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Warming-up at Basecamp
MAKE SHORT WINTER DAYS LAST FOREVER. #WINWINTER
the alpine issue. obviously. ISSUE 03: OUTPOST BY ALPKIT. WINTER 2016
Ed Leigh takes DIY winter camping into Switzerland
Dan the marketing man makes use of a rare section of tarmac whilst putting the new Camino AL through its paces near the Emosson Dam in Switzerland. 2 alpkit.com
GRAB SOME FRIENDS. YOUR TENT. YOUR BIKE, YOUR OTHER BIKE. PACK THE VAN. SATNAV THE ALPS. DRIVE. SLEEP. DRIVE. CAMP. WAKE. WASH. CLIMB. CYCLE. WALK. EAT. SLEEP. LAUGH. EXPLORE. MAKE NEW FRIENDS. BOULDER. RIDE. EAT. DRINK. SLEEP. SWIM. VALLEY TO SUMMIT. MAKE SHORT WINTER DAYS LAST FOREVER. #WINWINTER OUTPOST 3
John, Dan, Emma, Matt and Monica setting up basecamp in Italy.
John and Emma in Men’s and Women’s Koulin trail tees £14
Warming-up at Basecamp The first chance to really breathe. You’ve got everything. It’s unpacked, sorted then packed tight and light for each day. Supper’s on. Time for planning, plotting and possibilities. Just the right amount of anxious and no more brave talk. Quarters that feel rough now are going to look like luxury in two days’ time when Friday’s expectation becomes Sunday’s wrung-out. Alpkit was inspired into existence when cheap flights to the Alps made previously exotic sounding adventures possible. And if getting there was affordable, the gear could be too. We should all get the chance to ‘Go nice places and do good things’.
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Matt and Emma ride the Camino Alloy and approach bike prototype into town for supplies.
Heksa Expedition dome tent £740
Fran wears Akita jacket in Zest £35
Monica wears Mamalute jacket £40
Emma wears Faro soft-shell shorts £53
Ordos 2 and 3 tents Ideal for valley basecamp use £195 / £245
Dirtbag Wideboy XL self-inflating sleeping mat £55
Fran wears Tonka men’s zip-off trousers £45
Landar gas stove £40
Mountain Ghost 200 synthetic sleeping bag £60 (400-£80. 600-£100)
John staying warm in the PipeDream 600 £230
Monica wears Kepler merino baselayer £45
OUTPOST 5
John wears Filo HD/RDS NEW Hydrophobic down £160 Chilkoot softshell trouser £60
FIRST, WE EAT. John eats. Nom. Kelvin 450ml mug £29
MyTiStax (Part of a 3 piece set) £55 TiMigos titanium cutlery £13 Mashk collapsible bowl from £14
Brukit Wolf £48
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MytiMug 650 £29
Things to cook on, cook in and eat with. Literally helping to fuel your adventures has become a little bit of a speciality for us. Our camp cookware pots, sets and stoves are purposefully lightweight, compact, minimalist and packable. And the ultimate range is our Titanium gear. Titanium is 45% lighter than steel and stronger than aluminium. It is the lightest cookware you can buy before you start to compromise on strength. It’s also corrosion-resistant and very durable. And because titanium can be made with very thin walls, it’ll transfer heat efficiently, heating quickly. Titanium is the ultimate choice for travelling lightweight.
Celebrate summer’s end with autumn’s rich pickings. The tastiest echoes of sunshine are held in the fruits and berries that have been ripening for months. Turn petals into wine and berries into jam then squirrel them away for winter treats. It’s such a loss if we overlook the free and natural foods that fill our trees and hedgerows in autumn. Only ever pick what you can identify with certainty. Hopefully this little piece will inspire you. Please don’t take it as a guide to foraging – that could lead to all sorts of problems. Instead get in-touch with our foraging friends at edenwildfood.co.uk. They’ll help keep you safe.
1. Rosehips 2. Elderberries Rosehips have a vaguely citrusy flavour and provide high levels of vitamin C. They have been widely collected for years and made into a syrup for flavouring food. They can be found in most hedgerows and in rough ground. The fruit is a vibrant red-orange and is easily recognised. You must remove the inner seeds before eating.
Elderberries are another common favourite and are found in hedges and woodlands. These small, dark red, almost black shiny berries grow in large clusters and are great added to pies, crumbles or jams, or even better when made into sweet wines.
3. Wild strawberries 4. Hazelnut These can be a little harder to come across, but when found they are often abundant; it’s well worth searching for these little parcels, bursting with sweetness. They are usually found under cover and very close to the ground.
Does anything say autumn is here more than the humble Hazelnut? Just as the leaves begin to turn they are ripe for picking. Found in hedges and woodland the nuts are found huddled in their leafy chalice. Just be aware that you may need to get them quick, or be prepared to battle it out with the local squirrel population.
5. Blackberries 6. Hawthorn berries The humble Blackberry is often the first berry we scavenge as kids, emerging from clumps of dense bushes bloodied, with purple stained fingers and faces. This prickly shrub grows abundantly and goes from vibrant green to reddish green as the berries become deeppurple to black when ripe and ready for picking. Perfect for jams, sauces, pies, crumbles, even mixed with a salad or with warm meat.
Like Blackberries the Hawthorn is abundant and can be found on any area of disused and uncultivated land. The branches are spiky and fierce whilst the berries are bright red and have a gentle taste, often said to be like apples. Traditionally they have been used to make jams or wine, mixed with sugar to taste.
OUTPOST 7
DARING DEEDS REAL STORIES, EXPEDITIONS, ROAD TRIPS AND ADVENTURE. alpkit.com/deeds
Photo credit James Silson
Photo credit Erlend Bodo Nu
INTO THE MAELSTROM THREE BRITISH BROTHERS ARE THE FIRST TO SWIM ACROSS MOSKSTRAUMEN – THE WORLD’S BIGGEST MAELSTROM. Calum, Robbie and Jack wear men’s Lotic open water swimming wetsuit £135
Fear has a way of sharpening the senses. As I sat in the back of the RIB, the cold sea air rushing through my hair and the spray chilling my face I could feel my stomach churning. I was deep within the Arctic Circle in Norway, the black sea is 9-10 degrees here and hypothermia is a real danger to swimmers like myself, my big brother Robbie and little brother Jack. We were about to attempt the longest swim in the Arctic Circle and we were adding the world’s most powerful maelstrom into the mix, the Moskstraumen.
“It was incredible, looking up to my left and seeing my little brother Jack dwarfed by the cold black expanse of the sea and the distant rugged coast.”
Maelstroms are clashing vortexes of water. The Moskstraumen is the world’s biggest – 8 kilometres wide, between the islands of Lofotodden and Mosken. It’s the stuff of literary legend, Edgar Allen Poe, Jules Verne and Herman Melville all wrote about its monstrous power. No-one has swum in the Moskstraumen or attempted to swim across it.
I leaned back in the RIB and felt the fear rise, a pod of killer whales had been seen in the Moskstraumen just four days before. Despite posing little threat to humans, the thought of the black shadow of an Orca beneath us was psychologically challenging to say the least. We were expecting to be in the water for around two to three hours and that is a long time to cope with 8 alpkit.com
fear. I looked across the boat at my brothers and our support team Beth, Dave, Luke and James and thought to myself that I needed to embrace this, no-one knew what it was like to swim through this maelstrom or what the currents would do to us and I felt a sense of wonder. With my brothers either side of me, stroke for stroke across the maelstrom I knew we would emerge on the other side. We entered the ice cold water at 8.00am, setting off across the 8km stretch of water. It was the most incredible experience of my life, looking up to my left and seeing my little brother Jack dwarfed by the cold black expanse of the sea. Lion’s Mane Jellyfish, bigger than us, were floating below Robbie and Sea Eagles patrolled the skies. Together we merged into the sea. At times freezing cold currents tried to push us backwards – upping our stroke rate allowed us to hold our positions. Beside each other and beneath the water I could see the smiles on my brother’s faces as we pushed through. We reached the tip of Lofotodden at 10.31am Wednesday 24th August. No time for posing as I was in the early stages of hypothermia. This was never about the challenge, it was about experiencing Mother Nature on her own terms. READ MORE alpkit.com/deeds/into-the-maelstroms
Sonder Camino Alloy Alloy drop-barred adventure travel bike. Destined for adventure it is quick, light and not afraid to leave the asphalt. 6061 Aluminium • Disc specific • Full rack and guard mounts Optimised for 1x groupsets • Full builds from £749 (spec as shown Camino AL Apex1 Hydraulic £999)
Alpkit.com/sonder
EVERY ONE HAS A STORY
1092m
Tarmac, track, stream, tarmac, woods, gravel, tarmac.
Alpkit has a reputation for solid, UK built, custom bike luggage backed up by our Alpine Bond Guarantee. We also offer great lightweight and fully taped waterproof seat and bar bags. Alongside these and new for 2017 will be a fully welded setup with
the Tovaro bar bag and the Fiana seat pack which will redefine lightweight durability for bike packing.
UK made luggage in stock now. Koala seatpack £70 Possum frame bags from £55 Kowari seatpack £50 Stem Cell from £25 Fuel Pod from £28 Testing new lightweight waterproof luggage with welded
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1527m THE CAMINO AL. WHERE YOU GO IS UP TO YOU.
The Col de la Forclaz tops out at 1527m and is the crossing point between the towns of Martigny and Le Chatelard in Switzerland. It’s a formidable road climb but also marks the high point of a vast network of trails, perfect for the adventurous bike packing cyclist. Calibrated for long-distance comfort on rugged roads and paths, the Camino is tough and fast and starts at £749 (with a SRAM Apex1 spec at £999). Sharing the DNA of a cyclocross, gravel and adventure race bike, the Camino geometry has been relaxed for full-on adventure and full day comfort. The wheelbase is long, the head tube is raised – it’s set for all day riding without compromising on speed. Camino is designed to get you out there exploring the world. Whether meandering along the dusty trails of California or racing for the finish of Tuscany Trail, Camino gives you the exhilarating mix of speed and versatility.
technology, packed with features for long trips. Due 2017. OUTPOST 11
ALPKIT
TIPS FOR
HUTG LIVIN - 2016 -
Fran with the ‘alpine start’ face
Lampray lantern and charging station £32 Masson sleeping bag liner £14
Calling the top bunk often gets it. Leave those smelly socks out of the bunkroom. If you’re first up get the coffee on. Don’t flush in the night just for a wee. If it’s brown – flush it down. Take your sense of humour with you and don’t let the language barrier be a fun barrier. Teaching Italians to sing 'Donald Where's your Trousers' is a great evening’s entertainment. At least have earplugs and ideally comfy headphones and some ambient music to soothe you to sleep (fancy noise cancelling headphones are good). Once the lights are out keep the stories and songs to a minimum. If a persistent snorer is keeping you up, take a few deep breaths. Chuck something at him then quick as a flash jump back into bed. As he comes to terms with waking up and getting back to sleep you have a few precious minutes to get to sleep.
WE STAYED AT rifugiotorino.com
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John catching up on some zzz’s in the Heiko jacket £85
HUT KITLIST: Lampray 196 lumen camping lantern and USB charging station £32 Masson Lightweight sleeping bag liner £14 Trekkers Mid weight walking sock £12 Osmo Travel towel £7 Viper 2 Head torch £18 Tippla Stainless steel hip flask £16
Emma and Monica admiring the view in Filo HD/RDS £160
Squij Compact travel bottles £14 Airlok 2 - 35l lightweight dry bags £6.50-£12 Pass The Pigs Probably the best dice game ever £10 Compact Ultra Twin Folding aluminium trekking poles £34 (per pair) Laika Lightweight mid layer £24 New Filoment Hoodie Down jacket £130 Kepler Merino base layers, top and bottom. £45 (top) £21 (boxer)
The gear room
Heiko Primaloft jacket £85
OUTPOST 13
5IFTY5IVEHOURS Most of us work the 9 to 5, we wake up, we get in our cars, we drive to work, we work all day in front of a screen – or at least indoors under those fluorescent lights – then we get back in our cars and we drive home. If we’re lucky we might squeeze in a run at lunch or maybe we ride to and from the office, or get a quick lap of the boulders in on the way home... We’re just the same, we love to chase the ideal, find that ‘work/life balance’, but, truth is that doing what we do is
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hard work too, we work real hard all day, every day to provide the best products, at the best prices and to back that up with fantastic service. So, our time off is precious to us, we want to make sure we squeeze every last drop of activity and FUN out of that time. Mostly that time is our weekends and the time from leaving the office on a Friday to the clock striking midnight on Sunday is that time, that is the window of opportunity, 55 hours to do as much,
or as little as we want. It’s 3300 minutes to spend solo, with family, with friends, outside, in the hills, on the trails, on snow, on the water, in the rain, in the mud, suffering, laughing, crying, it’s our time to fill, our time to do what we like. 55 hours is a series of films about real people, doing real things in real time. Keep an eye on Alpkit.com for the 55 hours series coming soon.
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY Come and see us as we tour the country through 2016. Here’s a list of some of the bigger events we’ll be showing our goodies at. We shall also be running and attending smaller events through the year. So keep a watch out on alpkit.com/events or sign up to our newsletter for regular updates.
WHERE’S BEN? MEET BEN, OUR NEW EVENTS CO-ORDINATOR. WE FIND IT HARD TO KEEP TABS ON HIM. MAYBE YOU CAN HELP?
Hi guys! My name is Ben and I’m Alpkit ‘Unplugged’ Events Co-ordinator... Outside of work I’ve paddled kayaks for twenty years and have spent the past ten pursuing high volume rivers and the perfect play wave. I’ve also been a climber since I can remember, peaking at a reasonably stylish ascent of the E8 ‘Ghia’ at Black Rocks a few years back. It’s not all play however, I went to uni and managed to leave with a double outdoor degree. Since then I’ve worked as an instructor and raft guide until I grabbed a ‘winter job’ at Alpkit in early 2016, and nine months on, I’m still here. After learning
everything I can about the products in customer service (if you’ve bought from us or called for advice then you may have spoken to me), a job was advertised to take on the role as ‘events co-ordinator’ and the rest is history. Whenever you see the big red Alpkit tent at an event you can be sure to find our usual range of products and maybe even some extra special offers! Obviously we can’t take a full range of products to every event so we try and match the range to each event... but if we don’t have what you want at the event you can usually place an online order and take advantage of any special show pricing with free delivery. One of the main reasons to come and see us at events is that you get the opportunity to ‘try before you buy’ which is a rare occurrence for an online based company. There will also be plenty of advice, laughs, freebies, dog biscuits and (where permitted) cups of tea. So next time you see the red Alpkit tent, pop in and say hello, we don’t bite (much)!
MOUNTAIN ARTS FESTIVAL 21-23rd October 2016 WELSH CANOE SYMPOSIUM 29-30th October 2016 TYNE TOUR 4-6th November 2016 KENDAL MOUNTAIN FESTIVAL 17-20th November 2016 LONDON BIKE SHOW 11-14th February 2017 SHEFFIELD ADVENTURE FILM FESTIVAL 17-19th March 2017 MANCHESTER BIKE EXPO 18-20th March 2017
See you around, Ben OUTPOST 15
Monica and Fran pitching the 2 person, 4 season Kangri Geodesic mountain tent ÂŁ400
Making sure you S.L.E.E.P in the mountains.
How to get a cosy night, in a very uncosy place.
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Airo 180 Self-inflating sleeping mat £48
Filoment Hoodie Insulated down jacket £130
Kepler Draught Excluder Merino multi-use headwear £17
Extreme Foods Freeze dried main meals £6
Hunka Ultralight bivvy bag £47
S.
L.
E.
E.
P.
SURFACE
LAYERS
EXTREMITIES
EAT
PROTECTION
Fight conduction that will suck heat away from your body through your sleeping bag, use a self inflating mat, (e.g. Lumo or Airo) and if sleeping direct on snow or in very cold conditions consider using a thin closed cell mat along with your inflating mat.
Fight convection by layering up inside your carefully selected sleeping bag; keep a set of clean, dry thermals for sleeping in. Use a liner bag to keep your bag clean and provide extra warmth and protection. Use your insulated jacket or similar as an extra layer of warmth in extreme conditions.
In extreme cold conditions often the only part of you on show will be your face/head, so wear a hat. By the same token your extremities are at most risk in cold conditions, this is the same when sleeping so keep warmer by wearing warm socks and even gloves inside your bag.
It is your body that warms the inside of your sleeping bag so it makes sense to keep your internal furnace stoked... do this by having a hot meal before bed and keep your energy levels high. If you get in your bag cold, wet and hungry then it will take much longer to warm up.
Condensation will build up when warm moisture meets a cold surface. This could be the inside of your tent, bivi or tarp, or it could be the inside of your sleeping bag. In these conditions you may get ice forming actually inside your sleeping bag... this is bad and will quickly lead to the bag being less efficient and less warm*.
*TIPS FOR FIGHTING CONDENSATION Pitch tent at 90 degrees Vent your tent as to prevailing wind for much as possible and max airflow. keep wet snow out.
Wherever possible cook outside your tent/shelter.
Put wet kit in dry bags Air your sleeping bag and stuff them inside regularly to minimise your sleeping bag. moisture build up.
OUTPOST 17
DARING DEEDS REAL STORIES, EXPEDITIONS, ROAD TRIPS AND ADVENTURE.
alpkit.com/deeds
ALPINE IGLOOS ED LEIGH TAKES DIY WINTER CAMPING INTO SWITZERLAND. I am celebrated amongst family and friends for my ridiculous ideas. I own a library of idiotic tales, from cutting seatbelts out of my Mum’s car to use as skateboard footstraps to alleviate speed wobble, to hosting an awards ceremony as the Lovebot, an obsolete 70’s sex robot who was made from so much tin foil that the microphone shorted and electrocuted me. Ed Leigh is a journalist and broadcaster specialising in action sports. After 5 years as a pro snowboarder a knee injury steered Ed into journalism. As the Editor of White Lines Magazine he became the voice of the sport and his break came at the 2006 Turin Olympics where he helped bring the snowboarding to life. He now presents BBC2’s Ski Sunday and is Red Bull’s equivalent of Clare Balding.
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So it was with great joy in 2008 on a trip to Patagonia that I thought I had discovered a kindred spirit in our guide Ben, who proudly announced that he was the owner of an igloo maker. He then produced a flimsy plastic box. It sounded and looked ridiculous, but he assured us it guaranteed a perfect igloo no matter what the snow conditions.
extreme environments including Svalbard, Alaska and New Zealand where I saw the limitations of tents in freezing environments. At the same time having been led on so many trips and gathered so much experience I wanted to test my skills by building my own adventure. I wanted to take a group of friends for a late season backcountry trip and having based myself in Verbier Switzerland I was able to scope locations. In early March I found a NW facing bowl at 2800m with varied terrain, safe run out zones and a raised flat area for building igloos.
Unlike my flawed exploits the igloo maker proved itself a brilliant idea. Despite poor quality melt freeze snow it created an igloo that slept 4 people with ease in plus 0˚C temperatures while the mercury plummeted outside.
Our group was 8 strong, but this was part of the plan. If you are a small group of 3 or 4 the igloo maker weighs the same as a tent and takes fives times as long to erect. But once you have more than 6 people, the equation swings in favour of the igloos, you are saving the weight of 2 or 3 tents and yes the time to build the igloos is still there, but they have consistent internal temperatures of 1 to 2 degrees and they don’t flap or make noise in the wind.
That experience planted a seed with me that took 8 years to germinate. I have been a part of other people’s winter camping expeditions to
In mid April we struck out from the top of the Mont Fort with only the flimsy plastic box to provide shelter. I was quietly terrified that despite a lot of practice in
Photography credit melodyskyphotography.com
We used: Phantac Insulated down jacket £195 Alpine Dream 1100 Down sleeping bag £280 Cloud Base Inflatable sleeping mat £50 TiFoon Titanium spork £9 Ali Pots Aluminium pan set £25 Concertina Camp stove wind shield £11 Glowe Compact camping lantern £17
the garden, the igloo maker would join skateboard footstraps and the Lovebot on my epitaph as proof of the moron who had found his way 6ft under. Slightly more worrying was the fact that 7 other people, one of them my wife, had also bought into my enthusiasm. We started the tour in glorious sunshine, but a niggling knee injury for one member of the group saw us lose time and the end of the tour was clipped by the storm that we had seen in the forecast. At 3pm, a couple of hours behind schedule we started to construct the first igloo and to my horror the bricks disintegrated as soon as we removed the former. The top layer of snow was very cold and light and 20cm below, skulking like a coffin was a rotten layer of frozen rain. I had a choice between fear and confusion. I opted for the more upbeat confusion and it was met by problem solving positivity by the crew. They dug test pits on every aspect and quickly discovered thick wet snow on a southerly slope. In filthy conditions it took 2 and a half hours to build the 11 footer and another 2 hours for the 9. At 8 o’clock everyone was cold, wet and tired, outside
the blizzard was really starting to enjoy itself, but inside the igloos were warm and dry. Overnight the storm laid down 30cms of snow and as forecast when we woke at 5.30am the skies were clear and a paradise had revealed itself . We spent the next 3 days exploring our private bowl, daytime temperatures were well into the teens, at nights clear skies allowed the warmth of the day to escape leaving sub zero temperatures to stand guard. After 4 days we rode out safely and all agreed the trip had been an overwhelming success. The igloos proved they are capable of withstanding an incredible range of conditions, saved us more than 15kg in tent weight and gave us warm, silent shelter at high altitude. Armed with more confidence I have already picked out a spot for next winter where I’m building a village…
READ MORE alpkit.com/deeds/alpine-igloo
OUTPOST 19
The Alpkit Foundation is delighted to support Millom School.
TURNING THE LAKE DISTRICT INTO A CLASSROOM FOR A DAY HELPING MILLOM SCHOOL GET 350 KIDS INTO THE GREAT OUTDOORS. “An important aspect of the activity week trips into the Lake District was that they should be free to the students so that all students had the opportunity to attend. This would not have been possible without the funding from Alpkit and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Alpkit for their support”. Headteacher Matt Savidge
In July 2016, during the schools activity week, 350 Millom School students from Years 7 to 10 enjoyed a visit to Grizedale Forest in the Lake District National Park.
Given Millom’s location on the edge of the Lake District National Park, staff are keen to motivate students to re-engage more with the natural environment.
The purpose of the visit was to give all students at the school the opportunity to experience the National Park and to better understand how to protect its environment.
At the same time, students will develop those skills and characteristics which are essential for success in life, such as leadership and teamwork skills.
The visits took place over four days and on each day students from one of the year groups were taken to Grizedale Forest by coach and completed a 5 mile circular walk to Hawkshead and back. Once back in the forest they divided into teams and completed tree investigations including a tree survey. This gave students the experience of how to enjoy the National Park and also an appreciation of the importance of trees and forests, such as Grizedale, to the National Park.
Alpkit set up their Foundation in July 2015 to help people overcome obstacles that prevent them from Going Nice Places and Doing Good Things. Run by a mix of staff, customer and independent trustees, it’s funded by the company’s profits, with around 1% of annual sales going into a pot to help people enjoy the great outdoors.
GET INVOLVED You can make a donation or find out more at alpkit.com/foundation
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For years Alpkit have been encouraging you to breathe life into old gear When your partnership with this is over, don’t leave it hidden in a cupboard, never to see another adventure. Wash it, pass it on. Give to a friend, sell it on eBay, donate it to charity, make it into something else or recycle it and let someone else live their dream. ALPKIT CARE LABEL
Gift Your Gear is an award-winning nationwide initiative founded by Sarah Howcroft to provide donated outdoor clothing and equipment to UK community organisations, youth groups and charities working with young people in the outdoors.
Gift Your Gear by post Donate your unwanted outdoor clothing and equipment. Please ensure all gear is able to be reused for its original purpose.
Find out more at giftyourgear.com
HUNDREDS OF MOUNTAINEERING, CLIMBING AND ADVENTURE FILMS, ON DEMAND. Touch the mountains without leaving the lounge – all the inspiration and tales of daring-do you need to keep stoked and no need to brave the journey beyond the front gate. Just easy streaming from steepedge.com Featuring the latest releases and festival award-winners, alongside timeless classics, SteepEdge’s hand-picked collection from around the world celebrates critically acclaimed, established filmmakers as well as promoting up-and-coming talent.
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FIRST USE THE CODE: %OFF YOUR 3 ORDERS ALK20 SIGN UP AT steepedge.com
KARUN
57m
Two british adventurers set out to follow Iran’s longest river by human powered means.
TOM
67m
Attempt to be the first to climb solo the six north faces of the alps in a single winter season.
AND THEN WE SWAM
37m
A row of 3500 miles across the Indian ocean ends with a capsize and a battle for survival.
OPERATION MOFFATT
A joyous film exploring the colourful life of Britains first female mountain guide. 20m OUTPOST 21
Trust takes time. Alpkit have known the Roca family for nearly 20 years. The Roca family have been perfecting the art of making ropes for the last 124 years.
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Gearing up on the Col du Géant. Emma wears new Definition waterproof jacket £210. John wears new Phantac jacket £195.
A RELATIONSHIP BASED ON TRUST AND MUTUAL RESPECT.
Alpkit have worked with Roca for nearly twenty years, although the Roca family
have been making ropes for the last 124, so we are understandably proud to be selling Fixe Roca climbing equipment and having a relationship that goes way back. Fixe, Roca and Alien Cams are all manufactured in Barcelona by Tech Rock – a small climbing company established by climbers for climbers. We are the exclusive distributor of Alien Cams, Fixe Roca Ropes and Fixe hardware in the UK. And we now stock Fixe Roca’s entire range of ropes and slings from minimal weight twin ropes,
Rope: Roca Zen 8.1mm from £60
Helmet: Fixe ProLite £55
If you climb, you know how important good partnerships are. With trust built over many years, not only do you climb harder and higher, but the pint at the end of the day even tastes better. Applying those same principles to business seems to work pretty well too.
Harness: Fixe Magic Verso £45
Belay: Faders HMS M £10 and Miku belay device £12
sport climbing ropes, half ropes and trad ropes. The ropes handle brilliantly and perform in all conditions from baking hot days in Montserrat to anything that the Naranjo de Bulnes can throw at you, and of course they also work on a gray day in the Peak District. 124 years gives you a long time to perfect the art of making ropes. And twenty years gives you plenty of time to build a relationship based on trust and mutual respect.
Fixe Minor Quickset £49 Karabiner: Fixe Rock Stone Autolock £9
Fixe dyneema sling from £5
OUTPOST 23
Tennis balls and time. How to properly look after your down. CAREFUL WASHING CAN EXTEND THE EFFECTIVE LIFESPAN OF YOUR DOWN PRODUCTS.
HAND WASH
MACHINE WASH
LIFTING
DRYING
Fill your bath with luke-warm water mixing in either pure soap flakes or your favourite down cleaner. Nikwax Down Wash is a good choice.
For all our sleeping bags and jackets we recommend using a large capacity front loading washing machine. By large capacity we mean over 10kg. The bigger the product the more capacity you need. A normal household machine has a capacity of under 7kg and is just not going to cut the mustard.
The stitching in sleeping bags isn’t strong enough to hold really wet down. Don’t just pick your bag or jacket up by one end – all the heavy wet down could tear through the baffles.
Now what are you going to do with that soggy mass of feathers? Ideally whack in a tumble dryer – set it to the lowest heat option, (take care with laundrettes they seem to have a single setting that would melt glass). Throw in the tennis balls with your bag. As the bag dries these will break up the down clumps.
Try to remove all soap residues by flushing the machine through with an empty wash and clean out the soap dispenser. Set the water temperature to 30C (warm) and fill the soap dispenser with the recommended quantity of pure soap or Nikwax Down Wash. This depends on the weight of the bag. After the wash cycle is complete rinse the bag thoroughly.
You can increase the effectiveness of your down in damp conditions by treating it with Nikwax Down Proof. Before removing your wet bag from the washing machine reload the dispenser with the recommended quantity of Down Proof. Let your machine work its magic whilst you go and get a cup of tea or coffee.
The slow, gentle approach.
Place your sleeping bag or jacket into the bath and gently press it down so it is submerged. Agitate it a little and now go and get a cup of tea. After an hour or so let the water drain from the bath and refill with fresh water. Gently massage to remove the soap from the down, if you have a shower head this also works well. Keep at it until all the soapy water is removed. Gently push down on the product to evacuate as much water as possible. It is important that you do not wring or squeeze as this will just damage the down.
The fast approach.
READ MORE alpkit.com/support/stickies/cleaning-down-sleeping-bags
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Careful now.
WATERPROOFING (optional)
If you are using a bath roll up your sleeves again and get hands on. Rinse until the water runs clean.
The bit with the tennis balls.
WARNING: Large sleeping bags will require several hours of tumbling before they are dry. We recommend tumble drying when using proofing products as the heat helps cure the waterproofing to the fabric quicker. No dryer? (this is going to take a while) lay the bag or jacket open in a clean, dry shady area to dry. Massage and separate the drying down until completely dry. Air drying a bag can take days! If your bag is left unattended the down will clump together and it will not be nice and fluffy.
DARING DEEDS REAL STORIES, EXPEDITIONS, ROAD TRIPS AND ADVENTURE.
alpkit.com/deeds
PIP’S TOUR DE FRANCE AN INTREPID DAD PLUS LAD ADVENTURE. DIAGONALLY ACROSS FRANCE AND BACK IN-TIME FOR SCHOOL. Riding Alpkit Tandem with Stingray frame bags from £65 Koala seat pack £70 Airlok Dual from £15
Just back from riding 3200 kilometres through France… father and son, on a tandem, for a month. It was an adventure on a new bikepacking route – the French Divide, a ride to get there from the UK, and back along the Atlantic coast of France. It took 27 days to complete, riding every day and covering distances from 61kms to 221kms. We averaged 119 kms a day.
“Tom picked a tractor with a bale spike, I picked a crane with something heavy on its end. Unsurprisingly we encountered no zombies so still don’t know who chose the best tool for the job.”
Like all of the best adventures, things didn’t always go to plan, and the going could sometimes be tough. There were no tears though and lots of laughter. Spending all day together for so long was great. Some of the conversations we had were unusual though.
“Dad, let’s say there is a zombie apocalypse on its way and you have to choose something you have seen today to protect yourself.” Tom picked a tractor with a bale spike, I picked a crane with something heavy on its end. We encountered no zombies so currently we don’t know who made the best choice. We made up another game called ‘Squirrel’, when you see a dog in a garden say ‘Squirrel’ and then watch the dog chase along its fence whilst barking at you. The occasional variant on this
game, is finding that the dog isn’t actually secured behind the fence. This necessitates pedalling like hell to escape the chasing dog. Living in the Peak District, a highlight of the trip was definitely the weather – virtually no rain for a whole month. Although because of the heat we seemed eternally on the lookout for water. Whilst we could complete the French Divide route, our speed meant that it would take too long. This meant not having time to ride back up the Atlantic coast. We decided to take easier roads towards the Atlantic coast. We had completed 1000km of the French Divide route. We’d ridden to France, diagonally across France, all that was left, was to ride 1000 kilometres up the Atlantic coast to get a ferry home. Tom has just started ‘big school’. He earned a merit in French as he knew lots of words. He often asked what words meant that he saw on signs. By the end of the trip he’d happily order drinks, or pay the bill. Little wonders of learning from life and adventure.
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OUTPOST 25
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
WHAT’S NICK THINKING? We take a sneak peak into the crystal ball that is the mind of Nick Smith, Alpkit co-founder, head of design and collector of interesting bits and bobs.
26 alpkit.com
12 years in the making, our fully waterproof and breathable Definition Jacket is engineered to cope with whatever you, the mountains, and the weather can throw at it. Helmet compatible hood with wired peak, embedded Cohaesive™ front adjusters and easy-grab rear adjuster. 2-way opening YKK Vislon AquaGuard® front zip. Men’s and Women’s Definition Jacket £210.
Two map sized hand pockets (positioned above harness / waist belt) with YKK AquaGuard® zips. 2 core body venting YKK AquaGuard® zips.
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OUTPOST 27
HOW TO ORDER Go online, have a look around – you know how internet shopping works – or visit our factory store if you live in or are passing through the Midlands and ask for a coffee. If you can click it then it should be in stock. If you order before the postie gets here it will go out the same day and there is a pretty good chance you will get it in the following couple of days. Oh yes... and all our prices already include UK postage. ONLINE:
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