What's New For 2002

Here's a quick run down of some of the more interesting bits and bobs 100 last week's Harrogate trade show.

Most of this stuff isn't in the shops yet and won't be until around February-March of next year, 2002, but it'll give you an idea of what's coming your way in the near future. Don't miss the separate reports on Mountain Equipment, GoLite, Berghaus and others either...

Thanks to Jules from Buff for being our cover star...

Contour's Navigator - spot the Trek heritage but the price is just £69

Contour Boots Who? Okay, think VW-Audi Group. If Scarpa boots are Audi, then the new Contour range are Skoda. Good quality, decent price, not quite as cutting edge. The five boot range uses obsolete Scarpa 'knives' - the patterns - high quality leather and none Vibram rubber soles to give what looks like being great value boots priced between £50 and £100.

As an example, the Navigator uses the pattern from the current £110 Scarpa Trek hiking boot,which is about to be superceded and retails at just £69. Meanwhile the latest Trek gets a makeover and loses some weight to re-emerge as the Trek M2 (see below).

Scarpa has been busy too. Most interesting for UK walkers is the new Trek M2. Previously forgotten, the classic hill boot gets a new ultra-light M2 sole unit, which uses PU together with an EVA wedge - as used in running shoes - for more cushioning. It also has 'minispeed' lace hooks, a new cedar colour for the oiled leather and retails for £110, the same as before. There's also a new fabric Peak GTX at £99 which replaces the Lite Trek.

And this is the 2002 Trek with uprated M2 sole unit and lighter weight: £110

Also interesting is the new Oxygen Lite shoe. Aimed at trail walkers, it's built like a stability running shoe for, well, stability and also features a Vibram sole with sticky Megabite rubber, similar to the Mescalito, so it should be well grippy on scrambles and approaches. There are two models, one laced to the toe like a rock boot, the other conventional.

Oxygen Lite is built on a tough runing shoe-type last to give stability and has Megagrip rubber soles

ThorLo have launched a women's specific sock for, well, women really. It's a slimmer cut all round to suit the female foot with particular emphasis on a narrower heel.

Brasher have enough new stuff to warrant their own little report - coming soon - but the most interesting development follows in the steps of the highly successful, but slightly weird looking SupaLite boots. 'Less purist' than the SupaLite, the Tourlite GTX and FreeLite GTX look alarmingly like normal boots, which will never do. The TourLite is leather, the FreeLite suede and fabric, both with a Fore-Tex liner and they promise to give SupaLite performance without the looks. Priced at £110 and £90 respectively, they should be in store by December or January.

The latest Brasher offerings - basically SupaLite technology without the minimalism

GoGas, who nearly disappeared off the map a while back, have their sights set on the high tec area of the market for 2002. with a new 'Micro-Tech' range Their prototype top-end stove was a mega-light, canister-top babe with titanium arms and a built-in piezo electric ignition and will be aimed at top end alpinists and, presumably, rich backpackers... There will also be a budget, steel version with no ignition that may give the MSR Pocket Rocket some competition.

Those arms are titanium - yum...

Wynnster have always produced good value, unpretentious kit, but there's nowt wrong with that and their latest adjustable rucksack back system dubbed 'CFS' - Comfort Fit System - makes adjustment a breeze. Of course you may not need to adjust your pack more than once, but it's good to see thought going into design and the whole Viper pack range, from 20 litres up to 80+ features stuff like foldaway rain covers and 3D air mesh contact areas for comfort in sweatiness. Prices work out around £1 per litre.

Viper pack with Comfort Fit System - cheap doesn't have to mean nasty

Zamberlan have a few new boots for next year, but one that's in the shops now, the Mountain Lite GTX. A classic Gore-Tex lined 4-season mountain boot at £145, it uses a Vibram Ice Trek sole and is suggested for 'serious backpacking and easy mountaineering'.

Zamberlan MountainLite - looking good and in the shops right now

Helly Hansen virtually deluged the press with new products mostly aimed at 'fast movers', read mountain bikers, runners, adventure racers and rapid walkers. Good old Lifa, or rather new Lifa, is still well up there and there's a whole range of what HH calls V-concept clothing using high tec performance fabrics. We liked the look of the Schoeller-type stretch fabric pants and jackets, which are claimed to be highly wind and water resistant as well as dead tough.

Definitely worth a look though, will be the new Taku jacket and pants. The jacket retails at around 150 quid, but at that price level you're getting a lot, including water-resistant pit zips. Mathching pant has full length zips - both aimed at mountaineers.

Helly's Taku jacket with water-resistant zips and all the trimmings for £150

X Socks are another, er, brand of socks which will appear next year. It's the techiest looking sock we've seen with all sorts of coloured bells and whistles including an air con channel for heaven's sake. Will they work? No idea...

XSocks - the truth is out there...

MSR have gone on a crazed diversification drive with a load of tweaks and extras. Try a pair of mega-light carbon fibre trekking poles for a mere, er, £100 per pair. One of the reasons for the lightness is a closed cell foam handle. Great action as well, believe us, it's smoooooth...

Also changed are the classic fuel bottles now with an integral spout and a safety click shut stopper, which nicely complements new idiot-proof stove pumps on several of the stoves. Last but not least, the company has a new tent line which is replacing the little seen Moss, Walrus and Armadillo tents - no, we'd never heard of them either.

Latest MSR bottles have idiot-proof, snap-shut lid designed for idiot climbers...

Anyway, MSR tents are go for next year and very nice they look too with neat reinforcements in key areas, cunning vents and, er, in the case of the limited edition, top of the range Titanium Tent, a titanium dioxide coated fly sheet and, erm, titanium stakes. Weight is 1.27kg and there are only going to be 100 made at £420 each. Sadly they're all spoken for already, so tough...

And this 'ere is an MSR tent. Not to be ignited...

Black Diamond have been busy too churning out their usual object of desire hardware. It's kind of painful going into details, but there's a new Titanium Raven ice axe for 2002, which utilises a titanium head for a weight of 315 grammes for a 50cm axe. Price will be £89.95.

Titanium-headed Raven axe from Black Diamond designed for high mountain minimalism and posing in the bunkhouse...

Then there are a pair of new headtorches to add to the three which appeared this year. Both the Supernova and the Gemini offer a choice of LED and conventional bulbs, with the more expensive Supernova providing three brightness settings with just one valve. We like the cute iMac translucent plastic styling as well.

New headtorches run conventional or LED

Nikwax showed us their new travel towel, which uses their directional fabric for quick and comfortable drying. You can also wrap wet things in it and it'll wick the water outwards. Nice. If you want a travel towel, this one looks good at £11.99.

Towel

Finally, just remember that most of this stuff isn't in the shops till next year, so don't go pestering your local outdoor shop now. Remember, a clip round the ear with a titanium axe often offends.