The Marmot Women's PreCip Pant. The PreCip rain pant sets the standard for lightweight backpacking, hiking and mountain travel rainwear that is eminently affordable.
I love this pant, it's lightweight and packs down fairly small and most important, keeps you super dry. The one negative would be that they aren't very breathable which is important with rain gear, but the zip pockets are mesh, and the zippers at the ankles can give you some ventilation.
The bottoms have ties to tighten your leg opening. Paired with my waterproof hiking boots I can handle even the harshest rain storms. Light and breathable, I love these pants. They are a little long on my 5'3 but I didnt buy the short sizing version
These pants are very light (not-insulated) and perfectly breathable for all kinds of strenuous (and not so strenuous) activities in the rain. They held up great and I stayed dry through two days of wet hiking adventure in Washington's Hoh Rainforest.Recently used them for some pretty intense deep powder snow shoeing and skiing at Whistler. Snow shoeing - the cuffs strapped nicely around my down-filled boots and had no need for gators. Stayed dry tromping around in 3+ foot snow drifts. Wearing only a thin base layer underneath, my legs got a bit chilly on the lifts but were perfect the rest of the time. Downside: don't seem to be windproof.