Mountain Hardware Women’s Powder Maven™ Pant

Review by Erin Trail

Initial Impressions

The Mountain Hardware Powder Maven™ Pant are relaxed fitting snow pants that are both breathable and durable.

Detailed Review

I like a relaxed fit for my ski pants and was really happy to see that Mountain Hardware offered something in a relaxed style. I’m 5’4″ with a 31″ inseam and got a size medium / regular length and found that these pants fit true to size.

Features

The Mountain Hardware Powder Maven™ Pant has four pockets.  Two of the pockets are zippered, located below the waist at each hip. These pockets are lined with a soft brushed fabric, which was a nice surprise.  I do wish that the zippers were at an angle, allowing for a more natural hand entry and wrist position, but the pocket themselves are a nice depth and size.  There are also two hook-and-loop flapped pockets located on the outer thigh.  These pockets are great for quickly stashing things like snack wrappers.

The Mountain Hardware Powder Maven™ Pants use a 2-layer waterproof Dry.Q® fabric for breathable weather protection.  Additionally, there’s also inner thigh vents with mesh backing to expel heat while keeping snow out.  The weight of the pants is lighter than what I’m used for for insulated, non-shell ski pants, but I found them to be incredibly wind resistant and very warm.

The Mountain Hardware Powder Maven™ Pants have a front fly with a combination hook-and-loop with 2 snaps.  The snaps are a bit hard to snap and I found them to get a bit lost depth-wise amongst the hook-and-loop addition.  There’s a fit customization offered with adjustable waist hook and loop tabs (one on each side).  This allows the wearer to adjust the tightness of the waist based on layers. body type, and comfort.

There are several options to keep the snow out of the pants.  There’s a jacket to pant attachment loop, where the cord on the Powder Maven Pants will hook onto the inner back of a Mountain Hardware jacket. The pants also have an internal gaiter and boot hook to help keep the snow out of the lower end of the pants.

Finally, Mountain Hardware has placed a RECCO® reflector in the lower leg of the Mountain Hardware Powder Maven™ Pants, which aids emergency crews in locating the wearer if they become buried.

Fit and Function

Testing conditions:

• A cold, snowy, windy single-digit day with sub-zero windchill
• A sunny day with single-digits in the morning, warming to 15-20 degrees in the afternoon
• A mid-20s powder day
• All kinds of resort terrain, ranging from groomers to bumps, trees, and powder

I like to be warm and I did wear two pairs of baselayer wool leggings under the Powder Maven™ Pants.  As I was usually skiing on cold powder days, I found that two baselayers + the Powder Maven™ Pants were the perfect combination for my comfort. On the sunny day that got to the mid-20s, I did have to open the leg vents to cool off, which worked perfectly.  I would bet that a single light baselayer would be great for a sunny day in the upper 20s.

Because the Mountain Hardware Powder Maven™ Pants have a relaxed fit, I was able to move comfortably, even with 2 sets of baselayers.  I never felt constricted while wearing them and had full mobility.  I think the lack of restriction is because these pants aren’t insulated with thick, bulky material.  The insulation that Mountain Hardware uses in the Powder Maven™ Pants checks the “just right” box for me, in terms of fit and function.

The hook-and-loop thigh pocket was my favorite feature of the Powder Maven™ Pants.  I eat a lot of snacks when I ski, and those snacks have wrappers.  I had no problem stashing the wrappers in these pockets, even when wearing gloves.

Closing Thoughts

The Mountain Hardware Powder Maven™ Pants are relaxed fitting while being warm and very functional.  I found that these pants hit the sweet spot for insulation without being too bulky.  I was warm, dry, and comfortable while skiing bumps and trees on multiple powder days.  The Powder Maven™ Pants will fit a wide variety of women, allowing for waist adjustment via hook-and-loop tabs at the waist and by offering multiple leg lengths (short, regular, long). These ski pants are very comfortable while performing and will be a staple in my ski kit for the rest of the season.

Erin Trail

Erin Trail’s hobby is collecting hobbies. She’s a 5th Generation Coloradan and grew up exploring the outdoors on family camping trips and hikes.  Her first backpacking trip was at eight years old to Grizzly Reservoir – she proudly carried all of her own gear those 3 miles from the main parking lot to the Reservoir.

Erin is an adult-onset athlete who started as a Masters Swimmer and then developed into a triathlete.  She completed 5 Ironman races and nearly 20 x 70.3 distance Ironman races, including the World Championship in Lahti, Finland, in 2023.  Somewhere along her triathlon journey, she picked up a deep love of cycling.

Cycling encouraged her to see landscapes in a new way, learn new skills and to develop self reliance; now she often goes and does Type 2 rides just to see if she can do it.  She’s got all the bikes: gravel, mountain, fat bike, time trial and road.

She is even known to combine her love of camping and cycling and go off on solo 24 hour overnight bikepacking trips in the mountains of Colorado. In addition to bikes, she teaches yoga, lifts weights, skis, SUPs and has recently purchased a campervan.

Erin is a former Montana park ranger with a degree in environmental engineering.  She loves getting into technical details while putting her gear (and herself) through the paces. She shares her home in Colorado with her husband, Will, and her 3 cats (Zipper, Brewtus, and Simcoe).

2025 brings some exciting things.  Erin has qualified to be on Team USA for USA Triathlon and will be competing in a World Championship off-road triathlon in Pontevedra, Spain in June. To prepare for this event, she’s got several mountain bike races and training weekends planned in the months leading up to the big day.  Additionally, she’s racing Ironman Boise 70.3 in July.  Once her race schedule closes out in July, she’ll be moving to more adventure based activities (bikepacking, vanlife, and mountain bike festivals).

When not adventuring, she can be found on a sunny patio somewhere, drinking beers with her husband.