hilltrek

Chris Townsend will join us on Saturday April 16th to sign his new book Scotland, published by Cicerone, and to discuss his latest long walks. Chris has been the technical editor of the TGO since 1991 and is currently the President of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland. He is also an avid Paramo fan. Chris will be at Hilltrek from 10 am to 4 pm.

In these days of the ‘throw away’ culture we are rather proud of our skills in refurbishing worn Paramo & Ventile Jackets and trousers. From £45 we can restore that well loved jacket to almost pristine condition replacing worn zips, refurbishing cuffs, patching tears, patching draw cord channel wear – a common problem in Paramo jackets.

Winter hillwalking and mountaineering  is punishing  on outdoor clothing where typical problems include crampon tears on trousers ankles. We can repair Paramo and ventile trousers easily while tears on trousers made of  laminates such as Goretex, E-Vent and Sympatex require seam-sealing after repair. Seam sealing is highly skilled and requires sealing tapes and machine settings specific for the fabric.  This can be challenging with an unusual laminate or PU coated fabric. There is no room for experimentation on a £150 pair of ripped salopettes!

All we ask is for you to ensure that your garment is clean before sending it.

 Delivery is normally 4 to 6 weeks.

The closure of the sleeves works really well, they enclose the arm and keep wind and wet out. It is a well designed smock with an eye for detail.

The smock is not as long as I would have liked it. When I sit down, my bum is no longer covered, so it gets wet and cold. Wearing a backpack in strong, chilly winds it is hard to keep the bum covered with the smock. Even so, in case of rain a longer smock should keep the trousers (at the front) dryer’

* 1 x map pocket (Kangaroo) with zip

* 1 x handwarmer pocket (waist level with opening at each side) with velcro

Don’t miss our Páramo Premier Retailer Event starting next weekend……..

See new Páramo winter stock including lightweight Velez Adventure ladies waterproof trousers, Pájaro Waterproof Trousers and Torres Insulator Jacket.

We will also have some great deals during the week on Páramo and other brands of clothing, footwear and equipment.

The July/August 2010  issue of Ethical Consumer Magazine includes a review of outdoor clothing and equipment.  The best buy and overall rated outdoor jacket was by Paramo.  They have an extract on the criteria used by ethical magazine on their site. The ethical score is out of 20 and Paramo scored 13.5 so the whole industry still has some work to do but it is clear some manufacturers have put the impact on the environment ahead of other commercial considerations.  The Trees for Life blog have a good summary on the history of Paramo and  ethical issues.

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.

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

Pictured above are some of the walkers about to set off on the Sponsored walk

Huntly held a walking festival this weekend and as part of the festival there was a sponsored walk on the Sunday which also included a photography competition. http://www.huntly.net/events/page.php?event_id=92

Hilltrek provided the prizes of gift vouchers £30 for first, £20 for second and £10 for third.

The walk will raise funds for two local charities The Huntly Area Cancer Support Group and an animal rescue centre www.thenewarc.org

I decided to head up there for the start of the walk, leaving Donside it was not looking promising a dusting of snow had covered the tops overnight and it was sleeting. However by the time I got to Huntly the wind had dropped and the sun was out.  I was greeted by Nathalie who had put a lot of work into organising the event, she was concerned that the weather forcast of snow would put people off. We didn’t have to wait long though before people started to turn up to enjoy the lovely spring sunshine and I was pleased to see some where wearing their paramo cascada trousers!

The Route

The map above shows the choice of two routes  a short or long version.

The winners of the  photography competition will be announced once all the entries have been received.