Wet bracken and a boggy path put water over the top of your boots long before the rain does. A gaiter fixes that, and picking one is harder than it should be.

For most walking days in Eryri the Trekmates Cuillin GTX is the pair to buy. Trekmates extends its abrasion panels up the inside leg, which is the side that meets your other boot.

Every figure below is quoted from the maker’s own product page, read on 18 September 2026. We compile and explain public route and safety information. We guide nobody and sell nothing on the hill.

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Five pairs, for five different kinds of day:

• Trekmates Cuillin GTX, the all-round pair for a wet day in boots
• Trekmates Torridon DRY, the same shape with a different membrane
• Montane Alta, the lightest full-height pair here
• Kahtoola NAVAgaiter GTX, the only pair you can buy on a measurement
• Montane Trail Gaiters, ankle height, for trail shoes

The all-round pair for a wet day in boots

Best for an ordinary Eryri hill day, on a path, in walking boots.

Trekmates Cuillin GTX Gaiter 230 g, recycled 3-layer Gore-Tex upper, 75D polyester Abrasion panels extended up the inside leg, replaceable under boot strap Read the full specification on Amazon

What Trekmates publishes for it:

• Recycled 3-layer Gore-Tex upper panels
• 75D polyester fabric
• 75D abrasion-resistant polyamide stretch lower and inner leg panels
• A replaceable, durable, non-slip under boot strap
• A weight of 230 g

The inside leg is the detail that matters most here. Trekmates says the abrasion panels are extended there to protect the gaiter in rougher ground, when you are wearing bigger boots.

That is the side that meets your other boot. In a stiff winter boot the two pass closer together than they do in a summer shoe.

Trekmates also shapes it to sit close at the ankle and to cover the laces, which it says reduces snagging.

If your walking is a dry summer path in trainers, this is more gaiter than the day asks for.

The same shape with a different membrane

Best for the walker who wants the classic build without Gore-Tex.

Trekmates Torridon DRY Gaiter 210 g per pair, 3-layer DRY membrane, 228T polyamide 600D ripstop polyester lower panels, replaceable under boot strap Read the full specification on Amazon

What Trekmates publishes for it:

• 3-layer DRY waterproof, breathable technology
• 228T polyamide main fabric
• 600D ripstop polyester reinforcement lower panels
• A replaceable, durable, non-slip under boot strap
• A weight of 210 g per pair

Compare the lower panels with the Cuillin: 600D ripstop polyester here, 75D stretch polyamide there. Trekmates calls the Cuillin its pinnacle gaiter and the Torridon a classic, and it gives the classic the heavier lower.

That is a choice between two things rather than a ranking. Stretch sits closer to the boot, and ripstop takes more abuse from rock and scree.

The membrane is the other difference, and here it is Trekmates’ own DRY rather than Gore-Tex.

Trekmates calls the Cuillin its pinnacle gaiter and the Torridon a classic, and it gives the classic the heavier lower.

The lightest full-height pair here

Best for a long day where weight in the sack is what you notice.

Montane Alta Waterproof Gaiters 170 g, hook and loop closure with press stud, no zip Reinforced TPU underfoot strap, sized by shoe size Read the full specification on Amazon

What Montane publishes for it:

• A weight of 170 g
• An outside hook and loop closure with a press stud
• An adjustable reinforced underfoot strap with a front lace hook
• A thermoplastic polyurethane underfoot strap
• Sizes S, M and L, with S fitting a UK shoe size 4.5 to 7

There is no zip on this one, and that is a design decision rather than a saving. A zip can seize with grit, and hook and loop has nothing to seize.

Montane sizes this pair by your shoe, which is unusual and useful. Most gaiters here are sold to fit a boot type instead of a foot.

At 170 g it is the lightest full-height pair on this page.

Set against that, Montane publishes no height for it, so you cannot tell from the page how far up the leg it comes.

The only pair you can buy on a measurement

Best for anyone whose calves sit outside a maker’s idea of average.

Kahtoola NAVAgaiter GTX 43 cm tall, 168 g regular, three-layer Gore-Tex upper 1000D ripstop nylon lower, fits calf up to 37 cm or 42 cm Read the full specification on Amazon

What Kahtoola publishes for it:

• A height of 17 inches, or 43 cm
• A weight of 5.9 oz, or 168 g, in the regular size
• A three-layer Gore-Tex laminate upper
• A polyurethane-coated 1000D ripstop nylon lower
• A calf circumference up to 14.5 inches narrow, or 16.5 inches regular

Read that last line again, because no other maker on this page offers it. Kahtoola tells you the calf the gaiter fits, in centimetres, before you buy.

The 1000D lower is the heaviest-duty figure here. Trekmates uses 600D ripstop on the Torridon and the Cairngorm.

It is a tall gaiter at 43 cm. If you want something that stops at mid-calf, this is not the pair.

Ankle height, for trail shoes

Best for dry bog, scree and summer paths where a full gaiter is too much.

Montane Trail Gaiters Raptor Flex 4-way stretch, abrasion resistant insteps Replaceable underfoot strap, spare straps supplied Read the full specification on Amazon

What Montane publishes for it:

• Raptor Flex 4-way stretch fabric with a PFC-free DWR finish
• Abrasion-resistant insteps
• An elasticated, adjustable and replaceable underfoot strap
• Spare underfoot straps supplied in the box
• A stretch fit around the ankle with a front lace hook

Spare straps in the box is the line worth noticing. Montane has assumed the strap will wear out and has given you another one.

This is a shoe gaiter rather than a leg one. It keeps grit and scree out of the top of a trail shoe and does nothing above the ankle.

On a wet Welsh path in autumn that is not enough, and it is the wrong pair for a winter day.

Where the makers stop telling you

Set the makers’ spec lists side by side and one number is missing from almost all of them. Height is the thing a gaiter is for, and hardly anybody publishes it.

Maker	Publishes a weight	Publishes a height	Publishes a calf fit
Trekmates	Yes, for every gaiter in the range	No	No
Montane	For the Alta only	No	No
Kahtoola	Yes	Yes, 43 cm	Yes, 37 cm or 42 cm

Trekmates publishes a weight for all eight gaiters in its current range and a height for none. Its guidance instead is a phrase: trekking fit, works with most standard boots.

Montane publishes a weight for the Alta and none for either trail gaiter. It gives no height for any of the three.

Kahtoola is the outlier here, and it is an American maker. It publishes the height, both weights and the calf circumference each size takes.

Its guidance instead is a phrase: trekking fit, works with most standard boots.

There is a smaller wrinkle inside Trekmates’ own range. The Cuillin’s weight is written as 230g and the Cairngorm’s as 230g (Pair), which are not the same claim.

What Amazon still sells that the maker has stopped making

Three well-regarded gaiters come up in almost any search and are no longer in their maker’s current range.

The Berghaus Yeti Attak II is the best known of them. Berghaus’s own store today lists one product with gaiter in the name, and it goes round your neck.

The Trekmates Glenmore and the Trekmates Nevis are the other two. Neither appears in the Trekmates gaiter collection now, though both still sell through other retailers.

None of that makes them bad gaiters. It does mean the maker’s own sizing page and spare-strap listing are no longer behind them.

How to choose a pair for your own legs

Take a tape measure to your calf first, over the trousers you actually walk in. That number rules more pairs in or out than any fabric figure will.

Then look at the under-boot strap, because the makers themselves treat it as the part that wears out. Montane puts spare straps in the box, and Trekmates marks its straps replaceable.

Trekmates writes replaceable, durable, non-slip under boot strap on the Cuillin, the Cairngorm, the Torridon and the Rannoch. On its Helvellyn the wording becomes durable webbing under boot strap, and the word replaceable is gone.

That single word is the difference between re-strapping a gaiter and replacing one.

The closure is the third question and it is a real choice. A zip gives a closed seam down the side, and hook and loop gives one with nothing in it to jam.

What is worth comparing closely is the lower panel. It is the part that meets rock, and every maker here publishes it plainly in denier.

Which pair suits which day

For the ordinary wet Eryri day in boots, the Trekmates Cuillin GTX is the one to own, for those abrasion panels up the inside leg.

For the same shape with a heavier lower panel, the Trekmates Torridon DRY does it at 210 g the pair.

If you are counting grams on a long day, the Montane Alta is the lightest full-height pair here at 170 g.

If your calves sit outside the average, buy the Kahtoola NAVAgaiter GTX, because it is the only pair whose maker tells you what it fits.

For summer scree in trail shoes, the Montane Trail Gaiters do the smaller job and arrive with a spare strap.

If none of that is your walking yet, the more useful question is what is on your feet. That one is settled in walking boots or trainers for Snowdon.

Whichever you choose, order it against your own calf measurement. It is the one number almost none of these makers will print for you.