Berghaus Ortler 2.0 review: the £90 walking trouser selling for £35

The Berghaus Ortler 2.0 walking trousers are not budget kit. They are a £90 all-season hill trouser that happens to be selling for £34.97 at Blacks at the time of writing, and that distinction is the whole review. Buying last season's proper kit on discount beats buying this season's cheap kit at full price, and the Ortler is currently the clearest example of that rule anywhere in UK walking clothing.

I flagged it as the best-on-discount pick in the budget walking trousers guide, and it has since dropped from around £70 to under £35. That earns it a full review, because at this price the question is not whether it is good value. It is whether the trouser underneath the discount deserves a place in your kit at all. It does.

Who the Ortler 2.0 is for

This trouser is for: walkers who want one pair that covers the whole UK year. The 180g/m² fabric is substantial enough for winter over a base layer, and the zipped thigh vents let you dump heat on a summer climb. It suits proper hill days in the Brecon Beacons or on Purbeck ridgelines just as well as a Sunday loop of the local woods. And it is the obvious buy for anyone who was about to spend £30 on an unknown Amazon brand: for a fiver more you get Berghaus construction and a fabric that will outlast two cheap pairs.

This trouser is not for: anyone who needs actual waterproofing built in. The DWR sheds showers, nothing more, so sustained rain means an overtrouser from the waterproof hiking trousers guide. It is also not the pick if you want a soft, athletic four-way stretch. The Ortler's stretch is two-way, which is enough for stiles and steep steps but a different feel from the stretchier trousers in the main hiking trousers guide.

Specs

Fabric

Twill, 180g/m², 96% polyamide / 4% elastane

Stretch

Two-way stretch with articulated knees

Water resistance

PFC-free DWR finish (shower resistant, not waterproof)

Ventilation

Zipped thigh vents

Pockets

2 hand pockets, 2 thigh pockets (ventilated, per the Blacks listing)

Weight

340g listed at Blacks (Berghaus lists 380g)

Sizes

Waist 28 to 42

Colour

Black at Blacks; Berghaus also lists Jet Black and Cavern

RRP

£90 (£95 on berghaus.com)

Price at time of writing

£34.97 at Blacks

Berghaus positions this as an all-season hiking trouser for hill and mountain use, and the spec sheet backs that up. Nothing on it reads like a corner cut to hit a price, because it was never built to a £35 price in the first place.

Fabric and stretch

The fabric is the reason to buy. At 180g/m², the Ortler's polyamide twill sits in the all-season middle ground that budget trousers almost never occupy. Cheap summer trousers are flimsy in a cold wind; cheap fleece-lined winter trousers are unwearable from April to October. The Ortler is warm enough with a base layer for a cold Dorset ridge in January and, with the vents open, wearable on a warm June climb. One trouser, twelve months.

The stretch is two-way rather than four-way, with 4% elastane in the weave and articulated knees doing the rest of the work. In practice that combination covers what UK walking asks of a trouser: high steps onto stiles, steep stepped descents, the occasional scramble. What you do not get is the drapey, leggings-adjacent feel of a modern softshell. The Ortler feels like a woven walking trouser with give, not an athletic garment, and the twill's payoff is durability against gorse, bramble and rock that lighter knits cannot match.

Thigh vents and pockets

Zipped thigh vents are the feature that gives the game away about what this trouser was designed to cost. Vents almost never appear on trousers under £100 because they add zips, seams and construction time. On a sustained climb they matter more than any fabric technology: open them at the bottom of the hill and your legs stay cool without stopping to strip a layer.

Storage runs to two hand pockets and two thigh pockets, which Blacks lists as ventilated. Four pockets covers phone, map, snacks and keys, which is what most walkers actually carry at leg level. Everything bigger belongs in the pack anyway.

Weather resistance and all-season use

The DWR finish is PFC-free, which is the right modern spec, and it does what DWR does: beads light rain, shrugs off drizzle and morning vegetation, and buys you time to get overtrousers on when the weather commits. It is not waterproofing and Berghaus does not pretend it is. For UK use that is the correct design choice, because a breathable trouser plus a packable overtrouser beats a sweaty waterproof trouser on all but the wettest days.

Wind resistance is where the 180g/m² twill earns its keep over lighter fabrics. A dense weave at this weight takes the edge off a cold wind on an exposed ridge in a way that summer-weight trousers simply do not. Pair it with a base layer underneath and the Ortler holds its own through a normal British winter walk.

The deal, framed honestly

Here are the numbers as they stand at the time of writing. Berghaus lists the Ortler 2.0 at £95 on its own site. The usual RRP through retail is £90. Blacks has it at £34.97, which is 61% off. Amazon has it at around £70, which is a fair price for this trouser and still the second-best option if Blacks is out of your size.

Two caveats, stated plainly. First, this is a clearance-level price, and clearance prices move: £34.97 is what it costs today, not a promise. Second, sizes are thinning out. When I checked the Blacks listing, several sizes were already sold out. Deals like this end by evaporating one size at a time, so if yours is there, the decision is easy.

Ortler 2.0 vs Regatta Dayhike IV

The Regatta Dayhike IV is the other sensible answer at this money, around £28, and it wins one argument outright: it is actually waterproof. Its Isotex 10000 stretch fabric carries a 10,000g/m²/24hr breathability rating, with a stretch polyester lining, two zipped side pockets and a part-elasticated waist. If your walking is wet-weather-first and you want one trouser rather than a trouser-plus-overtrouser system, the Regatta is the pick.

The Ortler is the better everyday walking trouser in every other respect. It breathes better than a waterproof fabric ever will, carries more storage, vents on climbs, and the twill will take years of abrasion that a laminated waterproof fabric is not built for. My call: the Ortler as your main trouser, and the money saved at £34.97 goes most of the way towards a proper overtrouser for the wet days.

Ortler 2.0 vs Columbia Silver Ridge Utility

The Columbia Silver Ridge Utility is the best overall budget buy at full price, around £52: a lightweight quick-drying polyester with Omni-Shade UPF 50 sun protection, a partially elasticated waist with a removable belt, and a zipped security pocket. For spring and summer walking it is excellent, and in hot weather its lighter fabric beats the Ortler.

But it is a three-season trouser leaning summer, and the Ortler at £34.97 is an all-season trouser at £17 less. Unless your walking stops in October, the Berghaus is the stronger buy while the discount lasts. At full price the comparison flips back: a £90 Ortler against a £52 Columbia is a fair fight that depends on when you walk.

Pros and cons

• All-season 180g/m² twill: one trouser for the whole UK year
• Zipped thigh vents, a feature that rarely appears under £100
• Articulated knees and two-way stretch cover real walking movement
• PFC-free DWR sheds showers and buys time for overtrousers
• Berghaus build quality at 61% off RRP at the time of writing
• Four pockets covers what walkers actually carry

• Two-way stretch, not the four-way give of modern softshells
• Shower resistant only: sustained rain needs an overtrouser
• Clearance stock, so sizes are disappearing and the price will not hold forever
• Black is the only colour in the Blacks deal

Verdict

Judge the Ortler 2.0 as a £90 trouser and it is a solid, well-specced all-season walking trouser: proper fabric weight, vents, articulation and a sensible DWR, held back only by its two-way stretch in a market moving to four-way. That is a 4.3 trouser at RRP, competitive but not remarkable.

Judge it at £34.97 and there is nothing else close. Every rival at this money is either a summer-weight trouser, a waterproof compromise or an Amazon-brand gamble. The Ortler is the only option under £40 that I would take on a proper hill day in any month of the year. If your size is in stock, buy it, wear it for years, and stop thinking about walking trousers.

Berghaus Ortler 2.0 FAQ