Find below our complete guide to outdoor skills, well almost complete! We’re in the process of organising the content into more coherent sections.
YES! Despite our innate nature, Mud and Routes are becoming more organised!
As a starter for 10, here’s our Complete Introduction to Map Reading and Navigation Online Course.
As Christmas draws ever nearer, like most of us, you’ll probably be over indulging on mince pies and spending the dark evenings lounging on the couch. However by the time New Year comes around you’ll be wishing you hadn’t eaten quite so many chocolates and making resolutions to lose the extra pounds and get fit! […]
Get Running For The New Year With Couch To 5K Read More »
This is probably one of the more daunting cleaning jobs, but not all that difficult if you’re prepared. It’s a good time of the year to get the spring/summer bag washed seeing as it’s not going to see much use for a good few months. Of course, it’s not the best time of year to
How to Clean and Reproof a Down Sleeping bag Read More »
So you’ve fancied submitting a route, or downloading one, but you’ve no clue what these mythical GPX files are that we’re on about. Basically a GPX file is a collection of information about a route that includes the location data, altitude and possibly time and heart rate information too. If you upload one of these, then it’ll
Everything you wanted to know about GPX but were afraid to ask…. Read More »
Who’d have thought that you’d need anything more than a spork when out camping? Well here’s something that you should find useful if you intend to do anything more than boil water. The MSR Alpine Cookset comprises three items: a large spoon, a spatula and a strainer. If you want a fried egg (see this
MSR Alpine Utensils Review – Spoon, Spatula and Strainer Read More »
This little puzzle has always perplexed me on the hill. Easy enough to cook an egg sunny side up in a large pan with oil, but that entails carrying a larger frying pan than needed up a hill and the problem of waste oil at the end. This method means you can use a 12cm
Perfect Camping Fried Egg… Read More »
Another of those little things that can easily cause a bit of head scratching. Ideally, if you’ve never done this then you probably should ask someone to show you how to do this. If you’ve done it and need a reminder (my first winter trip every year sees me fixing my crampons incorrectly! I’m hoping
Winter Skills Putting On Crampons Read More »
One of the more difficult things for winter walking is getting used to walking in crampons again. Unless you’re lucky enough to get up to Scotland over the winter, then walking with crampons further south is something you may only wear for a few hours on a day trip and only rarely all day. So
Winter Skills – How To Use Crampons Read More »
To some of you, this may well be stating the obvious but if you’re ready for your first trip out in the snow with a group and you’ve packed your flask and sandwiches. Then you’ve a pack in one hand and an axe in the other and you realise you haven’t a clue how to
Winter Skills – Attaching your Axe to your Pack Read More »
Taking an ice axe on your winter trip is all well and good but you need to know how to use it for stability and, if you do slip, for self arrest techniques. Walking poles just don’t cut it. This is just a useful reminder video and it’s recommended that you get shown the ropes
Winter Skills Ice Axe Arrest Read More »
With Winter officially here and the clocks turned back to perpetual darkness for another five months, the only good thing we’ve got to look forward to is mountain biking on Snowdon and the possibility of loads of lovely snow. Before you get out there it might be worth watching the Snowdonia National Park’s video to brush
Diogelwch ar y Mynydd Amodau Gaeafaol- Mountain Safety – Winter Conditions Read More »
Setting out for a winter walk you’ll need to make sure you’re properly dressed, but if you’re not then you’re from as much risk from overheating as you are from the cold. You need to be comfortable.. This means that it’s no good whacking on that down jacket at the start of the walk, unless
Layering up for Winter Read More »
It’s not officially winter, but it’s definately start of the winter season as far as the mountains are concerned, so we’ve put together a small series of articles in order for you to make the most of any snow we may be lucky enough to fall. We’ll have a few articles on winter skills, videos
Get Ready For Winter Read More »
As the days get depressingly shorter and winter approaches, it’s time to think about getting some high viz gear out. Last night I set off with the sun on my back, only to return a few hours later in complete darkness. Needless to say I hadn’t bothered taking any measures to make myself more visible.
5 Things – Night Running and High-Viz Read More »
Apart from having to drag my lazy ass out of a toasty warm bed in the morning, I’m a lover of winter running. Once you’ve got yourself going, there’s nothing like the cold crisp air in your lungs and the crunch of winter frost underfoot. For one thing it is not as exhausting as running
Kitting Up For Winter Running Read More »
I’ve just come across this file on my mapping software. Intriguingly, it’s all the spots at which I’ve wild camped in Snowdonia and it certainly shows that I need to get south a little more! The striking thing about this is that of all the times I’ve walked along Nantlle and Mynydd Mawr, I’ve never managed to camp
5 Things – Choosing Your Wild Camping Spot… Read More »
With the winter soon upon us and snow a distinct possibility from this weekend onward (though probably only in the Highlands), we take a quick look at the forecasting sites out there. MWIS – Provide a daily forecast for all the major hill areas. The printable version is ideal for downloading onto a mobile, or
5 Things – Mountain Weather Forecasts Read More »
It’s getting that time of year when you need to give those long abused leather boots a make over. 1 – Clean ’em – Water works, though you can get some proprietary boot cleaners that work out a little expensive in the long term. Use a brush to clean out all the dirt from the seams. You
How To – Waterproof Leather Boots Read More »
We recently reviewed the Mountain House dehydrated meals and while we like the choice, it would be great to be able to cook an even wider variety of meals on the hill. This is where the Mountain House dehydrated chicken breast comes in handy. I’ve looked at this on American sites with envy in the past as
Mountain House Dehydrated Chicken Breast Read More »
If like me, you’re a little nervous with merino wool, here’s a brief run down of how to make sure it gets washed properly. 1 – Read the label! If it say’s anything different to us, then take the label’s advice over ours! 2 – Fill the sink with hand warm water. Don’t put water
How To – Wash Merino Wool Read More »
On the recent revamp of sister site Walk Eryri, like scouting around in the attic, we were covered in cobwebs, screaming in a girly manner at the spiders*, the dust allergy was flaring up and we found stuff we didn’t realise we had. So here’s a heads up to a series of articles that I
What does it take to become a Mountain Leader? Read More »
You’ve read, possibly, out previous jaunts into the hills, and being staunch day walkers you’ve thought it not for you. The luxury of the b&b and the pub, a comfortable bed and a good night’s sleep are all you crave between your days of walking or biking. Well, we’re a soft bunch here really, and while
Lightweight Luxury Wild Camping? Wild Glamping? Read More »
You may think we’ve finally lost it but now’s the time to buy all the stuff you need for winter! Following the heavy snow last year, you may remember the difficulty in getting hold of those essential items that you didn’t think of until the white stuff had fallen! Here are some thing that you may need
5 Things: Prepare for Snow! Read More »
Just like the Titan kettle, the MSR Pocket Rocket is another classic piece of kit by this company. After over five years use, this hasn’t worn in but instead has developed a patina from the heat. When first released, it set the standard for lightweight stoves and acheived the holy grail of lightweight. It essentially
Classic Gear Review 4 – MSR Pocket Rocket Read More »
Anyone who is older than the age of consent will probably have heard of the Karrimor brand. Erstwhile stalwart of the walking community, it went to the wall and was bought up by a larger company a few years back. Since then, it’s become a bit like the French Rugby Union Team, in that if
Karrimor – Bargain Running Gear? Read More »
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