Mountain Hardwear Boundary Ridge GTX 3L Bibs

Pros:

Fact: bibs are superior to ski pants. We predict that sooner rather than later, ski pants will join such 20th-century inventions as the house phone and the VCR in obscurity. In the meantime, we at Active Junky will proceed to ignore ski pants, which we do for two reasons: Firstly, we pledge to equip you, dear reader, with the best gear available (as such, writing about ski pants would be antithetical to our mission). Secondly, the less we write about ski pants, the sooner they become obsolete.

Now that we’ve expressed our allegiance to bibs, allow us to introduce the Mountain Hardwear Boundary Ridge Bibs. These bibs are bombproof and intelligently designed—not to mention crafted with a 3-layer Gore-Tex fabric (Gore-Tex, for those unfamiliar, sets the industry standard in all things “waterproof and breathable”). Furthermore, the suspender configuration is quite comfortable and minimizes the chances of chaffing.

The kangaroo-style pocket in the front of the bibs is perfectly designed. Why, you ask? Well, if you leave pockets with vertical zippers unzipped, phone, wallet, and valuable gummy bears fall into the snow. If you leave pockets with horizontal zippers unzipped, you get back to the car, take off your jacket, see all of your items safe and sound in an open pocket, and think to yourself, “Wow, I’m a dummy. Good thing the designers of these bibs weren’t!”

The rest of the pockets are similarly well designed—there’s ample space in these bibs for all snacks, buffs, chapsticks (why just one?!), and essentials. And if you’re worried about the perils of disrobing in a ski resort bathroom stall to go number two, fear not—zips on the side allow for lightning-fast pit stops.

Cons:

While the weight is ideal for resort riding (powder days!), the fabric is heavy for hardcore touring (especially on high-output boot packs or warm spring tours. Mountain Hardwear could fix this issue with the addition of a vent on the inner thighs, but alas, their design team did not first consult with our squad on quad overheating.

Tester Quote:

“I think I’ll have these bibs for a long, long, long time. They’re on the heavy side, sure, but they’re also really durable and practical in design. For in-bounds use and mid-winter tours, these are my go-to's.”

Bottom Line:

Powder skier? Meet your new powder pants.