Anyway, that fine motif with the robot lady below is the newish LP from The Atomic Bitchwax, The Local Fuzz it’s called. It’s a vinyl album in length at 42 minutes and it’s just one track, and an instrumental at that.
Some music I listen to and it takes me somewhere, fires an emotional response, sparks a memory or has me playing air guitar outside a tent at 1000m on a winter’s night. This album has me closing my eyes and wishing hard that I could be in the room playing with them while they were recording.
It’s everything I love all at the one time, fuzz-toned old school riffs and licks that could have been from Sabbath, Budgie, Rush, Canned Heat, ELP or Ted Nugent. The playing is brilliant, the song meanders from one place to another always with a hook to hold you until the next one comes along. 
It has a groove, then a bounce then a swagger and time just flies by. I’ve found myself arriving at my destination in the hearse and waiting for the song to finish, for too long sometimes as well, folk start twitching their curtains at the shady man with a nodding head in the black motor.

I love when unexpected joy and inspiration lands out of the blue, this was from a distracted clicking of links from the familiar leading to the unfamiliar. Good to know there’s metal at the end of the random internet rainbow instead of just something with pop-ups wanting you play online poker or meet with rather scary looking “local” ladies.

Lets have a look at the stuff we like, the stuff we want, but is it the stuff we’ll get to see in the shops? Here’s a preview of Haglöfs Winter 2012.
Below are a few highlights, stuff that caught my eye or that Gus flagged up and there’s a few crackers in there. There’s a change creeping through the range, a little UK influence in the design which is tightening up some of the techy features I think and of course purple is back in a big way which is a joy and a delight, whatever hue it is, we need colour in our outdoor gear.
Pretty much the whole range come in mens and wummins (Q) versions and there’s a mix of both in the photies.
This range is a precursor to a big relaunch of sorts where the long standing designs will all be discontinued at the end of this year, which means most importantly if my email inbox is anything to go by, get your Rugged Mountain Pants while you can, there won’t be any in 2013.

Above is the Gore-Tex Active Shell Endo Jacket in Oxy Blue and the new Endo II Pull. The Pull is identical to the jacket, active cut and genius softshell cuffs included, it’s just got a shorter zip which brings the weight down a little to 300g for a large. I’ve been wearing one of these and I’ll have a close up on it later, but the news is good.

Above is the 390g Tilta Jacket and it’s matching 320g pant below, both in Active Shell. It’s a proper mountain/alpine style in what I think is a brilliant fabric.
The cut is good, the hood is protective and the mesh lined pockets are well placed and a decent size. I’m wearing a green one below and you can see it’s a good length too.
The pants have long leg zips, knee articulation and a nice belt and popper waist.
The Tilta pair look like good all-round kit to me.

I used to love my old 90′s Karrimor Summit jackets, 3-layer ripstop Gore Tex with a hood you could hide in and here it is again, now called the Atlas.
It’s a trad British-style shell jacket at a sturdy 615g, you’d get a, whisper it, fleece under it and the hood is a shield of steel. Good big pockets, “map” pocket on the chest and some crowd pleasing colours. Hopefully it’ll be a success and they’ll do other colours next time. I liked the green right enough, but still, where’s the orange an’ that?

I love these hoods, above and below is the Spirit in Gore-Tex Pro Shell. 515g of mountain jacket with big chest pockets and a scooped tail.
There’s different weights of fabrics for weight saving and abrasion resistance, kind of a Spitz for non-climbers maybe?

Talking of which, above are the new colours for the Spitz II and the girls Spinx version below. Doesn’t it make you glad that even the black one’s got colourful zips? Gore-Tex Pro Shell all round and 520g above versus 485g below.

Above and below is the Vassi jacket and pants. They’re a loose cut freeride combo for folk that look cool on a snowboard, which is obviously not me.
Hugely featured, hugely detailed and hugely expensive, they’re made of Gore-Tex Pro Shell and are an absolute joy.
I love the marriage of tech, practicality, wacko style and screw-you-hippy colour choice. Everything in life should be like this.

Below is a Spitz II with it’s Guard Pant counterpart in Pro Shell. Slipknot anyone?

This is the new Astral Jacket in 2-layer Gore-Tex. Nice and clean design, comfy and a good hood. It’s 710g and would be a good do-it-all from work to the hill, something that your sub 300g jackets can’t hack as well as we’d hope.
The fit was excellent on me as you can see below, I liked it, easy to get distracted by the top end tech stuff.

Haglöfs stalkers jacket? The Tundra does have that look about it, and when did you last see a jacket that long? It’ll keep the wind and rain off your arse that’s for sure. 730g of 2-layer Gore-Tex with huge pockets to hide your salmon or rabbit in. The girl’s version gets a purple option. Humph.

Haglöfs own Proof waterproof fabric comes on two and three layer versions and gets used on several proper techy designs as well as your more basic er, dog walker jackets. There’s an eco element as well, both of the Proof jackets above are made from recycled polyester.
The Velum Q on the left, 445g wummins medium, and the 740g Incus are both 2-layer Proof with a separate lining which I always think is comfy to wear if bulky to pack. nice detailing and good all-round jackets, I just widh they’d sex up the men’s colourways a bit.

Below is proof that Paclite still lives, it’s the LIM II Q (used to be the LIM Ultimate) in Griffon purple with Emerald for the boys behind. It’s still a good design, I’ve got a couple of these and it’s still right there with whatever the next best thing is for the new season, you just have to work with Paclite’s moisture management.

This cheery bunch is the Shield collection. The polyester windproof fabric is a good one, I’ve washed and worn this stuff for years and the addition of the thin softshell back and underarm panels seems to have been well received as they’re still doing it. New to the lineup is the Glaze Jacket as the far right, with a bike friendly design of rear zipped pocket and reflectotronics and a cool weather slant with a brushed flannel inner.

Shelled insulation has been popular and there’s some new models. Above is hims and hers Utvak Jackets, Proof outer shell and Primaloft fill, 100g in the body and 60g. Heavy, but designed for snowsports and general winter use by folk like me where it’ll be so cozy you won’t care.

Gus is hiding in the mighty Vassi Parka, same Primaloft 100/60 as above but here we’ve got a Gore-Tex outer. It’s long in length and it’s got pockets agogo. The main zip has an offset to give you a nice smooth face warmer and there nice detailing all over. There’s a purple version for the blokes as well as the girls. Ha.

The Gore-Tex shelled Nevluk in blue gets some updates with a longer length, snowskirt and handwarmer pockets that go behind the insuation.
It’s pals are the new his and hers Qanir Jackets which have a Windstopper shell with the same mighty Primaloft 100/133g fill as the Nevluk. A warm bunch, my Nevluk is my winter #1 jacket.

The Barrier Pro range continues with some new colours, that’s the Jacket and Hood above. Very light with decent warmth, the hood with a down vest is a killer combo for camp.

New below are the Essens Down Jacket and Vest. Small baffles with PowerStretch arm gussets a small packsize and light weight. Important to note that the vest has elastic arm holes, amazingly not everyone does this.
I’ve been using a jacket and I’ll have a review up later. Yes, I have the purple one.

And so to the might down kit, the Magi Down Hood and its Q sister. Stuff like this always feels good when you wear it, its like being upholstered in the lining of an angels nest. Weights are 755g and 675g for the Q, down is 800fill of 93/7 goose down in a box wall construction and the shell is recycled polyester 20D ripstop.
There’s even bigger and badder models too, the Yalda and the Aquilo which are monsters.

The Lizard Jacket gets a purple makeover for men and quite right too.

Below are the new fuse Vest and Fuse Jacket. These are Windstopper multisport tops with pockets for bikers and runners nice protective thumbloop cuffs (see below). The fabric is a stretchy variant and the grey back panels are in the lighter FlexAble for a bit better breathability and weight saving. Feels good on, but looks oddly like a medieval knights jousting underwear hanging up.

This is the Fin Hood in Windstopper. It’s a well featured heavy duty mountain softshell with proper hood, usuable pockets and pitzips. Weight is 605g  and the fit and cut is excellent with a surprisingly long body for something that’ll attract climbers as did it’s much missed ancestor, the Sharkfin. Nice.

More Windstopper above with the Pelamis Jacket and the Eryx Hood. These are interesting because it shows how weight can vary so much with fabric choice and design. The Jacket is 610g and the Hood is 520g, always worth looking at the spec before you go and whine on an outdoor forum.

Above are the Rando Pants in FlexAble. Great fabric and a good all round winter design, the good news is that both of these colours are available in girls and boys sizes along with rubbish black.

The Lizard Pants below will come in three colours this winter and they nicely fill the gap between leggings and softshell pants. Simple is good.

The emotion is real, honest, the Bungy Hood above will get a proper write up later, it’s still got work to do. The whole Bungy range Vest/Jacket/Top/Hood continues and gets new colours.

There’s some new colours for the Isogon Jackets and Hoods above, the Thule Hood’s below and the Zone Jackets below them. I’m pleased of course.

The Actives baselayer range gets some colour changes and some new models. The Actives Warm Zip Top gets a new friend in the Warm Hood which I’m wearing below. I like it, I’m not scared of hooded baselayers. Although to be honest, as it’s a beefy baselayer with a pocket, I think it’ll be a cracking light midlayer over a t-shirt or a vest. Good whatever I think.
That’s the matching Short John with the blue trim and the Q Knicker for the ladies.

Save the best until last? This is the Roc Legend Mid GT, an approach, scrambling, gadding about boot, It comes with a Sole footbed, Vibram sticky rubber outsole, suede upper and a Gore-Tex liner. I want them I want them I want them.

Not a bad assortment, a lot in there caught my eye and it’s great to see so much colour. I’ll have some reviews of winter samples coming up soon. Still can’t get the wummins purple samples to fit me no matter how much I try though.

That final statement left me with a raised eyebrow and mixed emotions. At least if they’re talking to me they’re not bothering some other poor sod.

Regular listeners might remember me posting the arrival of samples of the new down quilts from PHD last year. I had a wash out of backpacking trips at the end of the year so the single quilt only made a couple of trips where I got used to the concept but didn’t feel confident enough to write it up, something that I’ll be rectifying shortly.
However, its evil twin has seen some hard use, its the PHD Double Ultra Quilt.

This has to be the hardest thing I’ve tried to take a photie of, the PHD site makes a much better job of it, but luckily it’s more than just an er, pretty face.
The stats are few, the quilt weighs 642g, the size is 82″ x 82″ and the construction is stitch-through. The baffles are long and in four rows, the loft is fantastic as it should be from the 900 down fill. The fabric is PHD’s own MX which is silky smooth and very light.
These elements add up to a very light quilt for the size of it and one thing that we always noticed was that the materials and construction allow the quilt to contour its occupants without losing its loft. I’m pretty sure larger baffles or heavier fabric would try to flatten out the quilt at places like your hip or shoulder where the Ultra just lies gently on you. Smaller baffles would contour too but wouldn’t be as warm with less loft and more stitching, the production versions of the quilt have definitely hit a sweet spot.

You might notice the “we” above, while the double could be used for solo nights, very warm ones at that it you wrap yourself up in it, its size makes it just right for two. It’s first job was on our family camping trip to Glen Coe last year where it was the final layer of family protection, being thrown over the top of all of us to guarantee Holly stayed warm. This meant that it had to fend off food, drink, felt tip pens and other craziness which is did very well, I know from experience that the MX fabric does the job, it’ll take some moisture and abrasion as well as being more puncture resistant than some of its equivalents.
It was warm as well, warm enough for us to throw it off in the night despite the frosty November air. This wasn’t lost on me and Joycee and the quilt didn’t go into the outdoor pile, it went into the bedroom.

I remember having chicken pox in my twenties (I had them when I was little too, it’s a long story, I’ll tell you at camp one time) and being cold at night but not wanting to pull the duvet over me as the irritation drove me crazy, I have a similar memory from a day I fell asleep on Ayr beach and got the worse sunburn of my life where I shivered at night, too sensitive to put a duvet anywhere near me. I would have traded my waist-length hair which I had at the time in an instant for the Ultra, now imagine real medical conditions where pressure is pain, a weightless quilt would be a godsend.
With those thoughts in mind, I felt very lame when I pulled the Ultra over our thin summer weight duvet as winter started to bite, there were probably others more deserving of the luxury. Joycee was more worried by the blackness of it, but after a few minutes neither of us cared about anything other than the warmth, the comfort, the cozy joy of it.
We slept under the Ultra all winter, almost every night until quite recently in fact. We used the light duvet underneath which kept the Ultra clean and when it did get too hot we could just throw it off the end of the bed. It’s weightless, you just don’t feel its there and the insulation is incredible, getting out in the morning is just like sticking a hand out of your sleeping bag to find your stove in a frost encrusted tent porch. The silky fabric doesn’t bind to other fabrics either, so although we just had it thrown over the top of our duvet without any ties, the Ultra tended to stay in place, our movement not affecting it much.

The Ultra has tie loops so you can fix it down with cords or bungees, it is a proper bit of outdoor kit and after something like 100 nights under it I would have have no hesitation in packing this, or its little brother, for a trip. It’s light, adaptable, made of top class materials and the bottom line is that its really bloody warm under it.

You’ve got to get your priorities right, cover all your bases, get your backup plan in place and then decide to hell with it and run through the door screaming anyway.

The Forestry Commission now own almost all of the Kilpatrick Hills, they don’t own a lot of the fringe land but they own the whole of the central plateau and all the peaks without a gap other than the lochs which are part of a reservoir system.
Grazing rights are set to be revoked in a couple of years and the hazy plan seems to be something about planting a mix of cash crop trees and indigenous trees. Aye, a huge plot of high land with undisturbed catchment of westerlies? They’re sitting rubbing their hands thinking about how many wind turbines they could fit up there, they own the land, they’ve already got road access for  big vehicles and planning would face fewer objections. Few folk can see the area from their windows and the first they’d know about it would be when the white windmills of satan start popping up on their horizon by which time it’s too late.

There’s to be consultation, public meetings, plenty of time to work it all out apparently. Aye.
You know me, you know exactly where my head is at right now.

There’s something lovely about an old school bakers, not the chain ones, individual bakers where everything on the shelf looks different and tastes different to what you can get used to on a high street. They always seem to be run by wee older wummin who’ve been there since the sixties with a glam lassie on the counter to carry the flag onwards and charm the workies. The cuppas come from big tins of coffee and a carton of milk instead of a machine, the sausage rolls are the size of your arm wrapped in pastry, there’s always too much icing on the buns and too much filling in the rolls. Bless them every one and long may they thrive.

I love my new toilet roll.

I have voted in the council elections as is right and proper. You know me, I’m all about being Scottish and all that it brings good and bad, but for the first time I haven’t voted SNP.
There were three independents listed on the ballot paper and they got my pencilled 1, 2 and 3 in their check boxes, even the one who had proclaimed ”christian values” in his pamphlet.
SNP want to cover my country in wind turbines so until they change their tune they can piss off. Our vote is power, if we all wielded it, if we had a 100% electorate turnout we could make a difference.
The independents no doubt have their quiet agendas too, but their jacket’s on a shaky nail with no one there to catch its fall if they screw up, so get them in and keep an eye on them is where I’m at for the moment.

It was a nice walk to the polling station in the evening light, time to think, time to get annoyed. There’s always time to get annoyed. The wreck in the harbour is blending into the scenery in colour and shape. Could be a metaphor in there somewhere.

If I keep getting skies like this a mere handful of metres above sea level, I may never climb a mountain again. I’ll just open the windows, wear my down socks and light the stove on the carpet.
The girls would love it.

The clock ticked onwards free of influence or pressure, its eternal constance as reassuring as it is relentless. Another minute left behind and clasped hands were gently flexing or  lightly straightening already pristine and pressed suits, previously steady feet creaked polished leather and shifted nervously.
One more minute and the figures suddenly moved with a mechanical purpose towards the execution of their next, simple, but final duties. When the telephone rang, to observers it might have felt as if a firecracker had been thrown into a wake, but there was no more effect on the floor than a cessation of the event.
The phone was answered with a flick of his eyes at the clock. Close.

“Yes?” He listened for a few seconds.
“Yes” The receiver was replaced.

He spoke to the room.
“A new MOT certificate has been issued, the hearse has been granted a reprieve of up to year pending other repairs and ongoing appeals.”

Bare feet on carpet, a bottle of Irn Bru with a straw in it, I wasn’t in a hurry until Holly exclaimed “Oh, My, Goodness! Look at the sky!”
She wasn’t wrong, low cloud, churning slowly and lit fantastically by a sci-fi movie professional lighting man. Holly and I stayed by the window with “our” camera and took turns in snapping the view as the colours and shapes morphed both subtley and quickly.
13 minutes it took from start to finish, what were the chances of that being this weekend’s lucky number?

Where would I be of an evening without that lovely front windae and Jimmy Panasonic’s sunset mode?

Joycee, where the aftersun? I can’t feel my bottom lip…