It’s a technical race featuring thousands of rocky steps, transitional ladders and several hours of running through the dark. This will be my second year in a row at the event.

1001 Runners take part from around the world, including pros from the likes of The North Face & Salomon. Due to the nature of the event and the remoteness of the Blue Mountains, each runner has to carry mandatory kit in their packs for the entire duration of the race. The kit can be spot checked at any of the 5 checkpoints, including the finish line; failure to produce an item of mandatory clothing or kit will result in a time penalty.

I finished the race in 14hrs 27mins, which placed me 198th out of 1001 runners. Completing the run within 20 hours earned me the event’s prestigious bronze belt buckle, an incredible personal achievement.

Kit:

• TNF Hyper Track Guide, Koi Orange – £100
• Julbo Trail (Zebra Light Lens), Red – £100
• Compeed Blister Pack – £6.99
• TNF M GTD Vest, Koi Orange – £49.99
• TNF AK Stormy Trail Pant, TNF Black – £110

The post The North Face 100 – Australia appeared first on Snow+Rock Blog.

Vango Alpha 250 £69.99

This tent is packed full of features including a large front porch for your after party, a high dome ceiling so you’re not crouching about, Inner tent pockets so you know where everything is and a lantern loop to keep your light off the floor.

Vango DLX Flocked Chair £15.99

Relax in this extra soft and comfy Flocked chair and take the weight off your feet.

Vango Wilderness 250 Square £32.99

Snuggle up in this luxurious and affordable sleeping bag. It has all the necessary features and with its square shape you can really stretch out.

Multimat Camper Mat £9.99

After a full-on day at a festival who wants to lie on the hard floor.

Silverpoint Daylight Lantern £39.99

This is the most powerful micro lantern around, emitting a massive 300 lumens, making it bright enough to light up your whole tent. The base hook allows you to hang it upside down, turning the lantern into a lamp.

Thermarest Trekker pillow £14.99

Simply fill the pillow case with your spare clothes, fold the flap over and you’re ready for bed.

Dunlop Wellington Boot £19.99

Keep the rain out with these wellies, with a lugged rubber outsole for grip and traction, to hopefully keep you from sliding over in the mud too.

Primus ETA solo £84.99

This brilliant stove is compact, lightweight and fuel efficient. Its high efficiency rate assures fast boiling times so you won’t be waiting long for your brew.

Lifeventure all purpose soap £4.99

This outdoor soap is concentrated so you don’t need so much for each wash, it lathers in both fresh and brackish water and it’s biodegradable, so not harmful to the environment.

Lowe Alpine Kibo 65 £100

This entry level backpacking pack is perfect for overnight camping trips with more than enough room for all of your festival essentials.

The post Festival Top 10 appeared first on Snow+Rock Blog.

SATRA:

SATRA is a remarkable facility used to create benchmarks for standards across the world. Formed in 1919 with the original purpose of helping manufacturers and suppliers to evolve. Since their early years, SATRA has developed significantly and today the brand is recognised and respected in over 70 countries across a diverse spread of product sectors.

Through its commitment to innovative research, SATRA has contributed to many advances in product industries. One better-known example is the boot worn by the British Expedition in conquering Mount Everest in 1953, which was designed and built by SATRA to help the climbers stay safe and comfortable and ensure that no-one suffered from frostbite (the original boot which was worn by John Hunt is pictured at the centre).

SATRA also revolutionised footwear production with a process that became known as ‘heat setting’, which reduced production times and achieved consistent and high levels of shape retention. Heat setting was seen as one of the most significant technological contributions to shoemaking and received the Queen’s Award for Industry. Advances made in footwear design, materials and process since then have led to a multi-billion dollar global industry.

THE EVENT:

The day commenced with a short but convincing presentation on the properties of OutDry waterproof technology compared to ‘bootie’ construction methods.

Bootie construction methods were introduced in 1983 and are still used to make a waterproof lining in footwear. A seam-sealed, sock shaped,‘bootie’ is inserted into the footwear and anchored at key points to make sure no water penetrates through to the foot. However, this leaves a space between the bootie and the upper, where water can gather when it penetrates through the upper material .

Detail of ‘Bootie’ construction

Conversely, OutDry is an innovative technology consisting of a patented lamination process where the waterproof/breathable membrane is directly bonded to the external layer of the shoe (or glove), perfectly sealing any possible water entry point. With OutDry there is no gap in between the upper and the membrane where water can penetrate and stagnate

Detail of OutDry construction

Following the SATRA team to the testing facility we saw a range of tests to show the difference in performance between technologies. The machines were specifically created by SATRA to find any possible areas of weakness that might result in a leak.

At the conclusion of the tests the bootie construction took on water and gained weight, which would mean the wearer’s feet would not only be damp but they would be exerting extra energy carrying excess weight. The boot would have to be dried out and the standing water would have an effect on the life of the boot.

The OutDry footwear came out comparably dry with minimal water gain. The emphatic visual demonstrations delivered a convincing message that OutDry outperforms others on extreme waterproofness.

COLUMBIA OUTDRY RANGE:

Columbia was so impressed with OutDry’s innovation they purchased the company that invented the technology with all related patents and now use it in all their footwear. Their summer range of footwear includes the Conspiracy trail running shoes, which are exclusive to Snow+Rock.

Mens:

Conspiracy OutDry £94.99

Peak Freak Enduro OutDry £89.99

Granite Pass OutDry £89.99

Master Fly Leather OutDry £89.99

Granite Pass Mid OutDry £100

Womens:

Conspiracy OutDry £94.99

Peak Freak Enduro OutDry £89.99

Yama Low Leather OutDry £100

Yama Mid Leather OutDry £130

The post Columbia OutDry – a day of testing appeared first on Snow+Rock Blog.

Having been lucky enough to receive an invitation, I set off early on Tuesday morning for the Peak District. I arrived in Edale at midday, just in time for a bite to eat and the chance to meet new faces. We were then broken up into small groups of five or six to visit each of the brands that were attending the event.

Vango

The first brand of the day was Vango, who had brought a selection of their Airbeam tents. These tents feature an innovative method of support, using air tubes (similar to giant bike inner tubes) in place of poles. Several members of our group were sceptical to start with and had a lot of questions, but any uncertainties were quickly put to rest as we witnessed the result of years of research and development that have been invested by Vango to perfect the technology. There was a quick demo from the rep and then a race to see who could put up an Airbeam tent up the fastest, which was won by Lucy from our Chillfactore store.

Vango rep explaining Airbeam

Airbeam pump setup

Pumped up tent

Our chance to have a go

Race is on!

Vaude / Klymit

Next on our list was a presentation by Chris Nichols (Chris used to be a member of our buying team and now represents Vaude, Smartwool and Klymit). He began by demonstrating the Terratrio range of tents; specially designed versions of the classic Vaude Taurus that have been tailored for the UK market and offer incredible value for money. While they were not the most advanced tents of the day, we all agreed that they are a great buy. Robust and simple to pitch, these are great tents for people who want a lot of ‘bang for their buck’. After we had seen the tents we moved on to the Klymit Inertia X Frame mat. It looked quite space aged and we thought that it might be a bit of a niche product, but when we tried it out we were really impressed by how comfortable it was, even when you were lying on your side. The gaps in the frame have a double function; not only do they keep the mat’s weight to a minimum, they also allow your sleeping bag to “loft” in the space created, which provides more effective insulation.

Chris explaining the Vaude range

The Klymit Inertia X Frame

Putting up a Vaude tent

Mountain Hardwear

Mountain Hardwear brought several tents for us to look at including the Skyledge DP, Hoopla, Direct 2, and Yurtini. The selection demonstrated everything from a super-light tarp style tent that uses a trekking pole as its main support, right through to a narrow single skin alpinist tent designed for fast and light summit assaults in the Alps and greater ranges. The Hoopla and Yurtini were probably the most unique in comparison to other products that are available due to their structure. Both tents have a central pole design that is similar to that of a tipi, with a pole that is made into a hoop and pressed into a shelf to extend the headroom. These tents have the advantage of being really lightweight and quick to pitch whilst still being able to withstand strong winds.

Exped

Whilst the Klymit mat is built for lightweight, technical performance, Exped mats are built for comfort. A cosy bed away from home, these air mattresses have a down or synthetic fill (depending on the model) that offers an unparalleled level of insulation. We had a brief lesson on the history of the brand followed by a demonstration that showed just how warm the mats are and how easy they are to inflate. A couple of the guys in the group made it their mission to get hold of one to test overnight as they wanted to ensure a good night’s sleep, and by the next morning they were pretty pleased that they did!

Trying out the mats

Mountain Safety Research (MSR) / Thermarest

Next up was Mountain Safety Research (MSR). We stock a large range of their tents and it was really useful to get to see key features such as the specialist pole construction for maximum headroom, high rise fly sheet for ventilation, and the extra high bathtub floor in action. What impressed me the most was just how spacious the tents felt when you got inside, despite having a small footprint. Any extra space is great for those extended periods where you might have to spend a few hours sheltering from the rain. Four people sitting and playing cards in a normal tent can quickly become uncomfortable.

Rab

We arrived at the Rab tent to see a pile of super-warm sleeping bags awaiting us; we made a quick beeline for them and got comfortable. There was a swift presentation, which took us through the range and demonstrated the different types of down used in Rab sleeping bags. It was really interesting to see the visual differences between European duck and goose down. In both cases you could see the amount of loft (the space taken up by a given amount of down) that down could produce and we were excited that were going to get to try out the bags that night.

North Face

The North Face was the final brand of the day and provided a huge range of tents and a selection of sleeping bags for us to look over. We started off with the VE25, a tent whose pedigree can be traced back to the slopes of Everest and other mountains in the Himalaya. The tent is designed to withstand the most extreme conditions, which was demonstrated by the rep who jumped onto it with his full body weight, resulting in the tent bouncing back up like nothing had happened. We then moved on to the Tadpole and Big Fat Frog, which are both great tents for the camping in the UK. The presentation culminated with The North Face’s range of high spec sleeping bags. The down bags have a really interesting feature; synthetic fill is incorporated into the underside of the bag, preventing the compression that you get with down for extra warmth and comfort.

Neil Gresham Talk (Sherpa)

The day came to a close with a much-anticipated talk by one of Britain’s best climbers, Neil Gresham. He began with a brief overview of his climbing career to date, before launching into tales of his most recent adventures, which included a trip to the Arctic Circle looking for new ice climbing routes and his completion of the Triple Crown Challenge in Wales. The Triple Crown Challenge involved climbing a hard boulder problem (Jerry’s Roof V9), a traditional climb (Lord of the Flies – E6 6a), and an ice climb (Central Icefall Direct VI). It took Neil three attempts to achieve all three in one day, and even then it was only by the skin of his teeth. The day culminated with a very close call, as the ice that he had been climbing just before he topped out on the final stage challenge collapsed with a loud crack.

Neil’s talk was a great end to an educational and entertaining day. Fuelled by enthusiasm and tales of adventure, we looked forward to the walk and climbs of the following day as well as the prospect of trying out more pieces of innovative and exciting kit.

The post Outdoor Summer Product Launch – 2013 appeared first on Snow+Rock Blog.

It took 18 hours of travelling to get there, but as soon as our coach pulled into the welcome centre in Niseko we could tell we were in for a treat. From day one the snow didn’t stop falling and even the village roads had to be cleared constantly. Every morning there was at least a foot of fresh snow outside our door and it continued to fall all day to top up the (already powdery) piste. I’ve never seen so much snow!

Niseko is famed for its fluffy stuff, but I wasn’t quite expecting it to be so abundant. After venturing out of the gates to the un-groomed/un-patrolled areas there was no going back to the piste. Floating on the powder darting in and out of the trees (not to mention hugging the occasional trunk by accident), I couldn’t have been further away from the European resorts I have visited previously. Add to that no lift queues and fresh snow crab and king prawns for lunch and you’ve got the best days snowboarding I’ve ever had (if you don’t include trying to eat a bowl of rice with chopsticks)! To top it all off the slopes were open until 9pm every night so if you haven’t had your fill throughout the day, you can board by floodlight into the evening and try and beat your personal best speed on the empty piste on your way back down.

Every time you take a lift to the top, it’s like a new day, as the snow has covered the tracks of the people before you and you can board the whole mountain off piste right to the bottom again.

Watching the wave of snow follow a fellow boarder is certainly a brilliant sight, and if you do happen to fall, knowing the deep snow will cushion the blow, is definitely a comfort…. The only problem being trying to get back up and onto your feet again!

If it’s clear enough and it stops snowing you can see the volcano in the distance, but get your camera out quick as the views in Niseko don’t last long, within 2 or 3 minutes it will disappear as the snow closes in and won’t be seen again for days.

There is only one downside to Niseko… ‘THE HOLIDAY’! Now the holiday is a run that might sound like a dream, but in real terms it’s a snowboarders nightmare, it’s a meandering gentle ‘family’ run that has long areas of flat tracks that creep up on you and before you know it you’re walking the rest of the way, along with every other snowboarder who wasn’t expecting a zero gradient and a hike. We quickly learned not to venture off where our only option was to cut back onto this ‘dream run’ or pick up enough speed before you hit the immense flat section and you might just make it through. But if 1 avoidable run is the only downside to a resort then that’s fine by me.

It was a sad day when we left Niseko and we all vowed to return to Japan, but the adventure wasn’t over… next stop…TOKYO!