Equipment Checklist - Lower body

The two previous equipment posts covered my climbing gear and then my footwear.  Here, I show you what I pack for my lower body.  Let me begin with the layers I plan to spend most of my time wearing (see Figure to the right).  My Patagonia R1 pants sit at the top of the picture.  These mid-weight pants sit over my base layer (at the bottom of the picture) and underneath either my hard shell pants (to the right) or my insulated (not down) pants that sit to the left of my hard shells.  I just purchased these hard shell pants and love 'em.  They are from GoLite and live up to their name - light.  I already climbed once in them and found them to be as comfortable if not more so than any other hard shell pants I previously owned.  One huge benefit is the built in suspenders and full side zips.  I can take these off with my crampons without having to fuss with anything else; the suspenders even open up so I can fish them from underneath my top layers.  

The most important piece in this picture is what sits at the bottom - both in the picture and on my body.  The pants at the bottom are my X-bionic base layer and these things rock.  I cannot recall how much they cost but I can assure you that I (and my tent mates) can attest to the fact that they keep me warm and do not stink.  The former I know full well; the latter, you might need to ask some of my current and former tent mates.  I can wear these things for weeks on end and they never stink.  Plus, they keep me warm, wick the sweat off me, and never bunch up.  I might sound like a sales rep for X-bionic but if you saw the price tag you might realize why I feel compelled to sell 'em.  Yeah, long underwear shouldn't cost $250 but these do and they are well worth it.  I bring these and only these while others shell out $100 each for smart wool base layers that bunch up, die after a few climbs, and do not insulate as well as these things.  OK, enough selling.

That just about covers my legs.  There are a few other minor pieces that may be classified as feet/leg like my gaitors or just usual lower body clothing (e.g., underwear).  I am not sure I need to detail those.  Suffice it to say that I plan to take 6 pairs of Ex-Officio boxers so I do not put off that many fellow climbers.