Good ideas, tips and thoughts from professional mountaineers
Best Leatherman for ‘Alone’ We’ve enjoyed watching ‘Alone’ on Channel 4, the UK version of the longstanding American survival show. 11 contestants were left alone on land around the Mackenzie River, in the Dehcho region of Northwest Territories, Canada. They arrive with no food and have to see how long they can last by hunting, fishing and […]
‘Hard is Easy’ GriGri Videos Over the last few months I’ve had climbers on my Climbing Wall Instructor and Rock Climbing Instructor training and assessment courses mention the ‘Hard is Easy’ YouTube channel. The chatter especially mentions the Hard is Easy GriGri videos and in particular the videos on GriGri slippage and failure. Ben has […]
Hawke Frontier 8×42 ED X Binocular Review For the last few years my trusty Opticron Discovery WP PC 8×32 binoculars have given me enormous pleasure on the hill. They are a great travel option being pretty much the smallest, lightest 8x32s around and representing great optical performance for the money. However, as a big birthday […]
MSR Reactor Review A long term use review of the MSR Reactor stove system. An excellent gas stove for Alpine use, Wild Camping and Bivouacs. Food and drink preparation in an outdoor environment is a vital element of both our performance and enjoyment. We need fuel to stay warm, keep moving and feed our brains. For […]
Buffalo Mountain Shirt Review As a keen outdoors person, I love being out and about in all weathers, in the UK and beyond. The downside of this is layer management. Either you are too warm going up, or you are continually changing layers with weather and lunch breaks. If only there was something that could […]
Public transport For walkers In the Peak we have the Sheffield – Manchester trainline that stops in various villages across the national park. You know what that means? Linear walks and runs! A favourite short jaunt of mine is taking the train to Hope, heading up Win Hill and over Kinder and dropping down to […]
The Manchester – Sheffield line is great for linear Peak District walks, something that’s difficult to do in the car without some faff and organising! Get off at one stop and back on at another for the return journey home (Make sure any return tickets cover the furthest away stop on your outing to avoid […]
Gloves for Scottish Winter Walking and Mountaineering When your hands are cold they don’t work well, so gloves are an essential part of your Scottish winter kit. Firstly, no one glove will work all day, in all weather conditions so you will definitely need more than one pair. We recommend thinking about your gloves as […]
Winter climbing partners never move fast enough! From my perspective I have just completed a lightning fast accent on a thin runout smear of ice then undertook the cleaning of iced up cracks with poise and precision to build a structurally satisfying anchor. All this done in record breaking time. Why then, is my partner […]
What are the Risks of Using a Portable Camping Stove? A portable camping stove is an essential item of outdoor equipment but there are very real risks involved in their use. All of us who have spent any time in the outdoors camping or on a bivvy will have their tales of near misses; They can […]
Clothing and Equipment for Scottish Winter Walking and Mountaineering This is a up-dated version of a post on clothing and equipment for Scottish winter walking and mountaineering first published in 2017 and then again in 2020. The principles are the same but I have updated some of the items to reflect my current preferences. Boots […]
Top Ten Gear and Equipment Reviews of 2022 We all love our outdoor gear and equipment; It keeps us warm, helps us enjoy the hills and mountains with increased safety and enables us to feed and fuel ourselves. Looking back through the stats these are our most popular kit blogs of the year and our […]