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Mountain Laurel Designs eVent Lightsnow Gaiters

Mountain Laurel Designs evnet Lightsnow Gaiters

I plan on using gaiters in Scotland to keep the bottom of my pants from getting soaked when walking over boggy ground. Since, I’m going to use trail shoes instead of boots, gaiters will also keep rocks and sticks from getting into my shoes.

I like higher style gaiters because they don’t fall down and bunch up around the ankles. This is always a problem with shorter gaiters since they’re not thick enough to stand up by themselves and they’re not tall enough to cinch above the curve of your calf muscle.

However, when I wear tall gaiters, my calves sweat so much that my socks become noticeably damp during the day. So when I read that Mountain Laurel Designs made a high gaiter out of super breathable eVent fabric, I thought I’d give them a try.

The construction of the Lightsnows is very simple. There is a cinch cord located at the top of the gaiter that you tighten above your calf. A loop of elastic cord runs from one side of the gaiter to the other side, passing under the arch of your trail shoe or hiking boot and ties to bottom loops on each side of the gaiter. Finally, there’s a plastic hook up front which clips onto your shoe laces to cover your shoe top and tongue and which doesn’t come undone when hiking, like so many other gaiters.

At 1.3 oz per pair, the Lightsnow’s are incredibly lightweight in comparison to the 9.3 oz Outdoor Research Crocodile Gaiters I use for winter hiking, saving me a lot of weight on my legs. They’re so light, it’s easy to forget that you are even wearing them.

Breathability is also excellent, as expected, because they are made using uncoated eVent fabric, which lets the sweat out directly. Cost is $55/pair from Mountainlaureldesigns.com.

Disclosure: The author owns this product and purchased it using their own funds.

5 comments

  1. Thanks for the info on these. I'll give them some serious thought. For a couple years I've used Equinox Chaps mainly for coverage in early morning hiking through dew soaked ferns. But I really don't require that much coverage. The chaps work well with my ID Silcape but the tall gaitor may also work for with them.

  2. I've never been tempted by rain chaps, but I could see how they'd work well with a cape/poncho system. The event tall gaiters are nothing short of miraculous. High clearance and very breathable.

  3. I like these, I'd consider using them for spring snow covered mountain passes as well.

  4. These have caught my interest.
    How did they work out?
    try any stream crossings in them?

  5. I probably did 10 stream crossings a day wearing them, but in the end they didn’t really work out as I’d hoped because they were just too hot. Maybe some other time when the Scottish weather is a little cooler. Still they gave me a little more confidence when hiking across the heather – which has adders in it.

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