Rab Torque Mountain Pants | Tested and reviewed

The Rab Torque trousers have been a mainstay of the British brand’s legwear range for years now. However, the newer Torque Mountain Pant is a different style.

It uses similar fabrics, but lacks the reinforced knees and ankles, which saves a little weight. The waistband design is also different. Rather than a flat-fronted, elasticated design with a shock-cord tightener at the front, these have a more conventional zip fly, with a press stud closure and belt loops.

This points to the fact that Rab views the Torque as a more specialist climbing piece, while the Torque Mountain is more of an all-rounder designed for general hiking, hillwalking and scrambling.

So is it any good? And does it perform well enough to land a place in our list of the best walking trousers (see our best women's trousers list here)? Let's find out...

Fit

The fit seems true to size in terms of waist measurements, but the cut isn’t quite as trim as you might expect from a brand like Rab. They seem to be fuller in the seat and thigh than rival trousers from Berghaus, Mountain Equipment or Montane.

It might suit some, especially if you have chunky quads and glutes, but on test, I found them a bit baggier and flappier than I’d have liked. Admittedly, I’m a tall and slim build. For reference I tested a 34” long – my usual size in Rab legwear.

Still, below the knee they’re excellent, with a nice, neat taper that fits perfectly over trail shoes, mid boots or high cut mountain boots. As with most technical trousers, there are also ankle zips backed with a triangular gusset that gives you even more room if you’re wearing these over chunkier B1/B2 boots or gaiters.

Fabrics

Just like the standard Torque pants, the Torque Mountain pants use Rab’s Matrix fabric, which is a double-weave softshell made from 88% polyamide (nylon) and 12% elastane.

That’s a higher proportion of elastane than most rival softshell fabrics, which in turn means these trousers are seriously stretchy. In fact, they feel even more flexible than the standard Torques.

The downside is that the Torque Mountain are therefore not the most durable in terms of overall abrasion resistance, since they lack the extended reinforced panelling at the knee and ankle.

If you do most of your walking on good trails, then they’ll be fine – but scramblers and climbers who spend more time in closer contact with rock might want to go for the standard Torque. And if you do a lot of heather bashing, you’ll probably want even tougher trousers than this (in which case, take a look at the Fjallraven Keb).

As noted up top, they’re a bit lighter than most ‘midweight’ softshell trousers. It’s a 182gsm-weight fabric compared to, for example, the 210gsm weight of Mountain Equipment’s Ibex trousers.

This makes them slightly cooler and more breathable. In fact, these’d be a good option for multi-day backpacking trips, as well as Alpine hutting or trekking, since they’re quick drying and packable, too.

The fabric offers moderate weather protection, being fairly wind-resistant and finished with an eco-friendly water-repellent treatment. But they’re are still not the thickest or warmest trousers around, so are best suited to spring and summer use.

Features and construction

These trousers have a zip fly, with a double press stud closure and wide belt loops. The waistband is partly elasticated.

Other features are simple but effective, with four pockets in total, including two angled zipped hand pockets, a small back pocket and a single thigh pocket.

Usefully, the thigh pocket is designed so that when you’re sitting down, the lining is positioned below the zip. This means that contents won’t fall out if you open the pocket (a drawback of rival designs found on the Montane Tenacity and Mountain Equipment Ibex trousers).

Overall patterning is relatively simple. There are contrast panels running from the seat and knee to the instep, but they’re made from the same fabric as the rest of the trousers, so you don’t get any additional reinforcement.

However, articulated knees and a gusset at the crotch ensure good comfort and mobility. Still, all seams are tidily finished and the two critical crotch seams are double stitched for extra durability, which is good to see.

Sustainability

Rab’s recently launched ‘Material Facts’ table (which is designed to clearly show a product’s sustainability credentials, just like the nutritional information on food packaging) reveals that these trousers contain 10% recycled content overall, since the zips and trims are manufactured from partly recycled materials. The main fabric is not recycled.

They are finished with a PFC-free durable water repellent (DWR) treatment. This means they contain none of the harmful ‘forever chemicals’ that have been shown to bio-accumulate in the environment, and which the outdoor industry is now almost completely phasing out.

These trousers are made in Indonesia and 57% of the energy use of the product’s manufacturing footprint comes from renewable sources.

As a brand, Rab has also been a member of the Fair Wear Foundation (FWF) since 2020. It’s currently classed as a ‘leader’ by that organisation (the highest award under the criteria of their annual Brand Performance Check, scoring an impressive 76/100 overall).

Price and competition

The Torque Mountain pants are fairly simple overall, which might be seen as a positive rather than a negative – there’s no need to overcomplicate things when it comes to walking trousers, after all. On the other hand, it does make the £110 asking price seem a little steep.

Admittedly, they undercut some of the notoriously expensive high-end brands like Arc’teryx, whose Gamma AR pant (£180) is of a very similar weight and construction.

But they’re more expensive at RRP than popular rivals like the Mountain Equipment Ibex (£90) or the Berghaus Trail Explorer (£95), despite those two being a little tougher and more protective than the Torque Mountain, with – in my opinion – a superior, more streamlined fit, too.

The benefit of the Rab trousers is that they’re lighter, stretchier, cooler and more breathable, so if those are your priorities, they might be a better choice. But in that case, you could also look at the even lighter Sprayway Compass Pro, which are our current best value pick in this category at a bargain £75.

Verdict

Great for lightweight mountain missions, the Rab Torque Mountain Pants boast simple but effective features and a super stretchy, breathable fabric. But although they’re comfortable, the overall fit could be refined.

Need some additional weather protection? See our list of the best waterproof trousers.

About the author

Matt Jones conducted the testing and wrote the review of these trousers. Matt is one of our most experienced gear testers and also writes for our magazine, Trail.

He's based in Snowdonia and is able to give the copious amount of outdoor gear he tests a proper mountain workout in a range of very demanding conditions. Matt was previously editor of Walk magazine and Scouting magazine, and one of the UK's most recognisable outdoor writers.

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