Alex’s Top 5 Best Items of Gear in 2022. It’s been a busy year of instruction here at Beyond the Edge. I’ve worked on Mountain Leader and Hill and Moorland Leader training and assessment courses. I’ve taught loads of rock climbing, including introduction and beginners courses as well as teaching lead climbing both trad and…
I’ve never really been that into knives and multitools. I own a few Opinels and have always taken my Opinel no8 (the outdoor knife) out with me as it’s light, small and because of its plastic handle needs less care than my wooden Opinels. So it was a little overwhelming to receive a Leatherman Signal…
Blue Ice Squirrel 22L I was in the market for a small rucksack to wear on multi-pitch climbs in the mountains that could also carry all my gear to the start of the route. I decided it needed to be in the low 20 litre size range, have a rope carrying system, helmet holder and…
We spend a lot of time using and wearing our different bits of outdoor gear, so we get pretty attached to them. We asked some of the Beyond the Edge team to share what their favourite bits of outdoor gear are and why. Perhaps there’s some Christmas gift inspiration in there somewhere? James: Mountain Equipment…
La Sportiva TX4 Review Approach shoes are part of the Outdoor Instructor uniform along with brightly coloured trousers, gilets and VW vans. I’ve worn, and worn through, half a dozen pairs of various sorts over the last decade, mostly to the point where they become more hole than shoe. For the less fashion conscious instructors…
Patagonia R1 Air Zip-Neck Review It’s easy to dismiss the humble fleece. They have become such a staple of the outdoor wardrobe since the 1980s. But they have evolved and the Patagonia R1 Air Zip-Neck is an excellent example of the modern fleeces. These newer designs tend to be lighter, warmer, more breathable and dry quicker. Patagonia…
The first thing I noticed about the Signal is how much the Leatherman designs have evolved since I bought my first one in the mid 1990’s. It was a Leatherman Mini Tool which I carried for Ice Climbing, Scottish winter and Alpine mountaineering and expeditions. It was small, very strong, simple, a bit crude but…
A Review of the Blue Ice Octopus 45L Climbing Pack How many packs does one person need? The answer of course is that it depends! You could probably get away with just one if you just went hill walking, maybe a 40L, big enough for a bit of extra stuff in the colder months. But…
Lunch is important. I’ve been trying to find better ways of managing my food when I’m instructing. I was just grabbing whatever I could find and usually ended up heading out with an energy bar and a banana chucked in my pack. The banana inevitably ended up squashed and the bar lost amidst the waterproofs,…
I’d longed for a Patagonia R1 Techface Hoody for a while, but it was hard to work out whether I actually ‘needed’ one or whether it was all down to the R1s reputation and its rather catchy advert. But now I come to reflect on it, this has become my go-to do-all jacket. A bit…
Opinel N°08 One of our most popular (and most controversial) blog posts (how-to-choose-a-knife-for-walking-climbing-mountaineering-and-expeditions) was about how we believed that for walking, trekking and climbing in the UK outdoors you really only needed to carry a Swiss Army Knife or maybe a Opinel. Swiss Army Knifes are great but if you’re out overnight and need to…
Is there really space for another Peak District guidebook? A few friends asked this as we passed around a brand-new copy of Graham Hoey’s Peak District Gritstone (published by Vertebrate Publishing last April). The answer, we decided, depends on the guidebook… As it turns out, there’s definitely room for this one. Original route descriptions…