A tried and tested favourite amongst hillwalkers and mountaineers alike, the Mountain Equipment Ibex pants are a stalwart of the brand’s legwear range.
It’s easy to see why they’re such a perennially popular pick – they’re durable, practical and extremely comfortable.
Given that, they're certainly worthy of a place on our list of the best walking trousers. The question is, where do they sit in the pecking order? Find out how they score with our full review...
Pros
- Comfortable
- Breathable and quick drying
- Good value
- Plenty of pockets
Cons
- No reinforcement or double-stitched seams
- A little warm for summer use
| RRP: | £90 / $149.95 |
| Materials: | Exolite 210gsm double-weave softshell (92% Polyamide, 8% Elastane) |
| No. of pockets: | 5 |
| Men’s sizes: | 28–40” waist |
| Women’s sizes: | UK 8-16 (Mountain Equipment Chamois) |
| Leg lengths: | Short, Reg and Long leg |
| Weight: | 450g / 15.8 oz |
Fit
Mountain Equipment describes the Ibex as employing its ‘alpine fit’, which is designed to be trim without being restrictive. For me, it’s pretty much ideal for hillwalking and mountaineering.
The cut is neither too roomy nor too snug, with enough room to wear these trousers over baselayer tights on very cold winter days.
The 2025 version of these trousers also has slightly reduced volume in the lower leg, which means that there’s fractionally more taper from knee to ankle, ensuring a neat and precise feel.
It’s easy to see where you’re putting your feet on technical ground. However, the trousers still have zipped ankle gussets, so if you need to fit them over bigger B1 or B2 mountain boots, you can do so.
Waist measurements are true to size, and available in 28-40”, plus short, regular or long leg lengths. The women’s version of the Ibex, known as the Chamois, comes in UK sizes 8-16, also in three leg lengths. That should enable a wide range of users to get a decent fit.
Fabrics
The Ibex trousers are made from Mountain Equipment’s Exolite 210. This is a double-weave softshell fabric (210gsm), using a mix of polyamide (nylon) and elastane for four-way stretch.
It balances overall toughness with mobility, while also combining decent wind-resistance with breathability. It’s fairly quick drying, too. The face of the fabric is reasonably durable yet the inner side is very soft, ensuring good next-to-skin comfort.
As of 2025, for the first time it's now fluorocarbon free, being finished with an eco-friendlier durable water repellent treatment. This ensures decent all-round weather resistance, so the Ibex trousers can cope with light drizzle and generally grey days.
As midweight trousers, I think the Ibex are best suited to cooler conditions, proving ideal when I tested them throughout November in Snowdonia. But I’ve had multiple pairs of the Ibex trousers over the past decade or so and have happily used them for hillwalking and scrambling most of the year round.
Only in high summer might you want something thinner and lighter – but that’s generally when I switch to hiking shorts anyway.
Features and construction
The Ibex trousers are well constructed, incorporating several well-thought-out details such as a diamond-shaped crotch panel and knee darts for improved articulation. Seams are well-finished and not itchy or scratchy, though they lack the reinforced double-stitching of some rivals.
These trousers have plenty of practical features, too, though some of the little touches I liked have now been simplified for 2025 (perhaps to reduce manufacturing costs).
Firstly, the soft microfleece waistband lining is gone, though its loss only makes a marginal difference to overall comfort.
The double press studs and integrated waistbelt have been retained, which keeps most of the belt nicely out of the way. This stops it catching on a pack hip belt or a climbing harness.
The belt itself is a simple piece of nylon webbing with a plastic quick-release buckle. It works, but it can loosen a little after a few hours clambering about in the hills. However, it’s not stitched into the trousers, so it can be fairly easily replaced if desired with any belt up to 25mm/1” in width.
One ‘love it or hate it’ feature of the older Ibex trousers was the double zip on the fly. Being able to open the zip from the bottom up was occasionally useful if wearing a harness or pack, but it was also pretty unusual.
On more than one occasion meant I ended up walking around with my fly open (including on one slightly embarrassing occasion in the famous climbers’ caff, Pete’s Eats in Llanberis). Anyway, it’s also been changed to a standard one-way affair that is surely idiot-proof.
Otherwise, you get two zipped hand pockets, which work fine and are now fabric-lined rather than being backed with mesh (a plus for durability, as mesh is easy to shred with car keys and other pointy or sharp-cornered objects). The back of the trousers are pretty unfussy but do have a single zipped back pocket.
Lastly, you get two vertically zipped thigh pockets. These aren’t huge but are big enough to be useful – provided you don’t mind a bit of bulk, you can get a light pair of gloves in there, for example.
These pockets are still lined with mesh, so they can be used as emergency ventilation if you start to overheat. I’ve generally found them to be surprisingly breathable on typical cool North Wales mountain days.
At the ankle, you get gusseted zips which run from mid-calf. I’ve never needed these even when wearing my bigger B2 boots, but if you wear chunky Scarpa Mantas or similar, you might require them.
A minor update to these trousers for 2025 is that the drawcord channel in the hem has now been removed. Previously, it was possible to thread elastic shock-cord through here to cinch them in tightly over boots. You can’t do that with the latest version – which probably won’t be a dealbreaker of the vast majority of users.
Sustainability
The Ibex trousers do not use any recycled fabrics, which is a shame, but they are finished with a PFC-free durable water repellent treatment. This means there's none of the harmful ‘forever chemicals’ that tend to accumulate in the environment.
Mountain Equipment’s Exolite softshell fabric is manufactured in Taiwan, while the trousers themselves are made in Cambodia. Production has been audited by the Fair Wear Foundation, of which Mountain Equipment is a member. Fair Wear strives to create a world where the planet’s garment supply chain is “a source of safe, dignified and decently paid employment, and in which human rights are respected.”
In terms of its other eco-credentials, Mountain Equipment points to the fact that the plastic packaging is 100% recycled and that the ‘swing ticket’ is printed on FSC approved paper.
Price and competition
On balance, the Ibex Pants are good-value trousers. The current RRP is £90 ($149.95), but that’s only a slight increase of £5 over the past five years, which is commendable, given how prices seem to have jumped across the outdoor industry.
They’re also widely distributed, which means you can pick them up at significant discounts, especially if you shop online. A good target price is £70-75.
Even at full price, they’re also slightly cheaper than popular rivals like the Montane Tenacity (£120) or Terra (£100) pants, as well as the Berghaus Fast Hike (£110), Rab Torque (£105) and Torque Mountain (£110). They’re also half the price of high-end competitors like the Arc’teryx Gamma pant (£180).
Verdict
The Mountain Equipment Ibex Pants are uncomplicated, tried and tested stretch softshell trousers built for all-mountain use, which strike a good balance between protection, durability and breathability.
In the market for more legwear? See our lists of the best waterproof trousers and the best women's walking trousers for more.
Shop this product
About the author
Matt Jones is a freelance journalist based in the heart of Snowdonia National Park, he’s a vastly experienced gear tester and self-confessed outdoor kit geek. Matt’s been one of our main gear testers for the last couple of years and is the first person we call with any complicated kit queries that need in-depth and forensic analysis.