hilltrek

‘Last March I have been to Swedish Sapmi (=Lapland), once more. We have been cross-country skiing for 10-days. Most of the time we made a campsite, and from time to time we have been using mountain huts. This time the weather was sunnier, but also colder then 2 years ago.

I have been using my Braemar Ventile Smock most of the time. It performed very well in the cold, with temperatures of -20°C without windchill. The fabric stayed supple (it was as flexible as in warmer conditions). I have been using the smock as a kind of windstopper and we have had some severe winds. In this area there is always wind and no protection.

The cargo-pocket is great to put some extra mittens or a hat.

At night the smock was used as a pillow. 

As we where doing some physical exercise, it was great to regulate the temperature as sweat  evaporated easily.

Really splendid piece of kit’

Nicholas

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!