Montane’s Super Terra Pants are built as a tough trouser for ‘mountain’ use. For most UK buyers these are the modern incarnation of classic hill walking trousers. Reinforced knee and instep patches have become a fashion statement of kinds on the hills, shouting ‘I’m a serious hill-walker’ from the peak tops.
Look past the aesthetics, love it or hate it though and you’ve got a seriously good pair of trousers for walking the hills of the UK and beyond.
In the spring, autumn and winter these pants come into their own and despite Montane themselves all but dismissing them for summer use we still love them when the weather warms up. In the autumn and winter the GRANITE fabric – like a tough cotton or dare we say it a Fjallraven G1000 esque fabric - stops wind in its tracks. This also means the fabric is durable so you don’t wince every time you catch the trousers on some undergrowth.
Those patches on the knees, insteps and bum are Cordura Hydro which is not just stupidly strong but also waterproof to 3000mm – great for sitting on soggy rocks or indeed scrapping past sharp, pointy rocks.
Down the bottom of the trousers is where you really see how much of a serious face Montane were making when they designed the Super Terra pants. Not only do they have ankle zips for access and ventilation but also gaiter hooks and three poppers for adjusting the opening size and to hold everything snug against foul weather. Joking aside this is all very good, useful stuff and the quality of construction is excellent.
So, winter performance is great, and these trousers can take a serious beating but how about summer use? Although these will clearly run hotter than wafer thin summer walking trousers when the mercury rises, the leg vents and ankle zips do at least allow you to get some air flowing. It’s up to you whether you value the dependability and workwear like practicality of the Super Terra pants enough to offset the slight bump in heat over summer specific walking trousers.
Despite the decidedly strong construction the Super Terra’s are comfortable to wear and don’t feel too heavy on. There’s articulation where you want it so kneeling and dealing with kit or cooking a brew won’t be splitting any seams.
We did say these were highly practical trousers and true to form they’ve got a couple of hand pockets, a couple of cargo pockets and another on the bum. The hand pockets are particularly good as they’re vented (so leave them open for extra airflow when it’s hot), zipped, and have an extra internal pocket inside each one.
We loved the Super Terra pants when we first reviewed them back in 2016 and they’ve only grown on us since with the slight tweaks Montane have introduced over the years.
If you walk a lot, or indeed walk into things a lot then these could well be the trousers for you.
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