ULA Rain Kilt Review

ULA Equipment’s Rain Kilt is a lightweight and breathable alternative to rain pants that will keep your lower half dry in rain without overheating you. It’s great for use in the summertime when hiking on brushy trails with wet ferns, leafy shrubs, and tall grasses that would quickly soak a pair of pants. A rain kilt doesn’t provide much protection in cold and windy conditions, especially above treeline. But that’s okay….I would not expect it to perform like pants in those conditions.

Specs at a Glance

• Weight: 2.9 oz (size medium), 3.5 oz  (size large)
• Material: silicone impregnated nylon
• Length:  28” for medium, 32” for large
• An integrated stuff sack is sewn in one corner

A rain kilt is a long skirt that you can wear over hiking shorts or underwear. It wraps around your waist and runs down to your hips to your lower legs, protecting them from rain and wet vegetation. While a kilt won’t keep you as warm as rain pants in cold temperatures, and they’re not insect-proof, they’re much faster easier to put on and take off, without having to remove your shoes.

I like using a rain kilt because I sweat heavily when I hike in rain and need well-ventilated rain gear. I considered using a trench-length raincoat or cagoule that would just cover my hiking shorts, but those types of jackets are comparatively heavy.  A rain kilt plus a rain jacket is a much more versatile solution.  I can combine my rain jacket with either the skirt or a pair of rain pants depending on the temperature and wind conditions.  Although the kilt can be a replacement for rain pants sometimes, there are certain times when I bring both.  Especially when on multi-day summer trips when my rain pants are the only long pants that I carry.

The ULA Rain Kilt has velcro fasteners on the waist and down one side of the kilt, allowing for quick and easy on and off as well as freedom of movement. It’s really just a simple wrap with an elastic and barrel-lock tensioner to tighten it and keep it from slipping down your waist.  The bottom of your rain jacket should cover the kilt’s waist, so rainwater will drip down the skirt and onto the ground and not into your underwear.

The side seam also closes with velcro and is designed to release if you take a step that is too big for the width of the kilt. I prefer this style of closure to a zipper because they’re less chance of it failing. While you can position the side opening anywhere, I usually put the open seam on my side.

Sizing

The waist adjusts to any size from 24” to 54”. For height, if you are under 5’8” you should order a medium.  If you’re taller than that, you should order a large.

Comparable Rain Kilts and Rain Skirts

Recommendation

The ULA Rain Kilt is an inexpensive silnylon rain skirt that provides much better ventilation than rain pants. It wraps around your waist with an elastic and velcro waistband that covers your legs from the waist down to your calves. While a rain skirt can replace rain pants in warmer weather and save a significant amount of gear weight, there are still times when rain pants may be more suitable than a kilt because they’re windproof, they retain more body heat, and they’re insect proof. There are times when you might want to carry both a rain kilt and rainpants, offsetting the additional weight by carrying a very lightweight pair of like Zpacks Vertice Rainpants (3.4 oz) or Montbell’s Versalite Pants (3.2 oz).

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