Snowboard pants, and the two published numbers that decide which one keeps you dry

The thing that makes snowboard pants different

A skier stands up almost all day. A snowboarder sits down to strap in at the top of every run, sits on the snow to unstrap, sits while waiting for the rest of the group, and falls onto hips and backside far more often while learning.

That is not a style observation, it is a specification one. Sitting puts body weight on wet snow through a single layer of fabric, and water goes through fabric under pressure far faster than it goes through fabric in a breeze. It is also why the seat and the knees are where snowboard pants wet out first, why the waistband is where snow gets in, and why the two figures below matter more on a board than they do on skis.

The cut follows from the same thing - longer, looser, cut to sit and to bend at the knee without riding up. Why snowboard outerwear is cut differently is the guide that covers the shape; this page is which pant to actually buy.

The two numbers, and the one that is quietly hedged

1. The waterproof rating, in millimeters. It is a hydrostatic head figure: how tall a column of water the fabric holds back before it leaks. Makers publish it as 10K, 15K, 20K or a raw millimeter number, and on this page it ranges from 10,000 mm to 20,000 mm. What the millimeter rating actually measures covers the test, including why the number is not a promise about a whole garment.

2. Seam sealing, and this is where the hedge lives. Fabric is only half a pant; the needle holes at every seam are the other half. Makers use two phrases and they are not the same thing:

• Fully taped means every seam is sealed. Two pants on this page publish it.
• Critically taped means the seams in the high-exposure areas are sealed and the rest are not. It is cheaper, it is honest when stated, and on a garment you sit down in it matters more than it would on a jacket.

A pant publishing 20,000 mm and fully taped is a genuinely different garment from one publishing 10,000 mm and critically taped, even when the price is similar - which on this page it is.

Who each of these is for, and who should skip them all

• Most riders: the Burton Reserve 2L. The highest published rating here that is not a Gore-Tex price, with fully taped seams and vents.
• A first season, or cold dry snow: the 686 Standard Shell. Ten thousand millimeters and critically taped seams is a floor that works, published plainly as a no-frills shell.
• Anyone who sits down a lot, learners included: the 686 Hot Lap Bib. No waistband, fully taped seams, and the only published insulation weight on the page.
• Thirty days a season, or wet coastal snow: the 686 GORE-TEX - with the skip note attached, because almost nobody reading this page is that rider.
• Skip all four if you already own ski pants that work. The cut is different and the snowboard-specific details are real, but a 20,000 mm ski pant keeps you exactly as dry as a 20,000 mm snowboard pant. The ski pants roundup is the same arithmetic on a different cut.
• Skip them for a child. Children grow out of outerwear faster than they wear it out, and the sizing logic is different - kids’ snow pants are a separate purchase.

What this page ranks on

• 1. Published waterproof rating. A figure or nothing. Three of these four publish a millimeter number; the Gore-Tex pant publishes a certified membrane instead, which is a different and arguably stronger claim.
• 2. Seam sealing, as the maker words it. Fully taped beats critically taped, and the distinction is published on every page we read.
• 3. Published insulation, where there is any. A weight in grams, not the word “warm”. Exactly one of these publishes one.
• 4. Boot gaiters and vents. The two details that separate a snow pant from a waterproof trouser. All four publish a gaiter; one publishes vents.
• 5. Published size and inseam range. A pant that does not exist in your inseam is not a pant for you, and this is where cheap options quietly fail tall and short riders.
• Not fit adjectives. Baggy, relaxed, regular and slim mean different things at every brand. Where a maker publishes a named fit we quote it; where it does not, we say so rather than inventing a shape.

The four, compared

Read the first two rows together. The Burton publishes double the waterproof rating of the 686 Standard Shell and the better of the two seam treatments, and the two pants sit within a few dollars of each other on live prices. That is the whole decision for most riders, and it is the reason the order on this page is what it is.

The picks

Burton Reserve 2L Pants

The pick. The retailer spec sheet publishes a 20,000 mm waterproof rating with fully taped seams over a DRYRIDE 2-layer 100% recycled polyester plain weave, in a published regular fit and length across five sizes.

Twenty thousand millimeters is the band where sitting in wet snow stops being a timer. Below about 10,000 mm, body weight on a slushy chairlift seat or a wet unstrapping spot pushes water through eventually; at 20,000 mm with every seam sealed, the limit is the fabric wetting out on the surface rather than leaking through, and that is a DWR problem you can re-proof rather than a garment problem you cannot.

It also publishes the feature this category most often omits: mesh-lined no-snag thigh vents. Spring laps, hiking a park feature or a warm afternoon are when a waterproof pant turns into a sauna, and vents are the only fix that does not involve taking the pant off. The water-resistant boot gaiter, zippered microfleece handwarmer pockets and cargo pockets with hook-and-loop closures are all published too.

Honest cons. Burton publishes no readable spec page of its own - every figure here comes from a retailer sheet, which is a weaker source than a maker’s page and is flagged as such on the product row. There is no insulation, so this needs a base layer under it below about 20F. No breathability figure is published beside the waterproof rating, and no warranty term appears on the sheet we read.

686 Men’s Standard Shell Pant

The floor, and an honest one. 686 publishes 2-layer infiDRY 10K fabric at 10,000 mm, critically taped Bemis seams, a PFAS-free DWR finish, and a boot gaiter with a boot lace hook. Its own product page calls it a no-frills shell pant, which is the correct description and more candor than most of this aisle manages.

Ten thousand millimeters genuinely works in cold dry snow - the interior West in January, a cold Midwest hill, any day where the snow bounces off rather than soaks in. It is also the right first pant: a beginner falls constantly, and falling in a pant you paid a hundred dollars for is a better experience than falling in one you paid three hundred and fifty for.

The 15 published size and inseam combinations are the quiet win here. A pant that exists in your inseam fits over a boot properly, and that is worth more than a rating you will not reach.

Honest cons. Critically taped is not fully taped, and on a garment you sit down in that is the compromise to understand rather than the one to ignore. 10,000 mm is the entry band: a spring day spent sitting in wet snow will find its limit. No insulation, no published breathability figure, no warranty term.

686 Men’s Hot Lap Insulated Bib

The bib, and the most completely specified garment on this page. 686 publishes 2-layer infiDRY 15K at 15,000 mm, fully taped Bemis seams, and 40 g of infiLOFT polyfill insulation through the body - a real insulation weight, which almost nothing in this category gives you.

The bib cut is the reason to buy it rather than a pant. There is no waistband, so there is no gap for snow to get into when you sit down to strap in, fall backward, or tip into a tree well. On a snowboard that happens dozens of times a day, which is why this is the shape the site recommends for learners - snow pants against bibs covers the trade in full.

Forty grams is light insulation, and that is the right amount here. It takes the edge off a cold chairlift without turning a hiking lap into a sweat, and it leaves the base layer doing the real work - which base layer bottoms, by published fabric weight.

Honest cons. It is the second dearest thing here. Forty grams is not an answer to genuinely severe cold - it is a mild and moderate day bib. A bib is slower in a lodge bathroom than a pant, and warmer than most people want in spring. No breathability figure or warranty term published.

686 Men’s GORE-TEX Shell Pant, and why it carries the skip

The best-built garment on this page, and the wrong purchase for most people reading it. 686 publishes a 2-layer bluesign-approved GORE-TEX construction in 100% recycled polyester, with fully taped GORE-TEX seams, a PFAS-free DWR and a boot gaiter with a Lycra stretch panel.

What you are buying is certification rather than a number. Every other membrane here is a house membrane - DRYRIDE is Burton’s, infiDRY is 686’s - tested by the brand that sells it. GORE-TEX is certified by a third party to its own construction standard, and GORE publishes a guarantee that you stay dry for the life of the garment. On a page that ranks on what makers publish, that is the strongest claim available.

It carries the skip because of who reads this site. For a family riding four or five days a winter, the Burton publishes 20,000 mm and fully taped seams for well under half the money, and the difference between those two pants will not show up in a season. Buy the GORE-TEX pant when you have worn a cheaper one out, when you ride thirty-plus days, or when your local snow is the wet coastal kind that defeats house membranes by February.

Honest cons, beyond the price. 686 publishes no millimeter rating for it - GORE certifies rather than rates, so it cannot be compared numerically with the three pants above. No insulation. And the Amazon listing drops the model word 686 uses on its own page, so check the colorway against 686’s Core Shell when it arrives.

Shell or insulated, for a snowboarder

Three of the four here are shells. That is not an accident of this page; it is where the category has gone, and for good reason.

• A shell plus a base layer is more adjustable than a fixed amount of insulation sewn in. You cannot take insulation out at noon in April.
• A snowboarder generates heat in bursts - strapping, skating the flats, hiking a feature - and insulation that suits a chairlift cooks you on a traverse. Lifts and flat ground is the page about that exact workload.
• Light insulation, like the 40 g bib, is the useful middle for people who are cold on lifts and do not want to think about layering.
• Heavy insulation belongs in the base layer, where you can change it - the shell-against-insulated comparison is the full argument.

Fit, inseam and the boot gaiter

• Length is the measurement that goes wrong. A snowboard pant is cut to sit over the boot with the gaiter inside it. Too short and it rides above the boot cuff when you bend your knees; too long and you stand on the hem with a sharp edge nearby. The 686 pants publish fifteen size and inseam combinations for exactly this reason.
• The boot gaiter goes inside the boot, not over it. All four of these publish a gaiter; it is the elasticated inner cuff that seals around the boot and stops snow traveling up your leg. Wearing it outside the boot defeats it entirely.
• Baggy is a fit, not a size. Buy your waist size in a baggy cut rather than sizing up in a regular one - a too-big waist slides down when you sit, which is the problem bibs exist to solve.
• Check the knees bend before the tags come off. Squat all the way down in the shop or the living room. A pant that pulls tight across the knee at the bottom of a squat will pull tight every time you strap in.
• Pockets you can reach while seated. Thigh cargo pockets work when you are sitting; back pockets do not.

Making the rating last

Every waterproof rating on this page degrades the same way, and it is not the membrane that fails first.

• The DWR on the outside wets out long before the membrane leaks. When the face fabric soaks up water and looks dark, the pant feels like it is leaking and is not - it has stopped shedding.
• Wash them, do not avoid washing them. Dirt and body oils kill water repellency faster than use does. The wash and re-proof roundup covers which product does which job, and washing ski clothing covers the method.
• Re-proof when water stops beading, not on a schedule.
• Repair tears early. A small hole in a taped-seam pant is a five-minute job - the repair kits page covers tape and patches.
• Hang them to dry rather than tumbling them hot, and store them dry - end-of-season storage is the twenty-minute version.