Pyranha Rev

With Jim offering us a go in Pyranha’s new playboat, the Rev, Nic and I eagerly headed to Alpkit’s Nottingham headquarters to pick them up. With no rain about to try them on ..

BUSA No Polo 2008

The weekend of 11/12/13 April saw the annual BUSA Canoe Polo Competition at Hatfield Water Park, Doncaster. It is an event that sees teams of five chasing a ball around a swimming ..

Ignoring the bank holiday forecast

If the forecast was to be believed we would have been better staying at home doing DIY, however it had been a busy week and we just needed some outdoors time, we decided to risk ..

Slacking off

Spring has finally come to Alpkit HQ, regenerating Alpkit staff morale and stimulating early season training on the makeshift AlpLine. We are kind of learning with every fall but ..

A Gentleman’s Adventure

The plan was to circumnavigate anglesey, like all best laid plans, the weather had something to say about this!

On the drive across from Nottingham the weather had steadily ..

Rev’in it up in the wind.

I picked up a Pyranha Rev last week to test before we order them for the Alpkit team. I’ve paddle it a couple of times just down the road at the National Watersports Centre with ..

Climbing Works International Festival

An under strength Alpkit team arrived at the doors of the Climbing Works. Beth had deserted us for a team that actually stood a chance of winning, Ashleigh was poorly and couldn’t ..

Ice Ice Baby?

Now, I realise that striclty speaking this does not constitute as part of my climbing experiences, however, I shall continue. Earlier today I had my first snowboarding lesson. I ..

Skymasters and more

Well, I arrived at the Outdoor Show 2008 a bit later than the rest of the Alpkit group because I had to go to college on the Friday morning. When I got there Beth met me at the ..

Outdoors Show 2008

After a long drive from Teesside we finally arrived at the NEC on Friday. We had come along to help on the Alpkit stand and with the ‘have a go’ canoe sessions. Friday was pretty ..

Outdoor Show 2008

The 14-16th March saw the Outdoor show take place at the Birmingham NEC. We went down for the weekend mainly to help out at the Alpkit stand and also we took our boats to help out ..

SkyMasters Challenge

Hundreds of eyes stared at the looming, suspended structure. How could this be a indoor climbing wall?! The unusual obstacles ahead set the adrenaline flowing. Suspended above the ..

Training begins (with Gourdon’s help)

When I first began at Alpkit, I mentioned to Nick that I was planning on doing this year’s End 2 End on the Isle of Man, which is where I hail from.  This 75km mountain bike ..

NSRRRRRRRR 2008

This weekend saw the National Student Rodeo 2008 at Nottingham. The biggest freestyle event in the world, with student paddlers from all over the country.

The weekend started ..

Show build up

It has been a busy week at Alpkit HQ. I flew in on Monday evening fresh from a couple of days climbing in Val di Mello with perfect 22˚C temperatures and clear skies. My first ..

Summer in February!?

Blue skies and sunshine; it seemed too perfect. The first time out for ages and we were off to Beeston. Upon late arrival we quickly mounted the cool rock and belayed from the ..

Biking at Dalby

1st of March saw a sunny dry afternoon with no water and a bad ear, so we went biking! Dalby Forest in North Yorkshire was a great destination loads of single track and some ..

Learning to ski

When I first moved to Italy I immediately decided that I would learn to snowboard. So I bought myself the kit and got out on the slopes. One weekend after the other I visited ..

Gear Testing with the Smiff

Sometimes opportunities present themselves and you have to grab with both hands. Nick and I had arranged a meeting in N. Wales on Friday morning. Up early we were on the road ..

A great day out on the Vallee Blanche

4.30 AM is not unusual for an Alpine Start however hanging around in a cemetery car park felt a bit strange.

I had arrived first and there was not a living soul in sight.. I ..

Sneaking a quick one

Jim and I had a meeting in Llanberis (nudge, nudge, wink, wink...more of this soon). On the way back we managed to get a little product testing in, well to be honest it was a bit ..

The Alpkit Bouldering League 07/08

Well the Alpkit Bouldering League has come to an end for another year and we’ve been more than happy to give some support again. Thanks to Derek and the team for putting on the ..

Single Track Awards

Saturday 2nd February saw us travel down to Corby, the epicentre for UK single track, to attend the annual Singletrack Magazine awards. We were unexpectedly up for Best Software ..

Weekend of activity

So the weather has been pretty good the past couple of weeks out here in Lecco. My time here is coming to an end so I have been pretty keen to make the most of these final days. ..

Back East

Well here I am again, sitting in the hotel checking mails and preparing for tomorrow’s visit to another Chinese factory. I’m out here to work on some subtle changes to existing ..

A new year just around the corner

Been struck down with a cold the past couple of days. Rotten luck since the weather is spectacular. Col reckons something is going around but he stopped short at the details. It ..

Yorkshire Fun

I am extremely lucky to have made some very good friends through my years at University in Leeds. My family and I have just spend a few days with them. enjoying the hills and ..

A day salvaged

Today the fine weather returned to the mountains of Lecco and like a complete idiot I lay in bed oblivious to it all. You know how it is.. you wake at about 6.30 and decide to ..

A short trip on my bike

Not having any boxes to deal with my day was pleasingly free of commitments. As much as I enjoy snow boarding I wouldn’t do it everyday. Often it is more rewarding to do something ..

A Christmas Ski

So the shops had finally shut and Christmas could get under way. I spent the Eve in the company of friends, durable friends like Joel who are happy to stand for hours over a hot ..

La Wrekin

Well following on from Kenny’s exploits on the high Via Ferrata, the Wrekin was in my sights for a Christmas Day run. I’d said I would be doing it over a week ago and all at ..

Extreme Filo Testing

Just over 3 years ago I gave up employment as I knew it to work full-time on Alpkit and at the same time became a father to the first Alpkid, Aimee. The 2 have grown very much ..

La Fiaccolata

T’was the last Sunday before Christmas. The moon was full and inviting, some nocturnal activity was on the cards and there I was ready to get after it. The funicular car park was ..

Customer service hero wanted

Alpkit needs your help – Customer service Hero required
We need someone special to help us keep our customers happy. You will have to answer a lot of emails, print out all the ..

Four Borders Expedition

Back in November 2006 student kayakers from all around the UK gathered in a small wet hut in the heart of the Welsh countryside. The aim of the gathering was to select the finest ..

A toast to Col and Liz

This weekend Alpkit Col (some of you may know him as ‘The Chunk’) is getting married to Liz. We couldn’t let him go without being sure he was of sound mind so a couple of weeks ..

37 degrees and 53 problems

“53 problems?! You have got to be kidding me! I don’t usually move at 37 degrees let alone climb!”

So, there we were in sunny Ailfroide for Tout a Blocs and contemplating how we ..

A Journey By Bike

Richard and Sarah are currently undertaking a 10,000km cycle journey through the Andes to Ushuia at the southern tip of Argentina. The journey will take in some of the most ..

Mello Blocco Air and Energy

Hmm, my first impressions on seeing the valley. Well, since I had never been to a large mountain range before, the excitement of seeing such an overwhelming beautiful natural ..

A Monks Life

To support our small article on the British Youth Climbing Team we invited Alan and Beth Monks to tell us what life in the team is like for a father and daughter ..

Travelling Monks - Kalymnos

This must be paradise. We had even travelled through purgatory with a cramped flight next to the toilet queue and a cold night on the beach chairs in Masticharri, Kos. But we were ..

Beth in Beijing

If you hear a group of climbers discussing Great Wall, you assume they will be talking about that classic rock climb on Cloggy scene of many an epic story. However, here we were ..

Travelling Monks - Arco

The rock climbing in Arco is similar in that you can; boulder, attempt short sport routes of every angle and style, “Trad” climb on long routes or do multi-pitch sport climbs. ..

Competition climbing in the UK

With Beth placing highly in international competition we take a peek behind the scenes of the British Junior Climbing Team to see what’s going down. To help us we have called up ..

Alpine Dreaming in Imst with the British Team

Why didn’t I hold it? I felt my fingers over the top hold, then the sensation of air rushing past at speed, as I spun downwards.
This put me in ninth after the first qualifier ..

Stanage in Spring

And then..
we went in the car to stanage
i knew what i was to do and then
we walked up to the crag with the smell of sheep in our noses then
my dad climbed left ..