Ultimate Dirtbag Pants (Best Value Rugged Climbing Pants)

I seem to trash a pair of pants about every year via climbing. From the coward's scoot on the ass down steep slabs on approaches and walk offs to route development to chimneys to lots of just chilling on rocks, my pants take a beating. My current best value is to get stretchy jeans which seems to last about a year. Outdoors wear pants like Prana or whatever seem to get holes in them faster while costing a lot more, so I generally save them for warm days since they breathe better than jeans. 

Trying to balance durability and affordability what are the ultimate dirtbag pants? Some of you cheap bastards have put thought into this surely

Dickies work pants with the diamond inseam. I wore those for years until I had the $ for Pranas. Not stretchy but mobile and durable as hell. They were $20 then, maybe more now?

MattH wrote:

Dickies work pants with the diamond inseam. I wore those for years until I had the $ for Pranas. Not stretchy but mobile and durable as hell. They were $20 then, maybe more now?

Interesting! You could high step fine in them?

Fred Beckey went with  goodwill polyester golf pants...  said they were better than the Scholler and were usually around $5... sprayed silcon waterproof on them for extra protection.

Ricky Harline wrote:

Interesting! You could high step fine in them?

Yep, could pretty much do the splits in em (can't do that anymore in any pants  )

Looking them up, I think it was the WP70s or WP80s. They probably have other models that might have additional features for more durability/flexibility, but those did the trick for what I needed them for.

Wrangler flex waist outdoor cargo pants are very similar to Prana stretch zions at a third the price

Absolutely NOT E9 pants.

I love mine to death, literally. They are comfy, stretchy - I love everything about them, except that they seem to WANT to explode.

Thankfully my partner is willing to patch them endlessly, and I'm a fan of the resulting look. 

If you're not concerned with getting wet- Carhartt utility double knee relaxed fit duck canvas work pant. I usually cut off the utility loop and have climbed in them a bunch. Full squat and high step approved. Mostly these days I wear prAna Zion Stretch pants and find they last about a year. They hold up much better in the cat-claw-cactus-abrasive-rock environment that I thrive in than other outdoor pants I've tried and are more comfortable for all around use in the field. Although neither are as cool and awesome as Chad Silva's patched with love pants!

Wrangler ATG pants. You can get them at tractor supply. 45 bucks, they’re stretchy, they dry fast, they hold up for a season or two and can handle offwidths and awkwardwidths.
I used to buy the expensive mountain hardware, prana and arcteryx stuff. Even the north face stuff before everything they made turned to total crap. I’m not saying the wranglers are the same quality, but for most of the higher end outdoor stuff, they’re pretty close and at a fraction of the cost. Everything’s crap these days. Might as well pay less for it. 

I second the carharts, I climb in a pair of the single knee versions(still the relaxed fit duck)they’re a little lighter than the double but still durable.

Still more expensive than any goodwill pants, but significantly cheaper than a pair of pranas.

Gerry active/stretch fabric pants from Costco have literally outlasted all of my Prana pants over the years.

I have a couple different pair of synthetic pants I got at Costco for $20-25 bucks. So far durability has been the same as much more expensive pants, that said, the fit and pattern does leave some to be desired. I am 6'3 and a 33 inch waist and they definitely don't want to cover my plumber's crack. I did a dive into selvedge denim a few years ago and learned the importance of the pattern on how things like crack showing are impacted. I think this is the biggest difference I have noticed in the cheap pants vs something made for climbing. 

Hurley Rip-stop Trainers. That may or may not be the official name for them. I bought them for like 20 bucks at Kohls. Rip-stop sweatpants basically, with a draw cord waste, zipper-fly and button closure (no-fly, no-go for me), no cuff. They stretch (cotton/spandex blend), lightweight, and I havent managed to damage them in the least. stand up really well to bushwacky stuff. And they dont look like sweatpants. 10/10 would recommend. 

Salamanizer Ski wrote:

Wrangler ATG pants. You can get them at tractor supply. 45 bucks, they’re stretchy, they dry fast, they hold up for a season or two and can handle offwidths and awkwardwidths.
I used to buy the expensive mountain hardware, prana and arcteryx stuff. Even the north face stuff before everything they made turned to total crap. I’m not saying the wranglers are the same quality, but for most of the higher end outdoor stuff, they’re pretty close and at a fraction of the cost. Everything’s crap these days. Might as well pay less for it. 

Try Target or Walmart,  29.00 there. Great all around pants, nice and stretchy

Duluth trading company gardening pants. Light, flexible, doubled knees.

I’m a farmer and had been wearing carhartts for years but recently switched to truewerks. I’m blown away by how long they last in a work environment so I got a pair of their edo pants for climbing and am pretty happy with them. If you do like pants with a lot of pockets their t2 pants are the best work/ all around pant I’ve ever had. 

Target Men’s Golf Pants are great climbing pants. Stretchy and durable, $30. The button fell off one of my pair but that’s an easy fix. I wore two pairs in the creek all last week and they still look new. 

Even ducttape+superglue knee pads inside the pant eventually succumb to the ravages of the wyde.

Nowadays, I'm all about the stretchy scrub bottoms with thin supplemental knee pads that can be rolled down when not needed.

I'll jump on the Carhartt bandwagon. A bit pricier than many other work pants at 50-60 bucks a pair but I've lived in them for years now. For climbing specifically the Rugged Flex models never seemed to restrict my movement much

I'll second the people talking about wrangler pants I have a few pairs of Wrangler Shiloh that I have been daily driving for almost 2 years now (20 months of wearing each pair about twice a week) and the first pair I bought is just now starting to get holes in it around my right pocket where I keep my phone. And they only cost about $30-40. 

They are reasonably flexible too and don't get in the way of high stepping for me, although I am only able to high step up to my hip.

Weather proof vintage pants... stretchy canvas material, zipper pocket below wear your leg loop sits, $20.99 on amazon and sometimes cheaper through costco.

amazon link