I just bought a pair of short Mountain Hardware Dragon pants and they are still a bit long lengthwise. I'm a 5'3/125 male who has a difficult time finding mountaineering shells that fit me. Does anyone have any suggestions of brands that make quality pants for short, lean males? Or places that can hem my dragon pants/can that type of material be taken up without damaging it's functionality as a windproof/waterproof shell?

I am sure what you are asking would be pretty easy to do, just hem the pants and put some waterproof tape on the back.

There is a place in Seattle, Rainy City Repairs, that specializes in repair of outdoor gear and clothing, including Gore-Tex. That said, Rainy City Repairs is expensive and has botched every job I have brought to them.

I own a pair of the MHW Dragon pants you speak of. I used my cheapo, sub-$100 sewing machine to bartack custom loops around the inside bottom cuff, for threading paracord through to be used as an instep strap/integrated pant gaiter. Getting through the kevlar reinforcements was easy for the machine and a simple job. I believe a hem job would be just as easy to do for almost anybody who can work a sewing machine.

Since the pants are just softshells and not waterproof at all, I wouldn't worry about damaging them with sew job, especially with it just being a hem around the cuff, and if you are wearing gaiters anyways.

I have a lot of experience with sewing outdoor gear projects, including a homemade 5 degree down sleeping bag which I have used on Rainier in the dead of winter and on Orizaba. If you'd like, you could mail me your pants with a note of how high you want the hem and I'd be glad to put one in for you.