Waterproof / Breathability
On paper, the Boville pant features the lowest waterproofing and breathability ratings in Moment’s outerwear lineup (with 10k waterproofing and 10k breathability), behind the Classic pant and the Bantam pant (which feature 15k/15k and 20k/15k fabrics, respectively). But the low breathabiliy was only noticeable on really warm days (high 40 to low 50 degree F) early this season in Vermont, when I was hiking rails.
The 11-inch thigh vents were somewhat helpful in cooling me down when I began to sweat, but the relatively small vents helped only around the areas immediately near them. A pant with larger vents or greater breathability might suit you better if you plan to do a lot of hiking or warm-weather riding, but otherwise the breathability and venting were perfectly adequate, especially in cooler conditions. (Temperatures from 0 to high-30s have all been comfortable in the Boville).
I was also impressed by how dry I stayed skiing wet and heavy powder at Stratton Mountain around Christmas. Notably, I stayed dry and comfortable riding through an eighteen-inch storm of dense East Coast snow, and even the bottom of both pant legs were bone dry at the end of the day despite trudging through the wet powder in perpetually-sinking park skis.
By comparison, the ends of my pants were frequently soaked by the end of the day throughout the 2011-2012 season when I wore The North Face Fargo Cargo pant (which falls in a similar price range pant as the Boville with an MSRP of $170).
Fully taped seams were also a nice addition to a pant of this price point, and helped keep me dry.
Durability
Within the context of normal wear-and-tear, I put one cut on the inside of the pant leg around the ankle area from a ski edge, and another hole on the outside from a rather vicious rail impact.
The cut on the inside of the leg was a typical small cut from a sharp edge making contact with the fabric, and I’m surprised that there aren’t more cuts like this.
The hole on the outside of the right pant leg around the top boot buckles was from coming in contact with a rail during a crash, and the friction between the rail and my boot buckle underneath the pant caused a small hole to effectively burn through the fabric. This kind of damage was not as expected, but given the nature of how it formed, I wouldn’t weigh this too heavily against the durability of the pant.
So far, the Boville pant has taken a beating and come out with only minimal, expected wear.
Additional Features / Design
One minor issue I had with the Boville pants was that the elastic gators around the ankle weren’t big enough for me. I found the short range of the elastic to be a struggle when trying to pull the gator over the tops of my boots. The cuffs of the pants themselves fit over my boots with ease, but stretching the gator over the tops of my boots was a struggle every time I put on my boots. Granted, my Intuition Power Wrap liners do add bulk to the upper areas of my boots, but I haven’t experienced this issue with any other pant. It’s not a big deal, but I’d like to see this changed.
The Boville also incorporates upward zipping, curved front pockets, that are quite small for ski pants. Personally, I prefer straight pockets that zip downward to close, but whatever. But given how tight the pants are around that part of my hips, I felt further constraint and discomfort with things like my cell phone or my wallet in the hip pockets.
Finally, I found that I couldn’t use the built-in drawstring belt because it didn’t have enough length to tie a knot securely enough to replace a belt, as it is intended to do. So the drawstring remained untied and unused. It doesn’t seem like that should be a problem for a 32″ waist in a size Large pant.
Bottom Line
The Boville pant is a price-point pant that gets the tight, slim style right, and provides adequate waterproofing for everyday park riding without any high-tech bells and whistles.
I can’t say whether you’ll experience the fit issues I had across the hips, and you’ll have to judge whether you care about the shorter drawstring or narrow gators.