OM Christmas Gift Guide

Still wrestling with last minute Christmas gift dilemmas? Don't panic, help is at hand in the form of the OUTDOORSmagic Christmas Gift Guide, a two-part selection to relieve pre-Christmas dejection and bring seasonal joy to the outdoors person in your life.

Watch out for part two coming soon.

Before we hand out the inspiration, a word of caution - some potential presents are fraught with drawbacks and should be purchased with caution unless you fancy a trip back to the shops in the New Year.

Footwear - unless you're 100 per-cent certain it fits - is generally problematic. Everyone has different-shaped feet and different brands use different lasts. Even buying the same brand of boot or shoe is no guarantee as fit can vary between different models.

The same's true of that romantic seasonal favourite, the crampon. It really needs fitting to the boot it's intended for, so steer clear, lovely though it may seem... Clothes suffer the same drawbacks, with different lengths and cuts all over the place. Hats and socks are probably the least problematic, but at the very least, check size charts carefully before buying.

Climbing harnesses and rockboots are another fit-critical area, so again, avoid - or at least tread carefully.

We love the Alpkit ethos of great gear at brilliant prices and their ability to produce the niche items that conventional brands shy away from and true to form, their site is a little Aladdin's Cave of Christmas possibilities with everything from cosy down sleeping bags through to sexy carbon fibre trekking poles.

For our purposes though, it's the neat little things that catch the eyes. Stuff like the new range of climbing-orientated key rings, made in Italy and .featuring neat little boots, crampons, pitons and, well, you name it... Priced from £9 to £11. Or how about a Funky Dabber, Alpkit chalk bag for £5.50.

Last but not least, don't forget Alpkit's range of tee shirts and hoodies. More at www.alpkit.com.

If you're feeling alll arty this year, then get yourself over to Alastair Lee's Posing Productions web site. Not only is Alastair an award-winnng mountain film maker who's won the People's Choice Award at the last three Kendal Mountain Film Festivals, he's also an extremely talented landscape photographer.

On the DVD front, Al's latest is PSYCHE, a three-part climbing confection following three different top British climbers in three very different environments. Well worth watching, as is his back catalogue. All very different but laced with the same off-key humour and innovative camera work.

Don't forget Alastair's landscape photography either which is available in either book - Eyes Up, Forgotten Landscapes and More Than Meets The Eye - or as high quality prints covering everywhere from his local Lancashire through to the Alps and Andes. Aweseome stuff see www.posingproductions.com.

If you can't bathe in undiluted optimism and positivity at Christmas, then when can you? We're big fans of quirly US brand Life Is Good and their range of 'Do what you like.Like what you do' orientated tees, bags, hats, wallets and more.

True they cover scary things like Golf, but there's more than enough to keep walkers, runners and cyclists happy. And if tees aren't your thing, then they've also moved into balls - soft, safe neoprene ones and even stress ones. You'll be needing them after all that Christmas shopping...

Anyway, we like them because they make us smile. There's a climbing one too :-) More details from www.lifeisgood.com and UK distributors www.anatom.co.uk.

I know we told you not to buy clothing, or at least to do it carefully, but we thought we'd make an exception for Embers, a small Derbyshire-based specialist with hybrid Brit and Kiwi ownership.

Merino - where have you been living - is luxuriously soft, fine-fibred wool that feels great against the skin, manages moisture beautifully and, to top things off, has natural anti-stink properties that mean you can wear it for several days without smelling like a builder's arm-pit in a heat wave.

Check out the web site at www.embersmerino.co.uk but be quick...

Eco-Friendly Packs - Keen

You're probably familiar with Keen's range of hybrid and, now, non-gybrid footwear, but for 2007 they've also stepped up to the plate with a range of 'hybrid transport' or in other words, bags and packs designed for everyday use.

They're not really technical kit, but one of the things we love about them is that Keen has used as much recycled material as possible in the manufacture of the bags. That means the neat alloy buckles were originally soft drinks cans and the rubber reinforcements on the bags ar actually off-cuts from Keen's footwear soles.

And did we mention that they look really nice as well? More at www.keenfootwear.com.

Most of our suggestions so far have been on the casual side of practical, but for more pragamatic use, Petzl has two brilliant miniature lighting stocking filllers.

The e+LITE is hardly new, but it's still a little wonder. A tiny and incredibly versatile 'emergency' head torch powered by a couple of lithium watch batteries, the e+LITE is so small you won't even know it's in your pack. A cunning clip means you can mount it pretty much anywhwere and there are a choice of light levels and colours - you can go red for safety or to preserve your night vision.

Just out now is the e+LITE's beaconesque little bro, the SIGNAL. Designed as an ermergency visibility tool, again it's small enough to be pack and forget, but Petzl says it's visible from over 1000 metres away making it ideal for walkers, bikers and runners. More at www.petzl.com.

Part two next week, but in the mean time, don't forget to check out our shopping partners over there on the lefthand side of the screen - points vaguely leftwards :-)