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Thursday, September 25, 2008
Choosing a Camping Stove What kind of stove should I buy for backpacking?This is something we get asked from time to time at outdoorscotland.co.uk. There are loads of different camping stoves on the market and choosing one can sometimes be a tricky task for the first time buyer. Decisions should be based not just on weight but on fuel availability, ease of use and in some cases cooking speed. Posted by bigcrags @
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 Wednesday, August 27, 2008 Make ANY Item 100% Waterproof
That's the claim from Plasma Product Innovations (P2i) who are busy applying their new technology to Hi-tech footwear amongst other things.
Their treatment process involves coating the item in an ion-mask plasma. Sounds complicated. The resultant waterproof item is then fully waterproof and it won't wear off either, apparently. It almost sounds too good to be true, but time will tell. Read all about it here. Posted by bigcrags @
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Tuesday, August 05, 2008 Choosing Synthetic or Down Sleeping Bags  New article - choosing a sleeping bag. Describes the advantages and disadvantages of both down and synthetic sleeping bags. Posted by bigcrags @
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Wednesday, July 30, 2008 GPS Tracking for your Outdoor Activities  If you have a modern GPS enabled Nokia phone, it might be worth checking out Nokia Sports Tracker. This handy little application will record the important information via GPS from your walk, bike rides, runs etc and allow you to upload them with ease to the Sports Tracker website. From there you can show the routes on Google maps (handy now Google have terrain maps). you can compare your trips, share them with friends or the world and a whole bunch more that we've not explored yet. From the 3 or 4 tests we've done it's all worked very well. Finally, something useful you can do with your GPS phone! Posted by bigcrags @
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Monday, July 28, 2008 Frightening Footpath in Spain El Camino del Rey - If this footpath in Andalucia, Spain doesn't give you sweaty palms you've got a stronger constitution than me. I love how the guy is just breezing along it while the people he passes are busy clipping their via ferrata gear in earnest (as I would be). Posted by bigcrags @
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Tuesday, April 01, 2008 Backcountry Skiing/Boarding in Scotland
A couple of mates posted this video on YouTube. It shows them walking up one of the Loch Tay mountains in January, then coming down by an altogether more enjoyable means. Fantastic stuff. If only it was like that every day.
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Thursday, February 21, 2008 Highlander Hydro 35L Review  Until this pack came in I had only seen the cartoon-like image above of this sack. On closer examination though the real thing is a pretty good daypack. I tend to take out a 20-25L pack when it's not winter and I always find that with a set of waterproofs, spare fleece and sandwich box it's overstuffed. The extra space afforded by this pack though could come in really handy. I tend not to use Camelback bladders as I find the water gets warm over several hours close to your back, but for those that do there is a tidy little pocket and conduit for poking the hose through. I like the pre-sprung plastic frame too - anything that keeps your back drier is a good thing. It does have an integrated rain cover too which could be handy in the UK. It's not the lightest pack out there, but that's probably due to all the features. Hydro 35 Rucksack Posted by bigcrags @
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Tuesday, February 19, 2008 Great Camping Website
A while back (nearly a year ago), Kat posted a link to a website called The Happy Campers in a comment here, and I've only just had a look at the site. It's without doubt the prettiest camping website I've come across. Lots of good info in there too, but just go and have a look at the photos and illustrations throughout the site and see if it doesn't put you in the mood for spring and nights under canvas. Fantastic stuff.
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Lightweight Full Length Sleep Mat  I'm sitting looking at one of these mats just now and can't believe that it's weighing in at a measly 550g. This self-inflating mat is full length at 183cm (well, not full length for me, but pretty close) and costs just £30. It's a full 3 cm when inflated and packs pretty small. I've been using one of the standard size Thermalites for the past 5 years (and no punctures yet, touch wood) but I suspect it may be relegated to the loft in favour of one of these at half the weight. As for the green thing going on - the other side is olive and a little more easy on the eyes. See the Thermalite Mummy Shaped Mat here. Posted by bigcrags @
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Monday, January 28, 2008 Compasses and Foil Blankets Back in Stock
It's been a long time coming (last summer actually) but we've finally got some new stock of Reflective Survival Blankets and Deluxe Map Compasses. Apparently the London Marathon had swallowed up the world's entire supply of foil blankets but we're happy to see them back on the shelves again. The deluxe map compass is a long baseplate standard compass - no messing about with sights or mirrors, this is the standard type of compass that you probably learned map reading with.
Posted by bigcrags @
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Monday, January 21, 2008 Minimise Your Impact - Carry Your Poo Out With You
Walkers and hillwalkers in the Cairngorms are being asked to carry their human waste out of the hills in plastic bags and bottles to fling down a "poo chute" beside the main Cairngorm car park. It's a good idea, minimising impact on your hill trips and should definitely be encouraged. On the other hand though can you just imagine if one of these biodegradable poo bags burst inside your very expensive rucksack and spread it all over a few grand's worth of kit. Maybe in future we'll see rucksacks with specialised stink-proof poo pockets that can be clipped on the outside, varying in size depending on the length of your trip, or indeed your own regularity.
See more here. Posted by bigcrags @
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Wednesday, November 21, 2007 Outdoors Cookbook
Mountain Hardwear has assembled a free PDF download of outdoors recipes. Some might be tasty enough to make in your kitchen rather than waiting til your on the hill with your Trangia. Take Smash, garlic and beef jerky - that's good enough for a friday night meal I reckon.
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Friday, November 16, 2007 Cheap Anti-shock Walking Poles  If you're a big guy like me you'll know how easy it is to snap a walking pole (yes, even those expensive Leki's). So it's great that you can now get cheap walking poles with all the features of more pricey models. We've just added to the shop an exceptional value anti-shock walking pole from Highlander. 4 sections, short packed length, comes with trekking basket and rubber foot. An anti-shock walking pole for just £14.50 - that's a deal. Who know's they might just last longer than that expensive one I've just snapped. Posted by bigcrags @
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Wednesday, August 01, 2007 Payment System Down
Apologies to anyone trying to pay for website goods via our shopping basket this morning. Our Payment Provider Protx has done a major update that has broken everything. While they are beavering away to fix things we've made payment via Paypal available. Please click the "Pay with my card using Paypal" button in the checkout, until Protx is running again.
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11:37 AM 0
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Friday, June 29, 2007 Postal Strike
We send all your parcels out by the normally reliable Royal Mail. Today's postal strike however means that if you are waiting for a delivery from us it may be delayed by a day or two. Apologies for this.
Posted by bigcrags @
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