I love the effect winter has on the roads. My favourite is folk that leave all the snow on the roofs of their cars like a big blanket, yeah, it looks really cool. 20-odd years ago I saw one of these mini-glaciers blow off a car roof onto the poor unsuspecting bastards windscreen behind causing [...]
Posted on November 30th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 25 Comments »
This has been a year of me cropping up. I mean that as an outdoor bloke, I’ve always cropped up as an engineer, often up through a hatch or out of a manhole door, occasionally the BBC as well now I come to think of it, but I digress. One way or another I’ve got [...]
Posted on November 28th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 15 Comments »
Three years and two weeks we’ve lived here, and at ten past nine tonight an ice cream van pulled up outside and stuck its music on for the first time ever. Holly, who was sleeping on the couch was immediately jumping up and down, Joycee was scrambling for shoes as I was digging the coppers from [...]
Posted on November 27th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 6 Comments »
Not looking good. The snow has kept Hendrik in Finland, and the A82 is shut just up the road. Aye, they say timing is everything. Bugger. ************* Exactly one year on from above and below I’m having a meet, let’s hope we get the same conditions. Hendrik is coming over from Finland, and I think [...]
Posted on November 26th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Adventures, Items Various | 39 Comments »
Just in for test… Nah, no way I can keep a straight face saying that. Normally press releases and the like get scanned and filed if something immediately appropriate doesn’t jump out, but I met up with Si from Lyon Equipment the other day and I spotted these monsters. The Stratos were the result of [...]
Posted on November 26th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Gear Diary, Kit Reviews | 6 Comments »
Where Eagles Dare always crops up here, the movie that is. It ranks swith Spinal Tap, Star Wars, Aliens and Jaws as a supplier of quotes for any situation needing one. But, I have to say I’d never read the book until now. It’s a different knapsack of grenades altogether, for a start the body [...]
Posted on November 25th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 18 Comments »
Yes, yes, I know about the colours, in for an exclusive test is next year’s Half Dome from TNF. “It’s all about the fabric” they said to me when I first saw this, and now having spent a good bit of time in it, I can see what they’re saying. The whole jacket is cut [...]
Posted on November 24th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Gear Diary, Kit Reviews | 14 Comments »
I last did this a few years ago, it’s a cracking route. The weather was somewhat indistinct, but I thought I would give it a go, I needed a few shots for a Trail route and I needed to see what kind of nick my knee was in. The right one that is, the left [...]
Posted on November 23rd, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 18 Comments »
It finally clicked why we have the X Factor and other such shows of that ilk. Everytime one of these chumps is dressed up and trained up to sing someone elses song it just shows how good the original vocal melody and musical arrangement was and how piss poor what they’re in the middle of [...]
Posted on November 20th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 27 Comments »
One extreme to the other. Waiting to see if ancient church pipes heat up or not as night closes in is an oddly calming experience, alone in a giant empty and dark building, the only sounds are of hot water circulating and air bubbles being chased into corners where I can let them out with my [...]
Posted on November 20th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | No Comments »
Oh, I hope this good. In for test, the new Apollo Ti from Go System. The link above is the to regular Apollo, the Ti version is much lighter at 198g, helped by the titanium construction and the absence of a piezo ignition. A remote canister stove is the way to go in winter and [...]
Posted on November 19th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Gear Diary, Kit Reviews | 7 Comments »
What’s my most-used bit of outdoor kit? That’s easy, it’s a Victorinox Rucksack. It goes everywhere with me at work along with a small shifting spanner, an electrical tester screwdriver and a Petzl e+lite. It’s amazing how many jobs I go to and I can fix it with just the contents of my pocket. So when [...]
Posted on November 19th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Gear Diary, Kit Reviews | No Comments »
It’s a flask surely? No, it’s a Stanley Vacuum bottle. I did wonder about this one, I actually wanted to test Stanley’s new stainless water bottle with the leak-proof sports cap, but none were available, so with a shrug I went for this instead. I took out out on the Ben Vane trip last week [...]
Posted on November 19th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Gear Diary, Kit Reviews | 2 Comments »
