The North Face Freedom Ski Pants Overview

The $650 ski pants I’ve been testing for many of the season are superior. They defend me from the weather on the resort and on the pores and skin observe. They’re light-weight, and so they look cool.

So once I slipped into The North Face’s Freedom ski pants for males and began bouncing by powder on the resort, I wasn’t anticipating a lot. They’re a couple of quarter of the value — how good might they be?

It seems that I can ski powder in unhealthy climate and nonetheless really feel heat and classy on the mountain for $170 within the Freedom Pants. That’s good news for folk coming into this notoriously costly sport. If nothing else, rocking the Freedom Pants has been eye-opening. 

The uninsulated Freedom Pants ship nice worth. Almost $100 cheaper than different financial snow pants, the Freedom Pants embody the vital components of an excellent pair with out pointless frills. And positive, they’ve some limitations and aren’t constructed to final eternally. However the males’s Freedom ski pants will get you out into the snow, shield you from the wind, and free your thoughts to concentrate on the following flip.

Briefly: The North Face Freedom ($170) ski pants ship waterproofing and safety from the weather at an inexpensive worth. They’re a streamlined pair with two-layer waterproof material, a easy pocket format, an excellent waist and seat, protecting boot cuffs, and two vents. It’s a primary recipe that checks the bins for resort driving. The breathability and mobility don’t fairly reduce it for the pores and skin observe, so these pants are most at house in lift-serviced terrain.

Examine our choose lineup of ski pants for males in our Greatest Ski Pants purchaser’s information.

The North Face Freedom Ski Pants Overview

The Freedom Ski Pants have been in The North Face’s lineup for a number of years and proceed delivering unimaginable worth. The present iteration hasn’t modified a lot in the previous couple of years.

In The North Face’s in depth catalog of ski pants, the Freedom Pants are second solely to the extra minimalist Construct-Up Pants in the budget-friendly division. They arrive in an insulated model and a bib design that makes use of the identical supplies and aesthetic. 

The pants’ most important material is a 160D X 140D DryVent 2L recycled nylon material that has confirmed to be plentifully waterproof for day-to-day resort snowboarding. It’s spectacular that The North Face might combine recycled nylon for the principle material and recycled polyester for the liner at this worth. Recycled materials are usually seen in rather more costly clothes. Kudos.

It’s coated in a non-PFC, sturdy, water-repellent end so as to add to the safety. The mix labored. Water beaded off the material and refused to soak up or penetrate it. Which will change barely because the DWR wears off over many days of use till reapplied, nevertheless it remained steadfast throughout the check interval. 

Cloth & Insulation

The North Face Freedom Pants are technically uninsulated however are noticeably hotter than different uninsulated shell pants just like the Arc’teryx Sabre Pants three-layer shell. Once you look intently on the material layers of the Freedom Pants, it’s simple to see why — they aren’t bonded collectively totally, so these layers can lure some insulating air. Plus, the liner has the hand really feel of a wonderful fleece. I run heat usually, however I had no drawback skipping a base layer on gentle days.

On frigid days, I layered with my favourite gridded base layer from the identical firm, The North Face Summit Sequence FutureFleece Pants. That combo ended up being very hot. My legs felt toasty on windy ridgelines and frigid chairlift rides. 

The Freedom Pants have restricted versatility outdoors the ski resort boundary and on the pores and skin observe. Whereas protecting, the two-layer material isn’t exceptionally breathable. My legs began feeling clammy after some cardio uphill ski touring. Sweating inside your pants is a fast solution to get chilly whenever you cease transferring or the temperature drops. 

The internal thigh vents had been useful, however they didn’t dump wherever close to as successfully because the vents on the Flylow Chemical Pants. A part of that’s as a result of they’re backed with mesh, which limits some airflow however protects the wearer from intruding snow. Like most different attributes, the Freedom Pants lean towards protecting over versatile. 

If you want to dump extra warmth from these pants, snipping out the mesh with an excellent pair of scissors would take lower than 5 minutes. However I didn’t thoughts the protecting mesh for resort snowboarding — it saved the snow out of my boots once I was wallowing within the deep stuff. 

Match & Sizing

The North Face is likely one of the few corporations leaning into inclusive sizing. The Freedom Pants are provided in sizes starting from XXS to XXL. Every of these sizes is available in brief, common, or lengthy inseam choices. Most people will discover a good match from this catalogue. At 6’1” and 190 kilos, the medium/common felt like the precise match for me.  

The match is mostly good for resort snowboarding and snowboarding. A pleasant, excessive waist is the very first thing I search for, and The North Face nailed it with the Freedom Pants. They had been excessive sufficient that I didn’t fear about snow creeping in from the highest once I was sitting or bending. Snowboarders will probably be happy right here, too. 

Waistband & Mobility Woes

The waist fastening system is easy and largely efficient. The fly is secured with a zipper and an ordinary button snap. Velcro tabs on both hip permit the wearer to regulate the strain to maintain the pants up. However, I discovered the Freedom Pants had been prone to the identical difficulty most non-stretchy pant waists face.

With large compression or after a giant plate of nachos, the Velcro tabs popped open with out a lot resistance. Fortunately, the designers at The North Face included belt loops. My Patagonia Tech Net Belt saved all the things safe with none points. 

The usual reduce strikes a pleasant steadiness between dishevelled and athletic. Most people will most likely get together with the silhouette simply wonderful. As a result of the principle material isn’t stretchy, that little little bit of bagginess helps them transfer sufficient for lift-serviced snowboarding. I additionally appreciated the Freedom Pants’ articulated knees throughout dynamic descents on groomers. The pants didn’t limit my motion or type when blasting by crud or carving on the piste. 

Regardless of an general good match, the Freedom Pants’ mobility is restricted. I discovered these limits simply throughout lengthy ski touring strides and once I was charging by couch-sized moguls. There was some tightness on the seams that I didn’t discover to be the case in a few of the higher-end pants like Stio’s Environs. 

Pockets

The North Face Freedom pants sport my preferrred pocket format for resort-oriented ski pants. Two zippered fleece-lined hand pockets hold the requirements safe — that is the place I hold my keys and different small necessities. My telephone technically slot in each simply wonderful. However as soon as I began snowboarding, I felt it jabbing me right here and there. It’s not the most suitable choice for telephone storage. 

A cargo pocket on the precise thigh was simply sufficiently big for a sandwich or a set of Clif Bars. It isn’t a safe pocket — the flap is fixed with two Velcro tabs. With none zippers or snap buttons, I didn’t take the possibility of storing my telephone there. So, for me, it was a devoted smashed PB&J pocket.

So, regardless of the Freedom Pants’ good pocket format, my telephone needed to be saved in my bouncier jacket pocket. 

Sturdiness

The Freedom Pants have held up effectively throughout the check interval, however I wouldn’t think about them bombproof just like the Flylow Chemical Pants. That 160D X 140D DryVent 2L recycled nylon face material is hard and abrasion-resistant. The branches I blasted by whereas snowboarding by the bushes didn’t part it. Even a jab by a very nasty stick couldn’t puncture it. 

Per my testing, the vulnerability is within the stitching. Many of the seams are held along with a single line of sewing. I had one thread on the decrease proper leg bust open, revealing the pants’ internal layer by a small gap. So, whereas they’re sturdy for day-to-day resort snowboarding, they’ll endure from critical use and abuse. 

The very backside of the hem is sealed in with a strip of burly material that wraps across the whole backside margin of the cuff. Just a few of the stitches received sliced, which might result in additional delamination. 

Thankfully, the designers included burly 500D nylon instep patches to fend off ski edges, which have achieved a stable job of defending the integrity of the pants’ cuffs up to now. 

Conclusion

The North Face Freedom Pants hit the mark for very inexpensive ski pants. Between a water-proof material and a sturdy water-repellent end, they’ve safety from the weather and waterproofing coated. In addition they have the fundamentals to get you out on the mountain comfortably and in fashion. 

Whereas the face material is hard, these aren’t probably the most sturdy pants I’ve examined. That doesn’t imply they’ll collapse on you — removed from it. It merely signifies that they won’t stand as much as many seasons of extreme abuse like a burlier pair. All the minor stitching points I’ve encountered might be mended in about 10 seconds by somebody who is aware of what they’re doing with a needle and thread.

The Freedom Pants will match the invoice for leisure riders needing a pair of males’s ski pants to get within the recreation on the resort at an inexpensive worth. They’ve what you want, like good waterproofing, and nothing you don’t. And it’s arduous to argue with a pair of pants which are lots of of {dollars} cheaper than different choices.