Anyone use a rain kilt?

[RockChucker30]

I'm seriously thinking of leaving my Marmot Precip rain pants at the truck this Sept and taking a rain kilt instead.

Here is a 3.2 oz $30 silnylon version from ULA.

http://www.ula-equipment.com/rainkilt.asp

And a 1.4 oz $55 cuben fiber version from Zpacks.

http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/cloudkilt.shtml

I normally wear gaiters anyway, and it seems this would protect me to the knees, so the only thing getting wet would be my upper shins.

My rain pants weigh 13.2 oz so I'd save at least 10 oz with this move.

I'm sure it would be fairly noisy and would restrict movement, but I normally only put on rain pants for heavy rain anyway, and I can put up with a lot to save 10 oz for only $30 and not lose much functionality.

Thoughts? Am I crazy?

 

[flatlander51]

I love mine. I even cut it off just below the cheaks to cut wieght.

 

[suchee]

I'm bringing this back from the dead. Rockchucker did you ever get one??

I'm on the zpacks site and am interested as well, their on site reviews seem great even for some serious uphill movement.... but how IS cuben for sound?

Of course there is the MOuntain Hardwear Elkommando kilt for under the rain kilt! There is a lot of guys around here(Whistler) using this 3 season

 

[charvey9]

Cuben is makes more noise than Sinylon for sure. It is similar to an empty potato chip bag in my opinion, but probably would not be as big of a deal in heavy rain. I do have some cuben fiber stuff sacks, that don't make much noise when filled with gear and packed but I use a Sinylon pack cover because the Cuben Fiber was just a little too noisy.

 

[RockChucker30]

I got a sil version and used it in a downpour on my elk hunt last year. Whether you like it or not will be very dependent on footwear. If you can deal with fast drying trail runners that aren't waterproof the kilt makes sense. For big waterproof boots you need something to keep rain coming in the top.

 

[luke moffat]

I just can't see me climbing through brush/alders and staying dry in a rain skirt.

 

[Aron Snyder]

I'm pretty sure Ryan Avery and James have been using them for years in the Pacific Northwest.....and I promise I wouldn't make fun of anyone wearing them when we hunted together.

Looks more like something a fast packer would use when hiking the AP trail, but I can't speak from experience, so this is just an observation.

All kidding aside, there's not a snowballs chance in hell that I would choose that over rain pants. My Poseidon pants only weigh 9.4 ounces, so the extra weight is worth it for me....and I won't look like a tree fairy either.

 

[kodiakfly]

If my pants were lined with lead, I'd not wear one. Nothing against kilts...I have a couple legit Scottish friends...but that doesn't mean I'd traipse around the island in a kilt with soggy shins and worried about a gust of wind...you guys knock yourselves out.

 

[Matt Cashell]

I think some of them are pretty.

 

[Aron Snyder]

I already shave more parts of my body then I should, so if I used one of these I'd never hear the end of it from littlebuff!

 

[greyghostnw]

i am from the pnw... but there is no way i would use that contraption..... bag pipes and patchouli's not my thing either.

 

[ftballman125]

I just really like feeling the breeze.