Thanks guys!

I use to snowmobile In Longjohns + sweat pants + Jeans. Jeans got a bit wet here and there but worked fantastic and most importantly I looked cool =D

Looking cool is important!

Of course there is always the chance that your wet jeans and sweats will leave you way too cool, forever.

Out of curiosity, are the what is causing the jeans to get wet? Insufficient seal between snow boots and the snow pants, or does the water eventually just get in through the snow pants material?

If you are in fairly deep snow, you should be wearing high gaiters to help keep snow out. The fact is that snow eventually just seems to work its way inside. You can also get your jeans wet if you perspire, a real no-no in cold weather.

Jeans are about the worst possible things to wear in these conditions.

In deep snow, jeans will get wet and freeze from the knees down. When snowmobiling, the snow swirls around and gets onto the seat of the snowmobile and then melts when you sit on it.

Denim jeans are a remarkably poor choice for wet or snowy activities or emergency winter use. I believe that in really cold conditions if you don't keep your legs warm, there's nothing you can do to keep your feet warm.

Snowpants, or my preference, bibs with full side zippers, will serve as an outer layer. You have the choice of insulated or non-insulated. You can adjust by wearing long-johns, sweats, or cargo pants underneath.

The upside is protection from cold, wind, and moisture. The downside is that snowpants and bibs can make long-distance walking more difficult (especially combined with the ubiquitous pac-boots that even ballerinas wear in Minnesota). Gaiters or nylon outer shell pants would be better for this.

long johns+ insulating layer ( fleece?) plus wind/water shell

Good thread. One thing that's been lacking in my winter kit are serious cold weather pants. I have fairly robust nylon canvas pants that would do a good job over the top of wool long u/w, but nothing specific to that purpose.

In order to get the most bang for the buck from REI's latest 30% off sale, I now have REI Shuksan Pants. Not cheap by any means and probably not very useful in most of SOCAL, but anytime the winter kit goes in the truck (ie., anytime I leave SOCAL) I will now have serious cold weather pants available. I already have fleece pants and Smartwool long underwear -- the layering is complete.

OT: Is a RECCO Reflector of any utility outside an avalanche? (The REI description says "Embedded RECCO® detector", but that's the other side of the RECCO system.)

I doubt very much if the technology is particularly useful outside of avalanche situations.

I'm not so sure; the RECCO system has a 200 meter range in air, 30 meters in snow, shorter in wet snow -- but that 200 meter range says that it may have other uses (still thinking). Neat technology though -- no moving parts, no batteries to die/change, just a tuned cavity that responds to the RECCO detector and reflects a signal back. Whatever, they're embedded in the pants and per the website video the reflector requires no maintenance and has an unlimited lifespan.

Not affiliated with RECCO, just interested in elegant yet simple to use technology.