Soft shell
Product 2019
Woman, Man
The Shuksan Hybrid pants match the jacket of the same name (https://www.test4outside.com/produit/vaude-shuksan-3l-jkt/), that won our FIRST Award for numerous different reasons.
These pants go hand-in-hand with the jacket. They are manufactured with great attention to detail, care, and quality materials. The fit is to perfection, designed for action, movement, and do not restrict your movements. We tested them mainly out ski touring.
In the climbs the stretch material is very pleasant and comfortable, following your movements. The large ventilation zips just rear of the sides of the legs up to thigh height means you can regulate the temperature and the trousers don’t fill up with air if you have them open in the descent.
These trousers are very comfortable to wear, and breathable. They do protect against light weather changes. Like the jacket, we would’ve liked to have tested them in wilder weather, but didn’t have the chance. Like the jacket the trousers have a soft shell aspect, which are perfect for ski touring.
The zips slide well and are easy to grasp with gloves on. The top of the zip stops just under where the harness sits (if you are wearing one).
The two thigh pockets are big but because the trousers are well-fitted you lose a little of the true volume of the pockets. Flatish objects sit the best. (But, you have your jacket pockets to use too…) Vaude state that you can fit an ARVA. Not very comfortable and usually it is placed against the chest under your jacket, attached to the device’s harness.
The waist belt is often the worst developed part by trouser manufacturers: handleability, and fragile attachments, not very comfortable and sometimes the belt slides and disappears inside. Vaude, the designers have taken great care to sew the extremities of the belt ensuring that you cannot lose it inside as the belt buckle is too large to slide inside. It is also wide and comfortable and has a practical closing mechanism: you adjust the two buckles without thinking, even with cold fingers.
Even if we found the design very good, a little higher at the back would’ve been appreciated. Although, if you have the Vaude jacket that matches them, it is perfect because it descends low at the back.
We found that the protection at the base of the trousers a bit lightweight against the possibilities of ski scrapes and crampons catching. But when we looked more closely – we realized that they are elastic Corduroy inserts! Which explained why the ski edges didn’t mark the fabric! So we had to change our judgement. The side zip enables you to free up volume and put the gaiter over the ski boot. This is easily done as the fabric is both stretchy and soft. Once in place the trousers don’t rise up thanks to the anti-slip elastomer band all the way around. The zip end could be a tad bigger to make grabbing it easier with gloves on. But on the other hand, too big and it could flap about and make noise in the uphill…
As for the Shuksan jacket, and other Vaude products in general, the “green” launch is followed-up by concrete evidence. The Ceplex Green membrane is without PTFEs, it is made from recycled polyurethane with S-coffee treatment (recycled coffee sediment extract). The same for the interior lining, it’s made from 100% recycled polyester.
The Vaude Shuksan Hybrid pants are recommended for ski touring and mountaineering due to their soft breathable fabric. Well-cut, they never impede your movements. A stunning product to wear with the jacket of the same name.
We used this equipment over a long period of time
These are our thoughts after intensive use:
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