We're just back from a flying visit to Mountain Equipment and we'll tell you more about their spring range tomorrow, but while we were there, we got a sneak heads up on the new helmet-compatible hood that ME's introducing later this year.ME's hoods

Hoods Up On The Mountain Equipment Eclipse HoodyHoods Up On The Mountain Equipment Eclipse HoodyFull details on the new for autumn 2012, heavyweight winter base layer top in our scoop preview, but seeing as it's all about the hood, we asked ME

While we were swanning around the Mountain Equipment showroom last week for our spring 2011 preview, we couldn't help noticing that some of the kit looked, well, very old. Properly ancient in fact...Turns out that it's the brand's 50th anniversary

While we were over at Plas y Brenin getting the scoop on Gore's new for 2011, Gore-Tex Active Shell fabric, we also got a look at Mountain Equipment's take on the new fabric in the form of a prototype lightweight mountaineering shell jacket

Just back from seeing the guys over at Mountain Equipment and, in particular, their new autumn/winter 2011 kit, which is appearing in the shops shortly – we'll have a full run down of that tomorrow, but while we were there, we also got a quick look

show - in slightly speeded-up Benny Hill fashion - how to pitch various tents, this Mountain Equipment Dragonfly for example.You can access the videos either via the individual product page on the Ellis Brigham web site - www

warmers like the Merrell Chesham, down parkas such as the McMurdo from The North Face - spot the furry hood - and heavy duty expedition wear like Mountain Equipment’s Annapurna and Cho Oyu jackets. Something for pretty much everyone in other words.The test

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

and construct their down clothing and equipment. Warning - you may get sucked in and spend rather longer than you mean to on the page... Fascinating stuff if you're a bit of a gear geek. What, moi?

mountaineering glove or make any excuses for it - it's one expensive piece of equipment, but that doesn't mean that it isn't fascinating seeing how they're designed and made.Seeing the standard Gore-Tex glove liner is a bit of an eye-opener, no, and after that