pants. The wrong one will make you really uncomfortable on a trek.

Ideally, your trek pants must be made out of Polyamide. It is a wonder material that is a combination of fibers, either polyester+elastane if it’s stretchable or 100 % polyester for regular trekking pants. This combination feels like a God-sent answer to what we wanted in trekking pants. And I will tell you why.

1. Lightweight: The wrong kind of pants will weigh you down on a big trip, like a trek. Here, even a few grams matter. So, weigh your options (literally) while choosing clothes for a trek. Don’t let your pants weigh more than 150 grams. That’s half the weight of your typical city trouser (250-500 grams)!

And that difference comes in because of the polyamides. They make your trek pants much lighter than regular pants and make them easier to carry. In fact, this is why Sandhya UC, Co-founder and COO of Indiahikes, loves her trekking pants and takes special care of them.

2. Quick-dry:Weather is unpredictable on a Himalayan trek. Dark clouds simply roll in unannounced and soak you in a surprise shower. Regardless of the season. If you’ve ever trekked in the Himalayas you will know this.

3. Easy to clean: Treks can get messy. Think dusty trails, horse dung, rolling in the meadows or sitting under a maple tree for lunch. All these will get dirt on your pants. And it’s wise to steer off materials that stain easily or absorb dirt. Like cotton.

To address this, good trek pants are made of stain and dirt-resistant fabrics. Again, polyamides are great at this. And Vishnu Benne, Head of FinOps at Indiahikes wears the Men’s Mountain Trekking Modular Trousers – TREK 100 on treks.

4. Breathable: Now, here’s something you must consider when you are buying clothes for your trek — you will sweat, and you won’t get to take a bath while on a trail.

This means you might stink if you wear clothes that don’t allow your skin to breathe or the sweat to evaporate.

While cotton is great for this purpose, it is a bad choice for treks.

The next best choice is trekking pants made of polyamide/polyesters. Contrary to the popular notion, they are breathable and let your sweat evaporate easily. That’s how they keep you cool as well.

Note: And I must state the obvious here — waterproof pants (like the ones made of raincoat material) are not breathable. You’ll suffocate and sweat in them. Do not ever wear them on treks.

The only time you can wear waterproof pants is when you slip them over your regular trekking pants on monsoon treks. Basically when there is a downpour on. But waterproof pants are extremely bulky and weigh a lot. Even on big monsoon treks, I would not recommend taking them on treks.

B. Check For Fit

It’s a no-brainer that you will rough it out during a trek. And yet, we forget this crucial detail while choosing our trek clothes.

Remember, your trekking pants need to be 100% comfortable for a trek. There are no two ways about it.

The problem area usually is fitting at the crotch. So, do a full squat and see if it feels tight. If it does feel tight, don’t buy it.

Next, lift your knees to your chest. See how the material responds. Does it stretch easily? Are you comfortable with the stretch? Buy the pants only if the answer is a straight yes.