I’m moving towards the core with this review, away from the shell garments discussed in the earlier ‘old favourites’ blogs. The Helly Hansen Lifa Stripe Crew is my favourite baselayer and in twenty years of running, mountaineering, climbing and cycling I’ve tried many alternatives, but none do everything a baselayer needs to do as well as the humble Lifa.

Promoted by the growth of triathlon and participation by high profile adventurers, open water swimming’s reputation is rapidly being revitalised. Endowed with fresh water lakes, rivers and temperate coastal waters, the UK is perhaps the best starting point for the sports rebirth. Romantic and natural, open water swimming benefits from the lack of gear and an unrivalled connection with a novel environment. Goggles are however a must-have item, and require a certain degree of specicifity in the open water. Aqua Sphere specific focus on swimming gear and are particuarly relevant for open water swimmers with their collection of wide-angle swim goggles. I’ve been testing the Vista in the Great Swim Series – here’s what I thought.

In recent years Red Chili have established themselves as one of the leading manufacturers of rock climbing footwear, a position that has been cemented by their release of the Matador … Read more

The Montane Slipstream GL Jacket shares a common thread with the first ‘old favourite’ review in that this too is a pertex garment. As you may have gathered in the previous blog I’m quite a fan of this brilliant windproof material. Essentially the Slipstream jacket is an ultra-light, single-layer windshirt made with the very lightest pertex available: Pertex Quantum Gossamer-Light. Montane, like Rab, are a British company which designs in the UK but manufacturers abroad. They have an established reputation with outdoor professionals and their products are deservingly popular with mountain rescue teams, the emergency services and the military. Montane specialises in windshells, softshells, hard-shells and pertex and pile garments.

For a while now surfers have been at the forefront of the eco-conscious green movement. But do surfers ever stop to consider actually how to tackle the environmental side-effects of … Read more

Founded in 2004, POC are a young Swedish company who started out specialising in snow sports protection. They have now seamlessly segued into three main areas: snowsports, cycling and eyewear. Pushing environmental awareness, POC’s ‘Bug Series’ is an innovative range of protective gear of which 1% of each purchase is donated to an project in the Amazon Rainforest.

After a wet and cold winter season over 2009/2010, I decided to go big for this winter. I’ve been riding the Cross Glove from Gore Bike Wear. These gloves are Gore’s most substantial offering and are packed with features; A fully waterproof GORE-TEX® lining, adjustable elasticated cuffs and a soft thumb, ideal for winter snot-mopping. They are much bulkier that the Endura glove with a noticeable reduction in control over the bike, making them unsuitable for mountain bike duty. On a recent 5-hour training ride in the Scottish highlands these gloves coped with wind, snow and rain. My fingers remained tepid during the long decent from the Cairngorm ski centre, with past experience telling me my hands should be freezing. From now on these gloves will be my first choice for cold, wet days. However if I think I can get away with a lighter weight glove then I will switch out for the Endura Strike.

Although relative newcomers to the snow scene, Armada have quickly risen to become market leaders in freeride skiing and boarding equipment. Their focused product range and professional technology puts their skis are at the top of their class. The JJ is their flagship all mountain powder ski. With all the aspects that a modern powder ski should have – tip and tail freeride rocker, AR50 sidewalls, a 50/50 Base and a hybrid ultra core – I thought a testing was in order.

Five years ago, there were a number of superficial reasons to purchase the Giro Atmos. As the brand’s top offering, it represented the protection of choice for a number of Pro … Read more

The Smartwool PhD light sock is manufactured from Merino wool and uses SmartWool’s 4-Degree Fit System, which puts more cushioning where it’s needed for skiing and ski mountaineering. While any pair … Read more

The Norrona Narvik shell pant is a versatile piece of ski outerwear.  It has a  3-layer Gore-Tex construction with reinforced inner leg panels to prevent sharp edges tearing the fabric. … Read more

Biosafe Solutions is a Scottish business which supplies alternative, non-toxic cleaning products. The company provide an environmentally safe solution that functions in the same way as a conventional cleaning product,  … Read more

First of all, the basics: the Edge 500 is the successor to the Edge 305, though could perhaps be best seen as a stripped-down, smaller, lighter version of the 705. It really is a remarkable package: light and compact, yet offering 41 options to choose from displayed on up to eight customisable fields per ‘page’, of which there are three available for full customisation.The main point of departure is the lack of GPS mapping; though for me this was of little importance and if this is something you consider essential then you are well-catered for by the new, touch-screen successor to the 705, the Edge 800.

MSR Evo AscentThe MSR Evo Ascent 22 is a US-manufactured all-terrain snowshoe. It has a modular construction with the option of attaching a 6 inch tailpiece when carrying extra weight or walking in deep powder.

Since 1997, Gore Running Wear has sought to combine the best possible materials and technologies in high-tech apparel for runners.  The Gore Air Lady jacket combines Windstopper® technology with mesh vents … Read more