The first pair of shell pants I made were the ugliest things I ever saw. The knee articulation was overdone (read: looked like a freakin' accordion at the knee), and the side zips were super-tricked out, but over engineered. The pants had an inside flap, and two outer flaps that velcroed down. I never got wet in them, but they were too goofy and hard to get in and out of. The second pair I started over with, remaking the pattern with a much more conservative knee articulation, and a fit much more conducive to climbing and high stepping. The legs were tightened up to avoid catching them with crampons and flapping in high winds. Side zips were kept, but as these are winter shell pants, I got rid of any waterproof pretensions, and just used two small butted flaps on the outside of the pants. These work particularly well because they are impossible to catch in the zipper teeth, and do a great job sheltering the airy tooth zipper from the powerful alpine winds in New Hampshire. The fabric is Gore-tex ripstop, 3-ply, and makes for a super light shell. These pants are easily among the lightest available, and XCR or one of the other trendy WPBs would make them even lighter. They are not seam sealed, as this would not be necessary for their use. Despite the fact that it will never rain on me (hopefully) while I am wearing these pants, I chose goretex because of its superior windprotection, and it is nice to be able to kneel and sit on snow and ice without melting yourself a wet patch on your long underwear. The waist has velcro flaps and a drawstring, and I made myself a pair of removable suspenders which work perfectly. Bomber double velcro flaps complete the waist, so that you can zip the side zips down a few feet to get massive venting, but the waist stays on and the pants won't fall down. The cuffs have velcro closures, and two grommets each. When necessary, a piece of string acts as a quite passable gaiter, just by tying the two grommets together under the arch of the foot. For ice climbing, this is ideal. For long trudging through snow it works well too. The only time true gaiters are necessary with these pants are hiking with crampons where poking holes in the inside legs would be inevitable without a tougher gaiter to protect the shell fabric. All in all, these pants are excellent. If they were mine, I'd wear them. So I do.