The Helly Hansen Legendary Insulated Ski Pants are a super popular ski pant aimed primarily at resort skiers. If you’re looking for an affordable waterproof insulated ski pant, the Helly Hansen Legendary Insulated Ski Pants should be on your shortlist.
Let’s take a closer look.
Legendary Insulated Ski Pants Review
Helly Hansen has been making its ‘Legendary’ ski pant for years, adding and removing color options along the way. Our pair of Helly Hansen Legendary Insulated Ski Pants are slightly different than most pairs — they’re the corduroy-style version, which has both benefits and drawbacks. The primary benefit is the style — they look fantastic in person. The primary drawback is that the corduroy-style face fabric is slightly heavier and stickier than the standard polyester shells.
Aside from this now sold out face fabric option in the bright orange color style, the Legendary Insulated Ski Pants with the more common smooth face fabric include the same construction and materials. You get PrimaLoft insulation for warmth, articulated knees for comfort, and inner thigh ventilation zippers to help you shed heat on warmer or very active days.
Two of our Man Makes Fire gear testers thought the Helly Hansen Legendary Insulated Ski Pants were surprisingly warm, comfortable and dry when they wore them skiing over multiple frigid days on the hill.You get dual front hand pockets as well as a back pocket. As expected with any good ski pant, you also get built-in gaiters and reinforced fabric on the bottom of the inner legs.
Waterproof & Breathable
Most Legendary Ski Pants come with a smooth polyester face fabric, but occasionally Helly Hansen releases cool corduroy-style versions like the orange option shown here.The Helly Hansen Legendary Insulated Ski Pants come with a 2-way stretch fabric with fully seam-sealed seams. They’re also waterproof and breathable — but not super breathable. Remember, these are insulated ski pants so the breathability is hampered by the insulation. They won’t be nearly as breathable as thinner hardshell ski pants like the Helly Hansen Verglas Backcountry Ski Shell Pants.
If you’re skiing very cold days, you’ll appreciate the built-in insulation
Still, despite skiing all day in both frigid temps as well as in wet, sleety conditions, we never felt much humidity build up on our base layers or in the pants. Better yet, despite our interest in how well the waterproofing would hold up, they never seemed to wet out or leak through. Even though some snow seemed to cling to the face fabric a bit more than on slicker shells, the waterproofing never failed.
The inner thigh vents help you manage heat.Overall, we were impressed and pleased by the comfort and performance of the Helly Hansen Legendary Insulated Ski Pant — we’re not surprised that the Legendary is Helly Hansen’s best-selling ski pant. If you want an affordable, warm, and insulated pant that you can ski in all day long at the resort — that won’t soak through the seat on wet days on the lift — the Legendary Insulated Ski Pant performed flawlessly.
Fit Characteristics
The Helly Hansen Legendary Insulated Ski Pants have an adjustable waistband to help you dial in the fit, but we also appreciate the belt loops in case you need them.
In our experience with a size XL, the legs were slightly longer than typical comparable insulated ski pants. For skiers with shorter inseams, Helly Hansen offers a Legendary Short Ski Pant version.
It’s hard to tell here, but the size XL is a bit long and big on this gear tester who is 6’1″ and 189 pounds — as expected. He normally wears a size L. Overall, the Helly Hansen Legendary Insulated Ski Pants fit a bit trim compared to most North American-focused brands.As for overall fit, we think they fit a bit trim. For example, I’m about 6’3″ and 220 pounds. Our Helly Hansen Legendary Insulated Ski Pant test and review pair in size XL fits a little tight for me around the hips — but the thighs and knees gave me plenty of room. I tested them for one day and liked them despite the hips fitting a bit too tight for me. For me to test them long-term, I’d need to either lose a bit of weight, wear a very thin base layer, or size up.
Another Man Makes Fire gear tester, however, who typically wears a size Large — 6’1″ and 189 pounds — tested the XL Legendary pants and has put them through more than 15 days of mixed-weather skiing. On him, the XL was just a bit large but still comfortable. He also said they fit a bit trim compared to his experience with other ski pants.
All in all, we stand by our assessment of fit — the pants will fit a bit trim, particularly compared to most North American-centric clothing brands. (Again, this is fairly consistent with most European outdoor clothing brands which tend to run a bit longer and trimmer in overall fit compared to most North American-focused brands.)
Consequently, our fit recommendation is this: You can likely stick with your usual size unless you want extra room for layering. If you’re on the upper end of your size range, you might want to size up.
Downhill Comfort
The waist is adjustable but you can also use a belt if needed — which we appreciate.One thing we like about insulated ski pants is how easy they are. You don’t have to worry about managing your layers much . . . and you’re usually well prepared for sitting on ski lift seats or standing in long lift lines. Plus, you’re good to go if you’re outside having a beer!
What am I trying to say here? You can go hard and ski all day and the Helly Hansen Legendary Ski Pants will keep you warm and dry. While the thigh ventilation vents aren’t particularly large, they do help you regulate heat when you can get a lot of back-to-back runs in.
If you’re standing in long lift lines, taking a tailgate lunch break in the parking lot, or sitting on a resort deck outside, you’ll appreciate the insulation.
Shop the Legendary Ski Pant at Helly Hansen for the most color options!
Any Drawbacks?
While we very much appreciate the articulated knees and overall fit, insulated ski pants are simply a bit bulkier than uninsulated ski pants. Sure, you need to wear warm base layers or mid layers with shell pants, but you can dial in the amount of insulation you need based on the day and conditions.
Which are better, insulated or uninsulated ski pants? We like insulated ski pants for how easy they are to use over a variety of conditions, but we prefer uninsulated ski pants for our longest, most hard-charging days on the hill. If you’re a casual resort skier, it’s pretty hard to beat the Helly Hansen Legendary Insulated Ski Pants for their solid overall performance and outstanding price-to-value ratio.
Competitive Options & Alternatives
If you’re looking for affordable and waterproof ski and snowboarding pants, here are a few great alternative competitive options in a similar price range:
The North Face Freedom Insulated Snow Pants — The North Face Freedom Insulated Snow Pants might be the most popular insulated ski pant in North America. Like the Helly Hansen Legendary Insulated Snow Pants, The North Face Freedom Insulated Snow Pants are waterproof, breathable, and have inner thigh vents and articulated knees for agility. One key benefit of the Freedom Insulated Pants is the awesome range of size options: The North Face offers Short, Regular, and Long inseam options with ranges from XS to XXL. In addition, The North Face offers a non-insulated option that costs a bit less. Interestingly, in recent testing, we found that the insulated version fit a bit trim while the non-insulated version fit true-to-size, so if you get stuck in-between sizes, try the non-insulated version, too (and wear a thicker base layer for insulation).
REI Co-op Powderbound Insulated Pants — REI has been making competitive-yet-affordable outdoor clothing for years. The REI Co-op Powderbound Insulated Snow Pants deliver an outstanding price-to-value ratio. They’re not available in as many color options as Helly Hansen’s Legendary Insulated Ski Pants, but REI offers a Men’s Tall size option in addition to a Men’s Short version if the regular inseam doesn’t fit you.
Columbia Bugaboo IV Snow Pants — Like all the competitive insulated ski and snowboard pants we cover here, Columbia has been making its popular Bugaboo IV Insulated Ski Pants for years. In our experience, the Columbia Bugaboo IV Snow Pants fit slightly loose, which is great for flexibility if you’re ok with a little extra material. They’re also waterproof and breathable and deliver a fantastic price-to-value ratio — pricing tends to be a bit lower than the competition, which reflects a slightly lower build and cut quality. They’re great for casual skiers and snowboarders and are a hard-to-beat option for parents trying to outfit growing kids. The biggest drawback for skiers is the lack of interior reinforcement patches at the hem, which means ski edges can scuff the fabric. Pro Tip: You can use AquaSeal to repair tears to most any waterproof fabric, even fly fishing waders. It’s good stuff!
Legendary Insulated Ski Pants: The Bottom Line
All-in-all, the Helly Hansen Legendary Insulated Ski Pants deliver a classic insulated ski pant design in a surprisingly agile cut that looks great on the hill. Waterproofing hasn’t failed over multiple long-day outings in a variety of conditions, including sleety days with wet lift seats. If you want an affordable insulated ski pant, you can’t go wrong with the Helly Hansen Legendary Insulated Ski Pants. Very highly recommended.
Get the Gear:
- Helly Hansen Legendary Ski Pants
- Helly Hansen Legendary Insulated Ski Bib Pants
- Women’s Helly Hansen Legendary Insulated Ski Pants
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If you’re interested in the insulated Helly Hansen Legendary Ski Pants, check out our review of the super warm and insulated Helly Hansen Alpha Lifaloft Jacket!
