Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2022 i The Great Outdoors

£15 million Combined Liability Insurance cover Cover yourself for hill walking and mountain activities worldwide BMC Travel Insurance Access policies designed for hill walking and trekking worldwide Mountain Training registration Register for awards such as Lowland Leader and Mountain Leader £10,000 Personal Accident insurance cover As a BMC member, you’re covered (aged 3 – 80) when hill walking Summit magazine The biggest outdoor magazine in the UK 15% discount in Cotswold Outdoor / Snow+Rock Plus many more retail discounts across the country JOIN TODAY By joining 75,000 BMC members, you’ll help us: • Be a powerful voice for all adventurous hill walkers, scramblers and mountaineers• Protect the British mountains• Campaign for improved access to the hills we love• Lead environmental sustainability in the mountains • Provide world-class technical and safety…

by Helen & Paul Webster Published by Wild Things Publishing £18.99 IF YOU, LIKE ME, are a bit of a newbie to the French Alps, then this guide is the perfect starting place. It’s from the creators of Britain’s busiest walking website – Walk Highlands – and so it’s no surprise that we’re treated to a wealth of information, lovingly illustrated with mouthwatering photography. However, this isn’t a walking guide per se, instead covering places of natural beauty, historical and cultural interest, region by region. Influenced by the digital realm, guidebooks are becoming less linear affairs – and this one is a good example. The reader can access the information by region or by activity. Prefer hilltop views, villages or forts, caves or open water swimming? There’s an index for…

BATTERED BY WIND and soaked by sheeting rain, we tramped along the boggy banks of the Abhainn Rath. It was dark now, and we’d already braved several minor river crossings in the pitch black. Walking through the long grass felt like wading through treacle. We were hungry, cold, exhausted. Surely we’d been going for far too long – had we missed the bothy completely? “Look – over there!” Somebody’s head torch caught the stark outline of a building in the distance. There it was! The mood changed instantly. Suddenly we were whooping and calling out to each other, delirious with excitement at the prospect of a cosy bolthole from the weather. Because of its remoteness, we’d hoped that the bothy might be deserted; but it was still a relief to…

THE GREAT OUTDOORS Awards are an annual celebration of everything that makes our outdoor lives better. There are two parts to the scheme: the Reader Awards and the Gear of the Year Awards. The former are a democratic celebration of the public’s favourite personalities, campaigners, small businesses and bigger brands. Thousands of people have voted in these awards throughout October and November, and we’d like to say a huge thanks to all who participated and for your fascinating comments. The results of the Reader Awards will be announced in the next issue. Here, however, we’re excited to announce the winners of The Great Outdoors Gear of the Year Awards 2021. Across nine categories, these awards recognise the best outdoor equipment available: innovative and exciting products that – to put it…

OMM Core Hoodie “This is extraordinary,” said judge Chris Townsend, after testing this jacket in the Cairngorms. “It weighs only 115g and is as warm as a heavyweight fleece, as long as you wear a shell over it in wind. It’s so breathable that just walking about in still air you lose heat. My only concern is over long-term durability, but on initial testing this is very impressive.” The OMM Core Hoodie is made entirely from a PrimaLoft synthetic plume sewn onto a single-layer fabric mesh known as PrimaLoft Active insulation. Traditionally plume insulation is found loose between two outer layers. Here, however, the loose plume is knitted onto a single-layer mesh, creating an insulting hoodie that offers the warmth of a fleece but at less than half the weight.…

Black Diamond Alpine Avy Safety Set Judge Lucy Wallace, who is a freelance Mountain Leader based on the Isle of Arran, fully analysed the technical capabilities of this ultralight avalanche safety kit – and was left feeling impressed. The set includes a beacon, shovel and carbon probe. Lucy said: “The weight reduction in the beacon is very innovative. It weighs half of what my current beacon weighs and, apart from a poor battery indicator, it’s super-user-friendly. It is well-designed and the controls are easy to use with gloves on. The 240cm carbon probe is similarly easy to use with clear symbols, and it’s very lightweight too. The shovel is also nice and light. The bucket isn’t massive but it has a nice square design that will cut blocks well.” Elliot…

Rab Arc Eco Jacket This is Rab’s first jacket utilising three-layer Pertex Shield Resolve, a waterproof and breathable fabric constructed from 100% post-consumer recycled polyester. This means the jacket’s face fabric, membrane and backer are all made up of a single polymer, which makes it much easier to recycle at the end of its life. The environmental impact of production is reduced too. The jacket itself features an adjustable mountain hood with laminated peak and fleece-lined chin guard, as well as hook-and-loop adjustable cuffs, YKK zips, two chest pockets and a waist hem drawcord. It has a 20,000mm hydrostatic head and 15,000g/m²/24hr MVTR breathability rating, with a fluorocarbon-free DWR treatment. Judge David Lintern said: “I’ve been genuinely impressed by this 100% recycled polyester hardshell. Its eco credentials are great but…

Fit A close fit picks up and moves moisture more efficiently than a relaxed fit. Tight tops need stretch to avoid restriction. In warm weather, a looser fit allows airflow but is slower to move sweat. Women’s lightweight base layers differ from men’s: they have more shaping, often through curved or offset side seams. They have narrower shoulders, more waisting and hip flare, and can be slightly shorter. Seams Flatlocked seams are more comfortable against bare skin than raised seams. Exterior stitching, which is the norm with flatlocked seams, has the potential to snag or abrade at rub-points like rucksack straps, but it is rare this affects seam integrity. Length Tops should be long enough to tuck into legwear, or under a rucksack hipbelt, and stay there. For women, tight,…

I CAN STILL REMEMBER the full body tremble from being dragged up the climbing route President’s Progress at Brimham Rocks in Yorkshire. I can still remember the shock of the cold water in How Stean Gorge. I can still remember the dorms, the songs, the instructors, and the friends made. The bad weather was utterly irrelevant. Thank you, Bewerely Park Outdoor Education Centre, near Harrogate – you helped to make me who I am today. And I’ve still got the badge. I am not the only one who can remember the details of my first outdoor education residential. Mine was in 1974. So many of us have these memories; and when we mention we work in the outdoors, people will share theirs too. Clearly outdoor education makes a big impression…

by Marc Calhoun Published by acairbooks.com £20 THIS IS A FASCINATING and impressive record of 20 years’ painstaking research by the author, who dedicated himself to finding and photographing the dozens of small ‘beehive’ structures dotted across the Scottish Islands. It’s reckoned that these small stone huts were first constructed by hunter-gatherers, later used and rebuilt by Celtic Christian monks and then, pre-enclosure, further recycled by locals as shielings in the summer months, to graze cattle and produce salted butter and cheese for the winter. The book ranges right across the islands, from the Inner Hebrides of Eigg and Canna, through Harris and Lewis and far out to St Kilda and beyond. It’s far more than just a guidebook, though – the author weaves in the practical detail with stories…

Weather in the British mountains is rarely predictable, to say the least, but planning a trip at this volatile time of year can be especially tricky. Most of the time you have an objective, but there are so many variables – so how can you make it work? For this trip we knew we wanted to have an overnight stay in a bothy somewhere in the mountains of the West Highlands. Whilst that gave us plenty of options, we had to work within a narrow window afforded by lining up the joint availability of four people, and then factoring in annual leave and the arrival time of Jessie’s sleeper train. Everyone knows you need a Plan B. In this case, we had a Plan C and a Plan D too!…

IT WAS DAY 22 of my journey across the Alps, and I’d covered almost 700km to reach South Tyrol. At dawn, I’d watched the beams of climbers’ head torches, silently edging their way towards the summit of the Ortler. Now, I was following part of the same route. I hoped to traverse beneath the white meringues of glacier to continue westwards. I was soon moving through a vast crumbling moraine. The path gave way to shale and boulders. There was nothing solid in amongst the braided maze of glacial outflows pouring from the surrounding cliffs. I balanced the tips of my walking poles delicately against rock edges as my feet danced on the crumbling slopes. Half walking and half scrambling, I manoeuvred around massive boulders and smeared over slabs chiselled…

BAM unveils 100% recycled and recyclable insulated jacket Stepping away from its usual bamboo products, BAM is launching the 73 Zero Insulated Jacket, which is made from recycled plastic in collaboration with expert textile recycler Project Plan B. This hooded jacket can also be recycled, and BAM has a cost-free take-back scheme for doing so. The fill is high-loft quick-dry polyester designed to keep the wearer warm at 0 degrees. The lining and outer are also recycled polyester, the latter having a PFC-free water-repellent finish. All thread, zips and trims are made of recycled polyester too. The 73 Zero jacket costs £170. bambooclothing.co.uk Winter walking boots for kids from Scarpa Scarpa’s latest footwear is a range of children’s boots for autumnal and wintery conditions that have all the technicality of…

THE TESTING for this year’s Gear of the Year Awards took place from the Scottish Highlands to the Lake District, Snowdonia and deepest Lincolnshire as the test team were widely scattered and unlike last year able to travel. As usual my testing was again mostly in the Cairngorms with occasional forays to the NW Highlands. Some of the items I’d already reviewed and had used many times during the year. Others were new, and were tested in wet and windy and occasionally cold October on wild camps and hillwalks. Lucy Wallace also tested gear in typical October mountain conditions – “a mixture of rain, wind and soggy conditions underfoot” – in Snowdonia, and Scotland, including her home base of the Isle of Arran. Some garments “put in a particularly heavy…

Jetboil Stash The Jetboil Stash is a fast, stove, weighing just 200g. It weighs 40% less than Jetboil’s previous lightest models – the Zip and MicroMo (both 340 grams) – whilst having the same size pot. This has been achieved by simplifying the design and reducing the weight of components, but without losing what makes Jetboil special – the integrated cooking system combining a pot with a built-in heat exchanger. Chris Townsend said: “What I particularly love is how light it is. I like Jetboil stoves and have used them on short trips, but never on long ones due to the weight. I’ll certainly be considering the Stash for my next long walk. I think it’s the ideal size for solo use, and just big enough for two if you’re…

Rab Generator Alpine Jacket and PrimaLoft Cross Core Insulation The Rab Generator Alpine Jacket is insulated with ‘cutting-edge’ PrimaLoft Cross Core technology, which fuses high-performance PrimaLoft fibres with a revolutionary temperature-blocking technology known as Aerogel – a highly porous, lightweight structure originally developed by NASA scientists. Silica Aerogel is composed of more than 95% air and is the lightest solid material known to man – and one of the most effective insulators. The jacket itself weighs 540g and features zoned insulation, with 133gsm of PrimaLoft Cross Core on the body and sleeves for maximum warmth, and 80gsm in the hood for improved mobility. The inner is a 15-denier Atmos material whilst the shell is a mix of Pertex Quantum Pro and Pertex Diamond Fuse, providing water and abrasion resistance. Judge…

BAM Bamboo Clothing Inspired by a manhaul expedition across Greenland in 2006, ex-professional pole vaulter (yes, really!) David Gordon set up BAM Bamboo Clothing – with the aim of creating a viable yet environmentally sustainable clothing business. Fifteen years later and the business is thriving, with 72 staff and a leading approach to eco matters. David told TGO: “Everyone who works here believes in the difference bamboo clothing makes to our planet. Bamboo absorbs five times more carbon than hardwood trees. It needs half the land cotton needs to produce the same amount of fibre and it doesn’t need irrigation or pesticides. Add to that how well it works as a performance fabric and you can see why we love bamboo. But whilst we’ve had the environment at our heart…

34km/21.1 miles/10-12 hours Ascent 1060m/3480ft 1 Start/Finish Parking area at Keiloch GR: NO188912 Take estate road WNW past Invercauld House, then track round Altdourie steading, following signs for Slugain. 2 Continue on main track through trees then up Gleann an t-Slugain until route splits. Take left fork which leads to ruins of Slugain Lodge. 3 Stay on path past little lochan and climb to head of pass then follow path N to reach Glas Allt Mor crossing. 4 Once over the water, follow path past Clach a’ Cleirich to The Sneck, then turn right to reach plateau, go over minor top and on to summit tors of Ben Avon. 5 Retrace steps to minor top but instead of dropping to The Sneck, keep going S over plateau to Carn Eas…

11km/6.8 miles/5-6 hours Ascent 685m/2120ft 1 Start/Finish Car park near Llanddeusant GR: SN797238 Follow the vehicle track uphill from the car park, skirting the fish farm, before leaving it to the right on the bend just before Llyn y Fan Fach. Follow a clear and sometimes worn path up and around the ridge past Bannau Sir Gaer to Picws Du (take particular care near the edge in poor weather). 2 At the foot of the hill beyond Picws Du, ignore the path that turns slightly to the left to follow the ridge, instead taking a less obvious path that climbs, almost undeviating, straight ahead to the top of Fan Brycheiniog. 3 Turn left at the trig point, following the clear path descending gently to Fan Foel, walking past the burial…

12km/7.5 miles/4 hours Ascent 325m/1070ft 1 Start/Finish Devil’s Dyke car park GR: TQ258110 Follow the path alongside the road to a junction with the South Downs Way (SDW). Turn left to traverse the edge of the dyke. Cross the road at Saddlescombe and continue along the SDW. 2 Turn right onto the Sussex Border Path. Follow it for about 800m to a junction of paths, then turn left down Varncombe Hill. 3 Cross the road and keep to the edge of the field up to the top. Keep straight and cross the next road. Follow the track past the golf course as it becomes the Monarch’s Way. 4 Turn right just before the bridge and keep on the path for just over 2km. 5 Turn right at Fulking Hill, then…

Iona Andean Iona is the founder of Iona’s Adventures, a hiking group she set up on Facebook in 2018 to meet like-minded people to enjoy walks and outdoor experiences with. It snowballed into a group with 4,500+ members, and despite Covid throwing a spanner in the works for 18 months, a recent group walk in Glen Tilt marked its happy return. In this issue, Iona and three friends go on a wet, wind-buffeted and ultimately very fun weekend adventure in the wilds of the Lochaber landscape – check it out on p30. Kirsty Pallas Kirsty is a freelance Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor and Winter Mountain Leader based on the west coast of Scotland. She has been instructing for over 10 years and is also a callout manager and training officer…

ROUTE OF THE MONTH Start/finish: the westernmost parking layby off the A5 next to Llyn Ogwen; SH656602 Maps: OS Explorer OL17 (1:25k), OS Landranger 115 (1:50k), Harvey British Mountain Map Snowdonia North (1:40k) Distance: 16.4km / 10.2 miles Ascent: 1356m / 4449ft Duration: 7 hours IF YOU NEED your fix of Snowdonia ruggedness but want to bypass the crowds flocking to Tryfan, the Glyderau and Snowdon’s serrated Crib Goch ridge, the Carneddau range is a wise choice. That’s not to say it’ll be completely empty, but you certainly won’t be queuing for the summit – and, despite being quieter than its more famous neighbours, the Carneddau range still delivers world-classscenery. You’ll be treated to stunning views of Tryfan’s distinctive pyramidal profile, while the ridges and high peaks have an unforgiving…

Postal address The Editor, The Great Outdoors, Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent ME18 6AL. Please include a phone number and postal address. Sustainable hiking: could TGO do more? I’m sure the reader survey you are currently running [Ed: you can complete the survey at tgomagazine.co.uk/survey] will reveal interesting insights to guide the future direction of the magazine. In my view it is in excellent health, due to a combination of the variety of topics and worldwide locations chosen, and the familiarity of regular personable contributors, who build up a sense of trust with the readership, whether Alan Rowan’s route recommendations, or the informative equipment reviews produced by people like Chris Townsend and Lucy Wallace. I have some additional thoughts though for the future. Should…

“On the Beacons the Old Red Sandstone reaches its highest point in Britain outside Scotland, forming, as seen from Brecon, three noble rounded heads above an abrupt scarp face. Few landscapes could more perfectly illustrate the effects of glaciation than this quartet of magnificent northward-facing cirques that look down their smooth U-shaped valleys from rims that are hardly yet eroded by gullying, as if it were only yesterday that the glaciers melted.” Exploring Wales, WM Condry, 1970 YOU COULD BE FORGIVEN for thinking that there’s only one route up Pen y Fan: that from Storey Arms. It’s surely the easiest ascent of an 800+ metre summit in the whole of Britain, which must be why it’s so popular. My advice is to avoid it like the plague. Tedious doesn’t begin…

It covered the following regions: the Julian Alps, the Carnic Alps, the Dolomites, South Tyrol, Bregaglia, Ticino, the Pennine Alps, Aosta Valley, the Vanoise, Queyras, and the Mercantour. The climbing took in many mountains between 3500 and 3900m, graded up to PD+ and VF3. He carried a lightweight tent, crampons, ice axe and via ferrata set… and not much else! His rucksack weighed 7.2kg without food, water and stove fuel. He passed a village store every 3-4 days to restock on food, but also ate at many refuges en route. ALPINE HIGHLIGHTS The Sentiero Di Roma – Val Masino, Italy Difficulty: scrambling up to Grade 2 This rugged, multi-day traverse leads you beneath the jagged peaks of the Val Masino. The terrain is extremely rough, but rewarding. There are many…

Inov-8 Rocfly G 390 Inov-8 has made it a hat-trick, topping our footwear charts for three years in a row. In 2019 the Roclite G345 GTX took the crown, in 2020 the Roclite Pro G 400 GTX won top spot and this year the new Rocfly G 390 has won Gold. Released in October 2021, it is a cushioned boot with the world’s first graphene foam midsole. It also features a grippy graphene outsole and a breathable, quick-drying upper (without waterproofing), and weighs in at an ultralight 390g per boot. Judge David Lintern said: “A really practical balance between comfort and ground-responsiveness from a brand better known until recently for its minimalist running shoes, the Rocfly is perfectly dialled for big backpacking days in warmer conditions, with a wide forefoot,…

Sea to Summit Ether Light XT Extreme Mat Our judges waxed lyrical about this 10cm-thick, warm and comfortable sleeping mat, which features Air Sprung Cell technology and boasts an R-value of over 6. Judge David Lintern said: “No corners are cut with the Ether Light – the high R value ensures protection from the ground in truly sub-zero temperatures and the regular size is wide enough that your arms don’t fall off the sides. It’s fairly weighty and bulky in the pack but probably the most comfortable sleeping mat I’ve ever used. It comes with an inflation bag to protect it from mildew and condensation, and this ensures better durability.” Alex Roddie was impressed by the low weight despite the impressive R-value, explaining, “720g isn’t that outrageous for a really…

PrimaLoft Over the past few years, PrimaLoft has dominated our innovation and sustainability categories, thanks to a series of pioneering and ground-breaking impressed with two of PrimaLoft’s innovations – the P.U.R.E. (Produced Using Reduced Emissions) manufacturing process, and PrimaLoft Bio, a biodegradable synthetic insulation made from 100% recycled plastic bottles – and the insulation brand has impressed yet again in 2021. Our judges were particularly complimentary about Cross Core, technology developed by PrimaLoft engineers who found a way to integrate Aerogel (which is 95% air and the lightest solid material known to man) into PrimaLoft’s fibres, enhancing insulation’s warmth and decreasing weight at the same time – a seemingly impossible win-win. Judge Chris Townsend said, “PrimaLoft is a very innovative brand,” whilst James Forrest added, “PrimaLoft arise a major player…

BASE LAYERS may not be the most exciting garments in your outdoor wardrobe, but they have crucial jobs to perform. I can well remember those early hillwalks dressed in poorly performing T-shirts, feeling wet and cold under my jacket. A well-designed base layer will ‘wick’ moisture away, helping to keep you dry. This in turn regulates temperature and keeps you comfortable. Comfort as well as safety – what’s not to like? Base layers tend to be simple in design and relatively close-fitting, as this optimises the performance of the fabric, although looser fits are available. They tend to be classified as lightweight, midweight or heavyweight, and as you’d expect the lighter ones tend to be more comfortable in summer, while the heavier base layers are warmer and more suitable for…

17km/10.5 miles/5 hours Ascent 660m/2160ft 1 Start/Finish A683 lay-by at Middleton Head GR: SD630891 Head S, cross Jordan Lane, take path up by caravan sign. At road go L, climb to Fellside. Through gate, climb to wall; via left-hand gate onto Fellside. 2 Follow path E, bearing SE towards wall corner. Drop into valley, follow track upstream, then ford and climb to wall at Brown Knott. Follow wall SE over Long Bank, cutting corner at Long Bank End. Follow wall S then SW over Barkin Top to Calf Top. 3 Walk SW to cairn at wall corner. Follow quad bike track over saddle to Castle Knott. Bear R, NW, 700m across plateau then bear W 1.3km down Howehill Head to wall. Follow wall S (L) to gate at SD635848. 4…

20km/12.5 miles/6-7 hours Ascent 580m/1900ft 1 Start/Finish Lay-by at Broadway Tower GR: SP113360 From Broadway Tower follow Cotswold Way downhill, via a series of small gates, cross stream and continue to road at Broadway. 2 Turn L through village and ake Snowshill Road on L after triangular green. Go R on Cotswold Way after 300m and cross fields, with footbridge, to West End Lane. Take stile on R (signed Buckland) and cross stiles to enter wood. Go through gate after 600m, cross valley and fork L after 150m. Keep ahead, with woods on L, into Buckland and turn L at lane. 3 Walk uphill on lane/byway, go through gate at top and turn R on broad track (Cotswold Way). Go R after 750m, at farm, and continue uphill, through three…