Review: The North Face Men’s Summit Stimson Futurelight Trousers
What we liked …
The thoughtful design
What we didn’t
Small pocket zippers
The Verdict
OUR RATING
5 out of 5
THE SHORT READ…
Near bulletproof pants, that will do their job for many a season!
The North Face Summit Series has a tried and tested reputation for durability - it’s true workhorse kit, with a high technical spec, light-weight design, with no real compromise in materials, alongside some great design features. But is it worth £450 of your hard earned cash?
THE LONG READ …
The North Face Men’s Summit Stimson Futurelight Trousers are quite simply; bloody great, but (and it’s a lot of but’s) they come in at £450, which is a lot of folding cash. So, I’m going to tell you why they’re great, and my thoughts on how they could be even greater, and then it’s up to you if you can justify £450 on a pair of pants or not.
The Fabric
The North Face has a self-proclaimed ‘pinnacle boundary-pushing series’ which the Men’s Summit Stimson Futurelight Trousers sits well within. They’re made from North Face FUTURELIGHT™ 3L which has a solid feel to it, and a slight yet noticeable stretch, so they’ll not be hindering your ride, especially when you’re fighting for control of your board if you’ve not landed that drop-in quite right.
The FUTURELIGHT™ 3L is constructed from 100% Recycled Nylon Face Fabric with 100% Recycled Polyester Backer and a Non-PFC Durable Water-Repellent (Non-PFC DWR) finish - which basically means they’re of a high breathable-waterproof rating with a flexible but reassuring thickness, all this for a respectable 625g (size medium).
LLF
Features
Starting at the top, and working down, there are some very light elasticated and removable braces (aka suspenders - BTW the pants stay up just fine without them), attached with four light - yet strong - metal buckles. What’s very cool here is the integration with the leg ventilation system, pictured below.
As with the simple addition of a small fabric extension behind the forward zip, the braces are all attached to the front section of the trousers, allowing you to unzip the sides of your trousers from the very top, making a full drop-seat without them falling down, or the need to take your jacket off or take the braces off your shoulders. If you can’t see the advantage of this you’ve obviously never needed a dump in the forest, this system is also helpful in a cold - or even warm - cafe’s toilets too.
The waistline of these pants is high, obviously not as high as a pair of bibs, but suitably high enough that even without the braces you won’t be getting snow down your back, especially if you have a compatible snow skirt in your jacket, as there’s a little fabric pocket in the middle at the back - but not too sure how efficient that really is.
The side vents unzip to knee level, and are two-way, to enable a good airflow on the outside of your legs while skinning.
The waist “belt” works well, adjustable with a simple tug of the right hand, but note that’s it asymmetrical - it only adjusts the front right-hand quarter of the pants, i.e. doesn’t go all the way around the waist, so I’d suggest getting the size that’s a snug-fitting around your waist, as long as leg length is good too.
The fly is standard, with a small zip, secured at the top with a button with an odd shaped button-hole. I’d prefer a popper here as while the button does its job it is fiddly and almost impossible with gloves on.
The one hip pocket is of a good size and easily eats up my iPhone 11. There’s two further, and larger, pockets at the top of the thighs. The right hand one is designed to take your transceiver, with an internal elasticated mesh pocket (for it to sit in) and a plastic clip to attach a tether to, although the plastic clip seems surprisingly flimsy, this mesh pocket would also work well with a phone. If you don’t like to wear you transceiver in your jacket it’s a very nice touch. The left pocket has a gear loop and an elasticated radio aerial loop, so kit won’t jump around on the down-hill, as it can helps hold things in place.
What I don’t like about the pockets and fly are the small zips, I do like they way they flip down flush and the opening and closing is firm and sound, but the zip pull-handles are very small when wearing gloves and unusable when in mitts.
The leg cuffs have tough kick-patches and hem for solid durability, and have three popper positions and a zip to allow for a snug fit around even the largest boot, especially as the third popper is set in the middle of the internal panel behind the opening zip section, allowing for a wide yet fixed sizing. I’d of liked a velcro flap here, rather than popper/zip combo, as I feel velcro gives you more flexibility of sizing, but the popper/zip combo does do the job.
The internal elasticated leg will fit either within or over your boot easily enough, and has a small metal hook if you want to attach it to your laces/boot - very useful to stop the trouser cuff getting pushed up your leg if you find yourself trudging through really deep snow, or you are trying to get out of a hole!
SUMMARY…
These are a top quality and thoughtfully-designed pair of touring and riding pants. If you buy a pair, I would go so far as to say you will love them - though you’ll need to decide if you can still love them for £450!
Although if I may, I will try to sway you a little by saying "Buy cheap, pay twice!”. And to put things in perspective, we’ll soon have a review coming out for a pair of Burton bib-pants at £850…