Hiking in the Alps Pants versus Shorts

Ticks live up to roughly 1,500 metres, anyway north of the Alps - so basically only Ticino is tick-free.
In any case, proper hiking pants are not really warmer than shorts, and the extra sun protection is really nice.

Here is a map of reported tick bites from 2015:

https://zecke-tique-tick.ch/en/tickbite-map-switzerland/

This map is more recent and shows pretty much the same thing: they are found at lower elevations, in forest and grasslands, along rivers and lowland lakes.

https://map.geo.admin.ch/?lang=en&topic=ech&bgLayer=ch.swisstopo.pixelkarte-farbe&layers=ch.swisstopo.zeitreihen,ch.bfs.gebaeude_wohnungs_register,ch.bav.haltestellen-oev,ch.swisstopo.swisstlm3d-wanderwege,ch.astra.wanderland-sperrungen_umleitungen,ch.bag.zeckenstichmodell&layers_opacity=1,1,1,0.8,0.8,0.75&layers_visibility=false,false,false,false,false,true&layers_timestamp=20211231,,,,,&E=2655000.00&N=1169500.00&zoom=1

Since we do all our hiking above Muerren or at similar altitudes, I do not worry about them. But I do not wear shorts for hiking any more; I prefer lightweight capris which are just as cool but offer more sun protection. Then I only need sunscreen on my lower legs.

I've changed to wearing pants to hike, as well. I love these from LLBean:

https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/86735?page=vista-camp-pants&bc=&feat=women%20hiking%20pants-SR0&csp=a&attrValue_0=184&searchTerm=women%20hiking%20pants&pos=10

They also come in capri and I also see that they now come in a slimmer leg. I don't think the slimmer leg would be as cool since they'd be closer to the leg, but I haven't tried them.

I've taken to wearing these pants on the plane when going to a warm weather destination. Before we leave the airport, I can slip into a lightweight dress from my carry on backpack, and the pants roll up small. Another thing about these pants, is that a pair of leggings fit underneath for extra warmth when needed.

Thank you for the replies. We hike a lot in the Cascades here and I never have worried about ticks. Although the deer are usually full of them. As for the Capris, I’ll look at Bean, their quality is normally good, I especially like their tees, I love Kuhl quality but none of their capris appeal to me right now. Eddie Bauer has some with a nice length with drawstrings on leg openings that might be worth a try. I guess the fun thing about travel is each trip seems to need something the last trip didn’t require and makes for happy shopping.

Mine are Mountain Hardwear Dynama capris—-pull-on with a wide flat waistband, nylon-spandex for comfort, UPF 50, side pockets but no drawstring, zippers, etc., to add bulk. Totally flat across the front, and minimalist in design. Mine weigh 5.6 oz.

They are on sale at backcountry.com, or you can pay full price at REI.

https://tinyurl.com/38yjf9s2

I hate ticks. I have had to remove them from my dog as well as from my 3-year-old niece’s temple. But that was in California, years ago. In Switzerland I do not worry as long as we are above 1500 meters, which we are most of the time.

The best defense against them, in addition to avoiding walking through long grass or brush, is to wear light-colored clothing so you will see them if you do have one drop in uninvited. Long pants only work if you tuck them into your socks ( a nice geeky look); otherwise they can just crawl up your leg inside the pants and remain unnoticed. There are some repellants you can use in tick country as well.

Fortunately here in the Salish Sea area they are rare. Our Labrador did bring one home on one occasion, and since she liked to sleep under the covers with us, it transferred to me in the night. I discovered it in my belly-button in the morning, fortunately before it attached. That totally creeped me out.

I've had Lyme's disease. I had been hiking through tall grass in Door County, Wisconsin. My mistake(s) were not staying on the trail (and out of the tall grass) and not doing a body check nightly. We were camping so I'm not sure a body check is all that feasible, but if you are in tick country its worth it to check as much as possible.

My daughter also had Lyme's and had to have picked it up in our wooded back yard. That tic was behind her ear, as that was were the bull's eye rash was. My rash was in the crease at the top of my leg. So check creases!

I highly recommend Outdoor Research's Ferrosi hiking pants. Not cheap, but I love them so much I bought four pairs. There is a convertible version and a shorts version.

I love love love my Mountain Hardwear Dynama2 bermuda shorts. I wear them all summer. I never thought to look at their Capri.

There you go!