Weekly Newsletter - 31/01/07

You might think it's winter, but out there in gearland where the outdoor clothing and equipment companies live, it's actually just about spring. Which means, like it or not, all the new kit will be in the shops in the next month or so - we grabbed a scoop look at Mountain Equipment's new clothing and sleeping bags last week, plus checked out the latest from Haglöfs.

It's still very much winter in the Spanish mountains however, as Cara-Lynn Reynolds discovered when a mountaineering trip turned into an emergency. She describes what happened.

Take care out there,

Jon and the team at OUTDOORSmagic.com
editor@outdoorsmagic.com

Arc'Teryx Launches New Women's Packs Coming soon from Arc'Teryx a range of three women's-specific load-haulers built along the same lines as the award-winning Naos men's models. Looking good...

Scramble Route - Tryfan Bach, Snowdonia Easy access, superb scrambling on sound, grippy rock, sun in the afternoon and just the beginning of a great mountain day. What more could you ask for from this week's Snowdonian scramble?

New British Merino Outfit Launches Embers Merino is a new arrival on the outdoors scene with a range of merino wool clothing that's reckoned to be both practical and stylish, we like the cut of their jib :-)

Osprey Atmos 35 'Build quality is superb, extremely comfy, and very very very light. And you get a built in whistle on the chest strap! Slightly more padding could be put on the shoulder area. '

Trangia Model 25K 'A dependable stove; I have never heard of one failing. I used mine today at 2 degrees in a breeze, and it cooked fine, and could be just left to carry on without me watching it.'

British Army Arctic Sleeping Bag 'Very warm, solid construction and materials easily found at low prices. Mine is the new version; a synthetic bag with no ground sheet, much better than the 58 pattern one. A top bag at bottom prices.'

Going Backpacking via Train/Bus Are there trains that stop near the Lakes so you can then walk into the wild? (The Lakes was just an example, I'm open to suggestions over the best places to multi-day wild camp in the UK).

Jetboil - Some Questions I'm thinking of getting a Jetboil but is this better than a PocketRocket? How well does it work over a week? Is it good for cooking dehyrated food?

Gear for February on Snowdon I'm planning to wild camp on Snowdon at the end(ish) of this February. Does anyone have some advice on kit that they would take or they definitely wouldn't take?

New Zealand Landscape by Wobbles McWillie enlarge picture	Chamonix Panoramic by Luke Harrison enlarge picture	Rudyard Lake by Brett Trafford enlarge picture