Patagonia M10 Storm Pants with a Mod

Patagonia’s M10 Storm Pants are a high-mobility minimalist hardshell option. Designed by alpinists, co-opted by ski tourists.

How does the word sequence go? Is it fashion over function? Function over fashion? Or some gauzy middle ground where fashion hits some notes, the function hits some notes, and somehow, in their fusion, there’s an approximation of a symphony. Or maybe a jug band. It depends on your sensibilities. 

There’s also this bottom line: we all have unique preferences. At least in my own eyes, I land on emphasizing function more than fashion. And sometimes, like with the M10 Storm Pants, there’s more function than fashion. 

The Function Police

On this point, let’s pivot to Colin Haley’s blog Skagit Alpinism and his rumination on the M10 Storm Pants’ design process. Haley is a renowned alpinist who dabbles in spicy climb-to-ski linkups. He is also fastidious regarding his gear. His post about the M10 pant design and prototyping process should be a case study for how to involve athletes in making gear for the mountains. The caveat is that I know nothing about the ROI for something like the M10 pants; I just know that I purchased a pair because over the years I like what Haley has to say about clothing and gear design. 

In his blog post about the M10 Storm Pants, Haley claims, “The goal is to make a simple, lightweight, hard-shell pant that doesn’t restrict movement at all.”

It seems clear that he is emphasizing function. To confirm Haley’s bias toward function, which I support, I searched for “fashion” in his post. “Fashion” is used seven times. Here are some instances.

In talking about mobility, Haley writes:

• “I think that this problem is partly due to the fact that many of our pants have been designed to conform to fashion standards.”
• “I would ideally like to throw fashion out the window completely for this experiment.”
• “One very important aspect of making a good cut in hard-shell pants is throwing fashion out the window. Another Patagonia tester already noted of these prototypes, ‘I find the butt to be very baggy and as a result dumpy feeling, not the most attractive pant.’ The excess of fabric in the butt might not conform to fashion but is critical to being able to high-step without any restriction.”

Haley is straight talking. If you can get past the baggy bottom and the generous cut of fabric in and around the hips and upper thigh, you might find yourself with a lightweight ski pant with little or no attention paid to fashion. That is not a bad thing.

The pants have a simple elastic waist and cuffs, a single zip thigh pocket to hold small items (it is not designed for a transceiver), a highly tailored and angled zipper for dudes who need to pee while wearing a harness, and a lightweight face fabric meeting the H2No waterproof standards. 

The Patagonia stats on the fabric are the following: “3-layer, 3.4-oz 30-denier ECONYL® 100% recycled nylon ripstop face with a slick jersey backer, a waterproof/breathable barrier, and a durable water repellent (DWR) finish made without intentionally added PFAS.”

If you are looking for über durable hardshell pants, look elsewhere. Or, at a minimum, have some type of adhesive patches handy for the inevitable hole/tear due to cramponing or ski/splitboard edges. 

The simple elastic cuff pulls easily over a boot like the Dynafit Blacklight. These minimalist pants do not have scuff guards or gaiters.

Fit and Function   

I’d say Haley is pretty spot on with his fashion assessment: the butt is baggy, but not excessively so. The pant legs taper slightly as they extend from crotch to ankle. The M10 Pant resembles many other basic windshell pants built for aerobic pursuits with the exception of the butt fit. Those looking for Lycra-close tight-butt-cheek affirming snugness, do not consider the M10 pant. For those seeking a lightweight max-mobility hardshell, the M10 might be your dream pant. 

Skiing and skiing in these pants is to move with no mobility restrictions with the added bonus of waterproofness. In the product promos Haley refers to the M10 Pants as jiu jitsu pants. Although I’ve never worn jiu jitsu pants, I’m buying what he is selling. They are comfortable. 

I’ve used the pants in high winds, snowstorms, and rain. So far, I’ve remained dry. I have a 33” waist and a 32” inseam. Patagonia says the inseam is 31”—I’d say the inseam runs a bit long. I am in the men’s medium and the fit is dialed. On days without precipitation, I cuff the pants. For soggy days, I place the elastic leg cuff over the top of my Dynafit Blacklights or skimo boots. I have used this pant while touring with the beefier Tecnica Zero G Tour Pro, too. I can pull the cuff over the boot top, however, I feel like that is suboptimal as the elastic seems maxed out. In that case, I cuff the pants above the boot top.

I’ve worn the pants with and without a baselayer. The backer feels fine next to skin, but most often I opt for a thin baselayer. On a few cold days I have used the Arc’teryx Rho Insulated 3/4 bottoms (this is a sweet layer) to keep the freeze away. So far, for selected outings, M10 Storm Pants have been mighty excellent. (As a minimalist pant, I would not necessarily make these a daily driver touring pant.)

But high function has to give a little since these are not touring-specific pants. And since I’m eyeing ways to be more minimalist on long spring tours and multi-day traverses where inclement weather is likely, I need a way to effectively dump heat during high output efforts. 

Going Local: Side Zip Vents

The pants cost $249.00. Not totally unreasonable, but not cheap. For about a week I had plans for a DIY sewing project. Sewing, in this case, might be aspirational. I’m a sub-par sewer, but I like a challenge. I planned to cut the leg seams and sew in zippered side vents. Staring into the sewing machine abyss, I could not do the deed, I lacked self-confidence.   

Two-way weatherproof side zips installed by local experts at Rugged Thread. The intent here is to broaden the range of these pants for high output activities from midwinter through spring.

For these custom dual-zip side vents I called a local gear repair service that is known for excellent work. In other words, it’s probably not a bad idea to find a trusty sewer in your zone. Gear mods and repairs are a thing. And tweaking an item just so has some benefits. 

I opted for 12” long vents and #5 waterproof dual-zips along the back thigh area. So far, the zippers are flawless. They are easy to zip up and down on the go and are weatherproof.

With no side zips, the M10 Storm Pants (men’s M) weigh 230g confirmed. With two side zips installed the weight bumps to 272g. As a reference, for most of the past year I’ve been in the Stormstride pant, which weighs 532g.

There is no women’s specific model of the M10 Storm Pants. They do offer the women’s M10 Storm Bib. This piece looks to have the same fabric, yet with a bib top/drop seat, scuff guards, and a cuff zipper to access boots

The sidezips all tidied up. The zips are offset slightly toward the “baggy” butt zone so as not to interfere with the leg pocket. (The single pocket is on the right leg.)

Side zip undone. We opted for a #5 zipper for the sidezips. We could have gone lighter, with, say, a #3 zipper, but we wanted greater durability for the long haul.

Moving Forward with our Own Fashion Sense

Before securing the M10 Pant, I used a more economical Patagonia Torrentshell 3L Rain Pants as a lightweight hardshell option. The newer Torrentshell is a basic wind/rain pant with a 3-layer, 3.5-oz 50-denier ECONYL® 100% recycled nylon ripstop face, two zippered hand pockets (one lack hand pockets), an ankle to thigh (two-way) side zip (easy on and off without taking ski boots off), and button cuff closures to accommodate different sized boots. These pants, like the M10 Storm Pants, focus on function, not fashion. (They are marketed toward hikers.) For someone interested in the basics, they work great. A harness fits over the pants fine, and for something like the Grand Traverse from Crested Butte to Aspen, they are a versatile blue-collar pant that offers weather/wind protection and the ability to dump heat.

The M10 Storm Pant is a lighter option with a somewhat more elegant design. No, no, no—not more elegant in a fashionable sense. It’s all about the function. I simply don’t notice the pants at all while skinning and making turns. Which means they are doing their job and not drawing any attention to themselves. I could see the minimalist among us opting for these pants as is. With a light underlayer, you might not need the heat dumping capacity of the aftermarket side vents. We’ll report back in the spring once we’ve used the pants and side zip combo in warmer temps.