Following on from the success of the widely acclaimed Berghaus hydrophobic down clothing like the Ilam Jacket, Rab has announced an exclusive partnership with Nikwax which means that the down in all Rab clothing and sleeping bags will be hydrophobic

was waterproof down.Down still gives the best warmth to weight ratio out there, even if synthetics are catching up slowly, which makes it ideal for light, packable, insulation. It has an Achilles Heel though, down doesn't like getting wet. That's 'doesn't like

Secretary of State, HilaryBenn, today took part in a celebration of the confirmation of the South Downsas a National Park in Ditchling along with representativesof various campaigning organisations.South Downs scenery atHarting Downs - by alahol2The

You can tell winter's coming when manufacturers start bigging up their down jackets , buthere's one from a brand you might not have considered on the insulationfront, Berghaus.The new Liskammdown jacket - that's it above on the left - is part

Interesting stuff from Norwegian sleeping bag specialists Nanok, with the new Airlock-5 sleeping bagwhich combines down and synthetic insulation to give the benefits ofboth.The bag's constructed in two layers. The 550+ fill-power down innerlayer

Lightweight Down Jacket Round-UpLightweight Down Jacket Round-UpIf you want the most warmth per gramme of insulation in clothing or sleeping bags, then down still rules the roost - or wherever it is that geese crash out anyway. The stuff simply

New in for review - and very appropriately too - is the Columbia Alaskan Down Jacket,a warm, down-insulated jacket with a filled hood and integral snowskirt.At 980 grammes for a medium, it's never going to be a pack and forgetlightweight

We popped up to see an impressively perky Mountain Hardwear in the Lakes last week - more about which shortly - but one interesting feature of their new spring range is more water-repellent or hydrophobic down, this time both in lightweight down

We have to admit to not knowing very much about French down-specialist company Valandre at all, but when John Burley posted this video to the OM forum, we were intrigued.The new jacket's called the Immelman and is said to be the world's first

It might not be quite the ideal weather for down, but those niceboys over at Alpkit have both a new downtop available plus reduced prices on some of their existingdown jackets.The newmodel is called the Filium and it's a down-filled smock