I never used to consider leggings to be a suitable option for hiking. I’m a yoga teacher, so I own piles of them, but most of them don’t offer enough protection for the type of rugged hiking I like to do, and the more robust styles seem to get wet and heavy if it rains. I also own lots of great traditional that fit a little looser and are quite comfortable, like my , so it never occurred to me to try anything else once the weather turned cooler.
I kept my leggings for yoga and running and wore regular trousers for hiking. Fortunately, over the past couple of years, technical hiking leggings have come along to prove me wrong. First, there was the , made out of a more familiar hiking pant material but in the cut of a legging.
I got those back in the spring of 2022 and over the past two-and-a-half years I’ve found myself choosing them over more rugged trousers again and again, putting in hundreds of miles in them now. Then a year ago, I wore a pair of on a hut trip to the French Alps. Those look and feel a lot more like regular leggings but pleasantly surprised me with their robustness and ample storage, and several of the men on that trip said they wished that the leggings weren’t available in their sizing.
It’s taken a couple of years, but I think I now have to admit that I’m a convert to technical hiking leggings – here’s why I think they’re so great. I know, comfort is a subjective thing, and it’s true that even the wrong pair of leggings can be uncomfort.