12/22
Okay so it’s the beginning of the ice season and it’s a great time to come back to these bibs. In my video I really went into the specs of the shell, and that’s great and all, but now it’s time to get into how they’ve performed.
So far I've been beyond impressed with the Dual Aspect Bibs, they are lightweight, protective, mobile, and somehow breathable. You can really throw anything at the bibs and they will consistently perform at a high level.
Only thing though is the way to get into them is still a pain…
1/1/23
Alrighty so I have some things to say about the Dual Aspect Bibs. For starters I want to say that I went climbing yesterday, and it was probably one of the wettest conditions I have ever been in. At one point I was being showered with water while trying to put in a screw. So it was a great day to find out if the Dual Aspect Bibs could handle those conditions.
What I found was yes they can, now this wasn’t really a surprise as they are waterproof climbing bibs, but what I think is the biggest takeaway is that H2NO is no slouch of a waterproofing. And it makes sense as Patagonia does rigorous testing to make sure H2NO holds up to their standards (here’s a cool video showing that off https://youtu.be/kCYvmP1hNlg) And I’m very thankful that Patagonia does this as I was dry for the entire day.
So the Dual Aspect can certainly take whatever you throw at them, however I also found a potential weakness with them. And that is the amount of fabric below the knee.
To give some context, as I was climbing some of the fabric below the knee got caught on something and it put a hole in the pants. And this was ultimately due to the design of the bibs, as they are a bit wider at the bottom to accommodate for different boots (i.e. ski boots) and because they are a bit wider when you pair them with mountaineering boots there is more loose fabric below the knee. Now this can cause a problem as it makes them more prone to snagging, and that’s exactly what happened to me.
So what I would like to eventually happen is for Patagonia to put a slight taper below the knee to help mitigate this problem, as it’s what most companies do with their climbing pants. And that’s a thing that I would like to point out, these pants were built for alpine climbing and when you know that most of your demographic of users for these pants will be wearing mountaineering boots, it just seems like an oversight to make something that is more prone to damage and snagging with the use of the intended footwear for the sport.
As of right now I have a hole that I need to deal with. I will say though, that the Dual Aspect Bibs were becoming my first choice of bottoms for ice climbing, but now I might consider something else.