I had planned to do a review of my year for Hogmanay, I enjoy turning back the metaphorical and actual pages and being prompted into remembering. But not this year, I can remember it all in frightening detail without difficulty, and that’s as far as I’m going to get with a summing up I think. [...]
Posted on December 31st, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 14 Comments »
During the recent wintry spell I tried all sorts of footwear to keep myself upright at work and play without having to use traction devices. The biggest outdoor brands and the best rubber compounds fought for friction on a daily basis, and as ventured back out today the pair that were sitting ready to go [...]
Posted on December 31st, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | No Comments »
In the absence of anything fancy to say at this auspicious time, I’d just like to wish everyone out there the very best and share a tenuously Christmasesque photie of Thaddeus on a sledge.
Posted on December 25th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 12 Comments »
When I review stuff I try to keep what I think are my personal preferences in check. I know I don’t manage that all the time, enthusiasm or disinterest is very hard to disguise. But I’m trying. Until now anyway, below is my top ten(ish) of the past year, kit that’s been on every trip, [...]
Posted on December 24th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various, Kit Reviews | 20 Comments »
Douglas Adams said it was the “Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything”, but it really does feel like it’s all questions. Fox Mulder lived in apartment No42 to give it a little mystery, Monty Python’s “How Not to be Seen” sketch is presented as “H.M. Government Public Service film No. [...]
Posted on December 23rd, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 23 Comments »
I haven’t got a hope in hell of getting any more test kit up this side of Christmas. Which is a shame as there’s a bunch of good stuff to come, including the Edelrid Opilio remote canister stove and Edelrid gas, Petzl’s Core and Ultra Belt, Grivel’s Haute Route lightweight axe, Outdoor Research’s sub-200g Helium [...]
Posted on December 22nd, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Gear Diary, Items Various | 11 Comments »
There’s not enough days left, too much traffic in my way and I type too damned slow to get it all done by Friday. Still, it’s glorious out there, the fog swathed Clyde Valley has rarely looked quite so magical as it has these past few days, with every surface and every shape soft and [...]
Posted on December 21st, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Items Various | 14 Comments »
I was on my way to a meeting, a little earlier than planned, a rarity for me. The fog hung heavy over us all, but I knew it wasn’t a long swim up to the surface, I swapped lanes st the very last second and diverted to the Kilpatricks. A quick shufty and I’d be [...]
Posted on December 20th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Adventures | 7 Comments »
Lost in a wilderness of colour, it can only be the Haglöfs showroom. No longer a shed, but the same faces and huge array of kit as usual. There’s a bunch of new stuff as well as updates, some personal highlights are the new merino base layers, the new Paclite killing (I’m not supposed to [...]
Posted on December 18th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Gear Diary, Kit Reviews | 68 Comments »
Time was when TNF was seen as the absolute top-end, the kit was iconic, bold looking and as technical as you could get. The Point Five Jacket in for test takes me right back to those days. Now relax there at the back, the Point Five is part of the Summit Series, so I haven’t [...]
Posted on December 16th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Gear Diary, Kit Reviews | 3 Comments »
I got the X-Talon 240′s in for test, what, a year ago? And it’s high time I spoke about them. The Gore-Tex lined Roclite 288′s earned the nickname of Suicide Socks, but the X-Talons are the rightful owner of that title. The upper is softer, and does feel more like a sock than a boot. [...]
Posted on December 16th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Gear Diary, Kit Reviews | 11 Comments »
When the High5 package came in for test, it felt like I’d come home, I used to fire this stuff down my neck on a regular basis. But as I slowed a bit and carried a tent more I drifted away from it. Now that everyone is trying to be “real food” with their sports [...]
Posted on December 16th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Gear Diary, Kit Reviews | 5 Comments »
The village was a bustling port at one time, and from the sea-lock (boats could leave the canal basin directly into the river) for a few hundred yards towards Old Kilpatrick there was a boardwalk where steamers could dock. When I was young the remains were much more substantial that the lonely black timbers that [...]
Posted on December 14th, 2010 by PTC*
Filed under: Adventures, Items Various | 8 Comments »
