Outdoors Gear Blog
An outdoors blog featuring outdoors gear and camping equipment
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.



Posted by bigcrags @ 2:34 PM 0 comments
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 @ 8:42 PM 0 comments
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.


Posted by bigcrags @ 12:40 PM 1 comments
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 @ 12:11 PM 0 comments
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 @ 10:26 PM 0 comments
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 @ 2:47 PM 1 comments
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.


Posted by bigcrags @ 2:08 PM 0 comments
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 @ 9:48 AM 0 comments
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.


Posted by bigcrags @ 11:37 AM 0 comments
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 @ 12:20 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Back from Holiday + New Thermalight Mat
If you placed an order in the store while we were closed last week, we'd just like to let you know that all orders from 8-16 June have now been despatched. Thanks for your patience.

We've just got a new thermalight self-inflating mat in stock and we're very excited about it. Packs smaller and is lighter than all the others, but is full length. Will post here again when the mat is on the site.


Posted by bigcrags @ 11:14 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Ben Hope Charity Hillwalk
Assynt Mountain Rescue are running their 10th annual charity hillwalk on Ben Hope on 16th June 2007 to raise funds for Alzheimers Scotland and for the mountain rescue team. If you are interested there is full information on the Assynt Mountain Rescue website.


Posted by bigcrags @ 11:46 AM 0 comments
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Cairngorm 50K Challenge
The children's charity Barnardo's Scotland is launching a major new challenge event to raise funds for vulnerable children in Scotland.

The Cairngorm 50k Challenge takes place on Saturday 15th September and they need teams of four to take part. The teams will hike 15k up Scotland's sixth highest munro and cycle 35k through breathtaking Glenmore and Abernethy Forests to the finish.

If you are interested, or for more information please contact Kat Slater (media officer) 0131 314 6631 or Kirsten Goudie (fundraiser) 0131 314 6647 at Barnardo's Scotland.


Posted by bigcrags @ 10:58 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
New Baby at OutdoorScotland.co.uk - Store Open Again
We're sorry if you've been trying to buy anything at OutdoorScotland.co.uk over the past couple of weeks and been unable to. We had to take the store offline for a few weeks while we got to grips with a new baby boy in our midst. He was born in the middle of march, healthy and bouncing. There have been a few nights without much sleep recently but we're now ready to open the outdoors store again for orders.

Over the next couple of days I've also got some new products to add to the store including a super-lightweight carbon fibre walking pole and some different camping stoves from Go System.

There are lots more exciting new products to come as well this year so keep this blog bookmarked or add it to your reader to stay updated.


Posted by bigcrags @ 12:28 PM 1 comments
Monday, February 26, 2007
Competition to Win Outdoors Show Tickets
If anyone is likely to find themselves near Birmingham in a couple of weeks, it might be worth entering this competition on Outdoors Magic to win Outdoors Show tickets for the Ordnance Survey Outdoors Show on 16th 17th 18th March 2007. Since we've got a new baby due right around then, I wont be entering which means more chances for everyone else!


Posted by bigcrags @ 1:04 PM 0 comments

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