The North Face Paramount Peak II Convertible Pants Review

OK, today I want to start branching further out into another very important part of your hiking gear on the site. That area is hiking pants.

As with your hiking boots or rain jacket, you need good pants for the trail. Today, I wanted to start a series of reviews for hiking pants for men and women. I'll be doing them separately of course but some makes and models will appear in both categories.

As always, my goal is to give you some good options to choose from to get you started on the trail. With that in mind, today lets take a closer look at The North Face Paramount Peak II Convertible Pants.

I was in a store only last week looking for a new pair of hiking pants. When I buy a pair of pants for the trail, the main thing I look for is usability all year round. To that end, these pants have all the features I would look for in a good pair of hiking pants.

They're water resistant so good to protect you from that odd rain shower. The nylon material will also mean that should they should dry quickly. However, I recommend you have a pair of outer rain pants for serious waterproof protection as well as your hiking pants.

As the Paramount II pants for men are made of nylon they are pretty lightweight and breathable. That's important for the hotter times of year but of course that's where these really come into their own as if it's getting a bit too hot on the trail, simply zip the bottom of the pants off (see zip at the bottom of the picture to the left).

I have a pair of Columbia pants with this feature and it works a treat, although I only use them in the summer as they're not suitable for all year round hiking like these are.

These pants also have zippered parts at the knees so you can easily slide the bottom half off while leaving your hiking boots on.

There are a good assortment of pockets on these pants including two standard hand pockets, two back pockets, two hook-and-loop cargo and one specifically for a phone. The pockets are mesh so lightweight and breathable.

Now, I should add that when I tried the pants on, I found the hand pockets not to be as deep as I would normally like and they have a top down entry, that is you need to point your hand down more than diagonally to access them. I marked this as a con from a personal preference perspective.

Now having just said that I am going to more or less play devils advocate with it that as a. the downward access to the pockets probably means that the contents will be more secure and b. when I hike I generally avoid using my hand pockets on my pants, except for tissues and that type of thing so not a big deal. They could be a bit deeper though.

The pants have an elasticized waistband with a removable buckle belt. This worked well from what I could tell and enabled a snug fit that can be adjusted as required.

Overall, the pants felt pretty good on me and I do like how they look. They look like a pair of hiking pants should. Finally, they fit pretty well so the length came down to the right level on my feet to accommodate hiking boots. The waist also fit well so overall they were true to size.

So, in conclusion The North Face Paramount Peak II men's convertible pants score very well. They're a good all year round pair of hiking pants and I don't think you'll go too far wrong with them.

They're perfect for day hiking and should be more than suitable for a longer multi-day trek too. They look good and are a pretty good price and with a lifetime warranty, you can't go too far wrong with them I think.

Also, if you are just starting on the road to buying a good pair of hiking pants, check out the hiking pants buying guide, that will walk you through all the things you need to think about before buying a pair of hiking pants to meet your needs. Also, you can check out some top hiking pants recommendations here.

Do you have a pair of The North Face Paramount Peak II Convertible Pants? Do you like them? I’d love to hear about your experience with them in the comments below.