hilltrek

Want a challenging and satisfying sales job admidst the Scottish hills where you can hillwalk, mountaineer, ski, fish, stalk, mountain-bike or bushcraft?

If yes we may be able to help.

We are looking to add a sales person to our team based in Aboyne  in Royal Deeside. You would be involved in retail, trade, internet and mail order sales, assist in buying retail stock and have an influence in our product design.

Working in Hilltrek is not like working in another outdoor retailer because we manufacture our own clothing in our workshop on site. You would work closely with our design and production staff to convert customer requirements to customer satisfaction -and we already have satisfied customers in over 20 countries from Greenland to Australia.

Working with us is not like working in boring web sales because you will meet real customers in our shop who will give you direct feedback which you can use to help to improve our products using your excellent communication skills.

You will need to be strong on product knowledge which is our edge.

Outside our own Ventile and Nikwax clothing ranges we carry a only few product lines from other manufacturers but in far more depth than other retailers. We have had a long association with Páramo being one of the first retailers in 1994 to be convinced of Páramo’s Directional Waterproof concept.  Since then we have become the only Páramo Premier Retailer in Scotland north of Perth and the only one authorised to carry out repairs to Páramo clothing. We also have a licence from Nikwax Fabrics, Páramo’s sister company, to use their Nikwax Analogy fabric to manufacture our own Made To Measure Clothing, Childrens Nikwax Clothing and incorporate within our Cotton Analogy range.

Ideally you will already have retail experience, a strong interest in outdoor clothing and equipment and love of the outdoors.

If you want more information we can send you a job description and if you are interested please send your CV to sales@hilltrek.co.uk

Walk Magazine issued its reader awards for 2010 earlier in the year and the best overall walking brand winner was Paramo.  The Hilltrek store in Aboyne and the online store stock a wide range of products including the Gold Winning walking trousers.  This walking trouser gives a hill walker a lot of adaptability to changing weather conditions, warmth on cold days, vents to open on hotter days, lots of zips that work reliably even in poor weather conditions.   The Walk Magazine have published this video from the event.

Walk Reader Awards from Athar Abidi on Vimeo.

There is a strong connection between the local landscape and music.  Camerson McNeish writes about this in a post entitled, Mixing hills with music.  Tarland fiddler, Paul Anderson named his latest music collection the, Lochnagar Collection and many a traditional Scot’s song has a romantic connection with the land, listen to the words of Bonnie Glenshee for example.  If you are out or visiting the Deeside hills over the next couple of months, then why not relax or join in a Deeside Session at a local bar?

Lawrence Clark from BushCraft Ventures will set up camp outside our doors this Saturday in Aboyne.  Lawrence is a bushcraft expert who plied his trade with Ray Mears and was only one of three people in the UK  to receive the prestigious ‘Ray Mears Instructors knife’ -an acknowledgement of his highly developed skills. As part of his work he spent time in the Arctic living with the Psami (Lapps) peoples of Northern Sweden.

On display will be clothing and equipment used in bushcraft and wilderness survival, including; clothing made from cotton, wool and furs, and cutting tools.

Demonstrations will take place on traditional fishing hooks manufacture, fire lighting , wood carving and simple steam bending.

Many bushcrafters are aware of Hilltrek Ventile products such as the Braemar Smock  and the Ventile poncho. Our staff will be on hand  to discuss the properties of Ventile and some of our new innovations including Cotton Analogy.

The summer solstice has come and gone, the count down to winter is on.  Not that the skiers on Cairngorm Mountain were waiting, they were out in force yesterday.  Still cool enough for the need for an outdoor ski jacket for some, though a kilt was seen on the slopes too.

The calendar said 15th June but high on Ben Avon and in its gullies winter was still hiding.

The walk to the summit of Ben Avon is best characterised as three long plateau walks, the valley floor walk-in, then the moderate climbed through Fairy Glen to the moorland plateau before things get a lot steeper as the gully climbs the side of Ben Avon to the long flat top of Ben Avon.  I found it a gentle and less threatening walk compared to those around Ben Macdhui however, there was a still a lot of risk around.  Mainly, whether to trust the snow bridges that were clearly being used by other hill walkers?  There were three occasions where the path took a snowy turn.  The first couple looked safe enough as the main stream was some distance way, but I did get a ‘post hole’ on the way down.  However, the last snow bridge was a straight burn crossing.  Plenty of foot prints and boot dirt stretched over the snow but I opted to follow the stream up a side gully and to cross on some expose bare granite, no fear of that collapsing.  Safety first. The weather on the summit was OK but it started to rain and add in the wind, it was not a day for hanging around in the great outdoors.  I could have opted to put on my rain jacket on but I decided for a quick descent to the mid plateau.  I wore my Hilltrek made to measure venture trousers that were ideal for the walk up and half the way down but the lower valleys had heated up a lot.  A quick change into the CraigHopper shorts made for a more comfort.  A 20 mile, 7 hour summers day when winter thinking was still required.

This Saturday I set off on my bike to explore the compact network of forestry trails that wind their way through the Blackhall Forest near Banchory. These trails struck me as a quieter, albeit less spectacular alternative to those in Glentanar – often highly populated with local walkers, hill runners, and mountain bikers – and a convenient practice ground for bikers in the Banchory area who don’t fancy the trek up to ‘Tanar. In Blackhall Forest, recreational bikers have the option of keeping it short and sweet by sticking to the forest tracks, or extend their ride by including Scolty hill into their circuit. I also happened upon some smaller woodland trails designated for walkers only, whose root and rock riddled paths provided some fun technical relief from the sometimes monotonous forestry roads. Readers be warned, however: these paths are designed for walkers, so prepare to put their safety before your daredevilry!

As luck would have it – as we know it too often doesn’t in these parts – the day started off bright and mild. As a safety measure, I stuffed a light waterproof jacket in my Deuter Speed Lite backpack, a favourite of mine. A basic, no-frills design, it does exactly what it says on the tin, its 10 litre variation coming in as one of the lightest sports backpacks on the market. With a few necessary embellishments to accommodate a sports bladder and a pocket for essentials, it’s perfect for long runs and short to mid length rides. As for an upper layer I risked attiring myself in a decidedly skimpy selection, since I wasn’t going far: the Paramo Cambia reversible t-shirt and my Helly Hansen Stripe hoodie. Both indispensible staples of my outdoor sports ‘wardrobe’, the Paramo t-shirt and HH technical midlayer (made from Lifa Stay Dry fabric) are, on a mild Spring day, all it takes to stay cool, dry and wind-chill free. I often wear them for longer runs and rides, slinging the midlayer around my waist or into my backpack once I’ve warmed up. I particularly relish the knowledge that, with my hood up, I look like a cross between Mary Quant and Billy Murray in The Life Aquatic – if a little redder in the face.

 To get there: from the old military road between the Potarch Hotel and the Feuchside Inn, meet the well-marked trails at the Shooting Greens car park. From here follows a mild, untechnical climb up to the shoulder of the Hill of Tillylair, from whose vantage can be glimpsed to one side the Mains of Potarch and the woodland flanking the Dee as it snakes its way through the valley, and to the other a more dramatic assembly of low hills surrounding Clachnaben. The road continues until it reaches a fork – to the left the road loops back onto the sign-posted Forest Trail, to the right it is possible to follow the track over to Banchory, and up on to Scolty Hill.

(All the gear mentioned above is sold by our very fine selves at Hilltrek in Aboyne. For more information and technical specs, why don’t you come in for a natter with our approachable and experienced staff?)

Congratulations to Sylvia Tasker of Arbroath, who won a Paramo Camino Shirt donated by Hilltrek, for her photograph (above) taken during the Ballater Walking Week in May.

Ballater’s annual walking festival has been running since 1998, and we’re told that this year has been their most successful Walking Week yet.  Its programme is devised by a team of professional mountain guides, rangers, and local residents, and accommodates walkers of all ilks, from the occasional ambler to the seasoned munro-bagger.  For details of past and forthcoming events, visit the Royal Deeside website: http://www.royal-deeside.org.uk/RDnews/walkweek.htm