The Scottish Game and Angling Show is a new event run by The Scottish Gamekeepers Association at the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh from March 6th to 7th.

We will have a stand at the event showing our Ventile and Cotton Analogy Clothing Ranges  and also the Naturally Paramo range from Paramo Directional Clothing

For many years we have been supplying off the shelf and made to measure garments for gamekeepers, stalkers, ghillies, wildlife managers and rangers from Hilltrek and Paramo clothing ranges.  

We also work closely with local gamekeepers and rangers to trial our designs to ensure that they stand up to the toughest conditions across a wide range of activity and exertion.

Susan, who does our clothing designs, has been working hard over the winter months on our first venture into specific field sports clothing which we will exhibit at the show. – the Dee Wading Jacket.

The Dee Wading Jacket is a chest wading jacket named after the River Dee, one of the most famous salmon rivers in Scotland, which flows through our village.

It uses Cotton Analogy which consists of a Ventile outer and Paramo Pump Liner inner – a combination which is tough, waterproof and highly breathable.

We look forward to your feedback and see you at the show. 

Striking a catalogue pose whilst road testing the Patagonia R1 Fleece on Bennachie

There is a saying that goes along the lines that a girl can never have too many hats, bags and shoes… I work on the principal that you can never have too much outdoor gear!
With the day light hours getting longer and as we are move closer to spring, now is a good time to head to your local outdoor shop and snap up some bargains.

At Hilltrek we have several excellent promotions currently running.

Paramo are offering a free Torres Gilet in Moss (worth £77) with every Men’s green Alta II jacket or Ladies Alta II jacket in lentil/moss purchased.

You can buy a Velez or Velez adventure smock and we give you two cambia base layer tops free.
Alternatively buy an Explorer pull on and get an Active Travel shirt for £5, a saving of £46!

We also have a range of Patagonia shell jackets which we are offering as buy one get a Patagonia technical fleece free, whilst stocks last.

You may have been thinking of getting a soft shell, then come and look at our Helly Hansen range.

Bill, Bryan and I would love to see you, please call in we really enjoy hearing about your outdoor adventures and if you are really lucky we might even have the kettle on!

What a difference a week makes. From the hard packed snow and blown powder of last weekend to plus 3 degrees and wet granulated snow today.  At least the wind was minimal – better than 40 mph gusts. 

Pressendye, the most easterly Graham,  at 620m, was my destination this weekend. I intended to climb to Pressendye and ski along the ridge.   It is a hill I regularily climb as the views across to Lochnagar and the Mounth are usually superb.  Alas today it was misty and drizzly and hence the lack of photographs on the blog. Pressendye could be the location of a wind farm, which would spoil a perfect location, however the planning application has been rejected at the local Aberdeenshire Council level.

Today I replaced my Paramo Alta 2 jacket with a Hilltrek Cotton Analogy Foinaven Smock. Cotton Analogy is our own invention which uses a Ventile Cotton Outer and a Nikwax Pump Liner inner. All of our Cotton Analogy designs are approved by Nikwax Fabrics and tested by Leeds University. With a Paramo Reversible shirt underneath, the Foinaven Smock was perfect for the wet humid conditions and its breathability ideal for the hard work.

The track up the hill passing below Pittenderich was patchy and with the wet deep snow it was hard work skinning up and awkward skiing down. Still its better to be out on the hills than sitting inside watching Scotland being gubbed by the French.

For details of Grahams and how to get to Pressendye see  http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/grahams/pressendye.

Sunday was a perfect day in Deeside for testing my new Åsnes Nansen Mountain Skis, called Fjellski in Norwegian. The sun was shining and fresh snow had fallen on the hills. My destination was Cairn Leuchan, a small hill in Glen Muick, following a track from Ballater over to Mount Keen. This a great mountain bike track in summer, dropping into Glen Tanar and downhill to Aboyne. Today the track was icy, with hard packed snow, and some powder blown across from the moor. Difficult to walk up but perfect to skin on the skis. It was a very cold day just below freezing  but with strong north winds and frequent snow squalls it felt like minus 20.  So as well as testing my new skis I also tested lightweight Paramo Velez trousers for these conditions. They are much lighter than Paramo’s Cascada Trousers, as they use a lighter Nikwax outer and pump liner inner, and are designed for summer walking -not these conditions. The lightness of the Velez trousers is a great advantage for ski touring and cross country skiing and they were fine on the move but a little cold on my lunchstop behind the Cairn. I should have taken some new Torres Insulator Trousers to pull on ……still it was a day for skiing not for sitting around testing new gear!

The river Dee opened for fishing today, the BBC where on location along with Billy Connolly and a wee splash of whisky.