Gear Review: Fjallraven W’s Abisko Trekking Tight

 

As any woman who has ever done anything even remotely outdoor-oriented knows, finding clothing that is functional (helloooo – pockets, anyone?), fits (we don’t have to look incredibly frumpy, do we?), and is durable is about downright impossible. And I get some of it. Clothing is mass made now, cut to the “average” person, and the truth of the matter is that us women have a million plus one size and shape combinations. Some of it I don’t get – why do the men always get great pockets that they can actually fit things in, and the women’s version of the exact same item from the exact same brand has little tiny useless pockets that you can barely fit a tube of lip balm in?

For this reason, I gave up on hiking pants years ago. Honestly, I was just sick of the constant search, and I started wearing leggings. I struggled with it a little bit at first – there’s a certain consensus that you’re not wearing enough if you just wear leggings, so my first foray into the legging wearing world included shorts worn over them. However, I gradually began to not care what others thought. I’m out hiking or running, and leggings cover me perfectly, if someone else is going to judge me for it, well, that’s their problem.

This summer, before starting out on our thru hike of the Continental Divide Trail, I was poking around for the pair of tights that I wanted to bring with me. I have done most of my hiking, running, and backpacking with the Lululemon Speed IV Tight (can I say awesome pockets), but I have one problem with those tights. They have a zipper pocket on the back of the tights that sits right on the bones that stick out on either side at the base of the spine. Literally, the beginning and end of this zipper coincides perfectly with those bones. Normally, for running or hiking (without a pack), this is no big deal. However, when Dan and I hiked the Colorado section of the Continental Divide Trail in 2015, I wore those tights, and ended up with pretty bad sores there, and that was only a month. I was worried about what I’d look like at the end of 5 months.

Literally a couple of days before leaving on our trip, Dan and I stopped into the local Fjallraven shop, just looking around, when I saw the Abisko Trekking Tights.

Enter Love at First Sight.

Now, these tights were not cheap. But, there were several features that sold me on them.

• First – no zipper in the back! No sores on those bones! (There is a tiny little pocket on the front of the tights, but my belly is soft, and I did not have a problem with this pocket.)
• Second –  the pockets! A girl could dream forever about these pockets! One flap pocket on my right thigh, where I kept my bar before eating it for breakfast, and one zippered pocket on my left thigh where I often kept my phone handy. Imagine, pockets big enough to fit things in. Can you hear the choir?
• Third – the reinforced zones! Another concern I had had was that, well, this was going to be a really long trip. Every piece of gear was going to go through the wringer. These tights have great reinforcements on the rear-end (if I may say so, I think it also helps that area look better, always bonus points) and on the knees.
• Fourth – the back panel is wide, so the possibility of seam rubbing while wearing a pack is greatly reduced.

So, I bought them, obviously – and proceeded to wear them almost every day for five and a half months.

Pros: Overall, I really loved these tights. They were comfortable, functional, looked good, and had great durability. They were one of the few clothing items that I not only wore throughout the whole trail, but also can continue to wear post-trail, as they have no holes! They were a great layer for traveling through the snow and putting on during those chilly mornings. The durable panels added on were a lifesaver. I didn’t have to pay much attention when sitting down, or kneeling on things. Also, they made it through climbing through/under/over/around a ton of deadfall while on the trail. That is saying something. Tights being tights, I also believe these would fit a variety of outdoor ladies.

Cons: Only a few (very small) downsides existed with these pants. I really did not spend much time sitting in these tights – surprisingly, a thru-hike consists mostly of hiking! But if I did spend a decent amount of time sitting, I felt my bottom become a little agitated by the coarseness of the reinforced material in that area. The other thing was that over the course of not washing these for a week on end, they became quite baggy in the knees/rear-end areas. I also rated these a bit lower on versatility because they are a slightly warm tight. When temps warmed up, I was generally changing pretty quickly.  For me, these cons were fairly insignificant.

(Scales 1-10)

Price: $175

Mobility: 10

Durability: 10

Features: 9

Versatility: 7

Weight: 10oz / 284g (size XS)

What is my end take away?

If you are looking for a new tight to hike in, or perhaps are utterly sick of dealing with the rubbish that is hiking pants for women right now, look no further.