I have always worn gaiters in the snow or with crampons mainly because I thought you were supposed to. Lately I have noticed that some pants come with grommets on the cuff so you can attach a tie down cord. If you have them tied down so the top of the boot is covered, are the gaiters really necessary?

Gators are the greatest clothing invention, since clothing.

I love, love love gaitors. But they are going out of style. Just look at the magazines!

Posthole through thigh-deep, rotten snow with us this spring and you'll have your answer.

Since they are often made from tougher material than pants, and are designed to be fit fairly close to your calves, they also cut down on accidental crampon snagging (potentially deadly with loose pants).

I have been wearing them much less often. Some of my boot/pant combos work very well without, even in deep snow. I don't think I wore them once this winter.

There were several trips where I would have worn them, but I'm using Phantom Guides for ice, which have built-in gaiters.

MoapaPk wrote:Since they are often made from tougher material than pants, and are designed to be fit fairly close to your calves, they also cut down on accidental crampon snagging (potentially deadly with loose pants).

Very good point. I will probably keep wearing them.

Everything everyone said, PLUS I'd rather snag and tear a $50 pair of gaiters than a $200 pair of pants. I put a new hole in my gaiters every time I go up... my current pair is almost more patch than gaiter.

I only wear them if it's cold enough that I want the added warmth, or I expect to be drudging through deep snow a lot of the day. I don't wear them to ice climb anymore and really rarely wear them at all, I try to avoid long days post-holing though. It also depends on the pants you're wearing, if I was still wearing the hard shell pants I had on a few years ago I would probably use gaiters more often.

Gaiters are dead if you wear soft shell pants. Which will also keep your feet drier in many conditions than a pair of gaiters will. Figure that one out? Pants working as the gaiter allow you boot and feet to breath better

But no question gaiters will save your expensive pants from errant crampons for the most part.

I've hiked many years without them... soaking wet feet. Now a days I get to enjoy dry feet (well... sometimes) and not have snow in my boots! In the past I've worried about getting frost bite because of the non gaiter issue. Personally I rank it much higher than some of the "10 essentials".

I use gaiters with my softshell pants. The cordura means I don't worry about destroying my pants or (worse) my leg with an errant step with crampons.

Not *necessary* but I'm glad I spent the money.

With shell pants, I wear low gaitors (4") or use the ones built into my bibs. They serve the purpose of gaitors, which is to help keep your feet dry. Of course, if you insist on kicking yourself in the calf with your crampons, your going to trash your gaitors/pants/leg eventually, so you might as well buy gaitors to get your pants to last a little longer.

At times they serve their purpose, which is good, but if you have loose pants on you end up looking like a pirate with a balloon around the knee. I hate that!

I always wore gaiters w/wool pants on Tacoma Mountaineer hikes back in the 1980's, and nobody ever laughed at me ... well. maybe a snicker ...