MSRP: $149-165 (depending on color)
Onboarding to new fashions and tech trends takes me a hot minute, or several years to be honest, but eventually I make my way. In my 30-plus years of alpinism, climbing pants have gone through phases of tightening and loosening—and tightening again—at least a few times. I recently pulled a heavily mended pair of mid-2000s softshell pants off the shelf to use for some DIY projects at home and was quickly reminded of the shift in trends from then to now—they were some of the stretchier cragging pants at the time and were standard in fit. Holy cow! In looking down, I couldn’t find my shoes underneath the bell bottoms and my knee got stuck in upward movement somewhere between the second and third rungs of my ladder as I climbed up with a bucket of paint. These had been my faves, having graduated from a pair of black-speckled-blue knicker tights that helped me land my first full-page climbing shot in a prominent magazine back in the mid-’90s (a prime example of the trend from tight to loose).
Enter the La Sportiva Machina Tech Pants—comfortably snug, super stretchy and perfectly colored for vacation climbing photos (mine were yellow-ish; they come in a variety of colors). Ian Fowler, a fellow IFMGA/AMGA Mountain Guide, had clients arriving in the Italian Dolomites later in the summer, so we teamed up for some preparatory adventure climbing that started in Austria and then was mostly focused in the Italian Tyrol. I tested these pants on ascents of more than 60 pitches of dolomite (similar to limestone), rappels, scrambles, sport whips, approaches and hikes and plenty of stops off at mountain huts for apple strudels and cold Frizzante waters.
Ready? Here you go: I loved them! Seriously, being back in tighter-fitting pants was such a gift—there were no flaps of material getting in the way of seeing my footholds and I felt smoothly elegant, like Stefan Glowacz dancing up European limestone in the early ’90s, minus about 10 grades in difficulty of course. Beyond the sleek fit, three more sets of features stood out as winners for me: the many pocket options, the low profile waist adjusting system and the softshell-like material that provided durability and mobility.
Now, I will say that I generally like to have zippers on the standard hand pockets of softshell climbing pants, but I was pleasantly surprised that a lack of them was not an issue even once during my trip. What I needed to stay in those pockets stayed. Plus, having bulky items stored there tends to impede hip movement while climbing anyway. Instead, I used two other zippered pockets heavily. My phone slipped right into the large compartment on the right thigh, which made for easy access while reviewing topos and snapping pictures. In a second, secret, little pocket on the right hip, I stored my lift cards (in the Alps, climbers often access alpine rock after riding thousands of feet on lifts from the valley floor), a credit card (in case my phone didn’t work on the payment system in the hut when getting pastries and Cokes), my ID and insurance cards (for rescue purposes), and some Euros (in case the hut staff were unable to accept credit cards). The placement of this secret little pocket made the items I carried undetectable to feel—meaning, I could not even tell they were there as I was climbing. Other folks who don’t have bulky otter boxes on their phones would be able to fit their sleek unprotected devices here. Newer models of these pants have a back pocket as well, adding another option.
The aspect of these pants that really sets them apart from other models is the nifty cinching system that attempts to tackle the dilemma of non-belted waist adjustment (belts are bulky and interfere with movement behind a harness and are painful under pack hip straps). I’m not sure La Sportiva has truly nailed it here, but they are getting closer than what I have seen so far. At first glance, there is a moment of, What the heck is going on here? But with a little curiosity and just a spoonful of intelligence—’cause that’s all I’ve got—I figured it out (without having to watch a YouTube video) and came to really appreciate the mechanism. I’ll attempt to explain the adjusting system in the best words I can muster: take a fat shoestring (not quite ’80s breakdancing, but close), a small aluminum hook (that looks like the one on your rope bag, but smaller) and an old-school pant hook (look at your grandpa’s slacks), and you’ve got the main components. Hook, hook, zip and pull and, shockingly, the pant waist snuggles right up to yours. Yum. The extra length of string (you have to see it to understand it) falls into the dark ether of your groin, not to be noticed again.
Finally, I found the Machina Tech’s material to be durable and adequately stretchy to minimize fatigue from continuous high-stepping on long routes. They weigh in at 343g (12 oz) and are made primarily of recycled material. Specific to comfort in everyday wear, I generally tend to prefer cotton over synthetics, but I found these pants to be quite delicious and enjoyed wearing them both in camp and out on the town. And, though I didn’t use it, La Sportiva suggests the string that wraps around the back of the waist can be used for clipping a chalk bag (when bouldering or soloing).
The downsides are personal preference, possible poor fit depending on body type and bad luck. When you step on a tiny edge at the crag, do you often get excited comments from the audience about the immensity and godly perfection of your meaty calves? If so, these pants might be too tight. I’m thin-calved, a 32-32 in men’s pants, and the mediums fit perfectly with a slight tug of the waist adjustment system; I had to pull the pants down off my calves every so often. As with any pair of pants or shorts that have a drawstring, you risk the potential of the string twisting within the waist in the washing machine, as mine did once after two washes. Enough twists could result in a protruding spot for your harness or the waist belt of your pack to push against your hip, and after hours of hiking or climbing like that, ouch.
Sometimes, when reviewing clothing products, I’m not too psyched to don a particular item for my personal climbing day, but I do it because it’s my job to give them a test. But for real, I was truly amped each morning as I slid into these pants. Now, sitting here in my aisle seat flying Lufthansa back across the Atlantic, anticipation swells about upcoming closer-to-home summer climbing trips to Rocky, Rifle and Vedauwoo. I will absolutely stuff these pants into the duffle and pull them out of the back of my Subi when it’s time to put skin to rock.
Pros: Slim fit, stretchy, durable, effective low-profile waist adjusting, multiple pocket options, chalkbag clip in the rear
Cons: Could be too slim for some legs, adjusting system takes a moment to understand, adjustment string may twist when washed
Mike Lewis is a freelance editor for Alpinist magazine and the program manager of the Mountain Standards department. Mike is an IFMGA/AMGA Mountain Guide, psychotherapist and dedicated mountain athlete living in Superior, Colorado.