Ultralight Outdoor Gear Awards 2024
Posted by Andy Neil on Dec 13, 2024
At Ultralight, we’ve tested and reviewed the very
best in hiking, camping, and outdoor gear to compile this definitive list. This
year’s winners feature cutting-edge technologies, eco-friendly innovations, and
user-focused designs that represent the pinnacle of outdoor excellence. Whether you’re a weekend warrior or a seasoned adventurer,
these award-winning products are sure to inspire your
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Spring and Summer 2024 Highlights
Posted by Andy Neil on Jun 13, 2024
We promise you, it is actually summer. Although a
glance out the window could lead one to believe that spring will lead straight
into autumn this year, there are still some bright spots on the horizon that
can offer solace and excitement. We are now halfway through 2024, and there has
already been an abundance of new gear for us to get excited about. Okay, this one is a cheat. It's not a
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Condensation in Single Skin Tents: Causes and Mitigation
Posted by Andy Neil on Jun 04, 2024
Single-walled tents offer
significant benefits compared to double-walled ones in weight and size
reduction. They are considerably lighter and more compact. Utilising trekking
poles for structure, they provide ample headroom in liveable space, and often have
spacious vestibules. However, single-walled tents are infamous for excessive
condensation due to the lack of a barrier between the
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Gossamer Gear’s The Two Review - “The Two allowed me to complete the TGO challenge with a lighter pack load while enjoying enough room to spread out at camp.”
Posted by Andy Neil on Jun 04, 2024
For
this year's TGO challenge, a demanding two-week coast-to-coast journey across
Scotland, I sought to reduce the weight of my pack without sacrificing the
headroom, living space, and large vestibules I have come to enjoy with my
trusty Hilleberg Anaris. Having traversed the country with the Anaris on four
previous occasions, I decided to try a different trekking pole tent, Goss
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TGO Kit List Highlights 2024
Posted by Andy Neil, Danny Pearson and Lois Fife on May 02, 2024
May means one thing in the Ultralight office: The Great Outdoors Challenge, or the TGO, for short. We are incredibly proud to sponsor this communal coast-to-coast crossing of Scotland. This year, Lois, Danny, and I are taking part in this years crossing. Lois is embarking on her first, and Danny and I are attempting our third TGO challenge.The TGO Challenge is a unique coast-to-coast trek across S
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Gossamer Gear’s updated Mariposa. What's changed?
Posted by Andy Neil on Apr 12, 2024
n the dynamic realm of outdoor gear, Gossamer Gear consistently stands out for its commitment to innovation and performance. Their flagship 60l backpack, the Mariposa, is a testament to their unwavering commitment to excellence. This backpack is exceptional; we have reviewed it twice, it's that good. It was an absolute pleasure to use on my first TGO challenge in 2022. The latest iteration of
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GR221 Dry Stone Route – Mallorca September 2022
Posted by Danny Pearson on Jan 25, 2024
Late in 2021, I decided that with travel opening up I wanted
to walk a GR route and having looked at the Cicerone book by Paddy Dillon it seemed to be perfect.
Originally, I was planning to go in late March or Early
April 2022 but due to the launch of our new website and a few issues with that
(apologies if you experienced any problems when it launched in April 2022) this
had to b
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Ultralight Outdoor Gear Awards 2023
Posted by Andy Neil on Dec 22, 2023
2023 was an excellent year for new ultralight equipment and clothing, and we wanted to highlight some of our favourite gear that hit the market this year. Some pieces, like the Montbell Plasma 1000, pushed the limits of what it means to be ultralight even further. Others, like the Nemo Tensor Extreme Conditions sleeping pad, showed real innovation by raising their R-value to an industry-leading 8.
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Andy’s 2023 TGO Kit List
Posted by Andy Neil on May 09, 2023
May means one thing here in the Ultralight office, The Great
Outdoors Challenge, or the TGO for short. We are incredibly proud to be a
sponsor of this communal coast-to-coast crossing of Scotland. Three of our team,
Danny, Chris and myself, are participating in this year’s TGO, so I thought I’d
give you an insight into what’s in my pack and some of the gear I’ll be taking
for this year’s chal
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Mariposa 60 Rucksack Review - Ultralight Outdoor Gear
Posted by Andy Neil on Jul 29, 2022
I have been fortunate enough to hike almost 300 miles with
this pack, I first took it out on The Great Outdoor challenge, a coast-to-coast
crossing of Scotland, and also the Cleveland way, so it’s fair to say we are
well acquainted. It’s American in design, rather than the more classic European
style, so at first, it appears bulky as it has no compression straps, though
you won’t notice
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Gossamer Gear Gorilla 50 Rucksack Review - Ultralight Outdoor Gear
Posted by Danny Pearson on Jul 07, 2022
The Gorilla 40 rucksack has been in the Gossamer Gear line
up for many years and had remained largely unchanged since 2015 but was updated
for 2021. This has been the first opportunity to test the updated version, the Gorilla
50. There are several changes including:
An increase in its capacity to 50 litres (without
increasing weight, in fact we found Gorilla 50 to be slightly li
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Gossamer Gear Mariposa 60 Review - Ultralight Outdoor Gear
May 05, 2022
Gossamer Gear’s Mariposa 60 is an amazing rucksack, there
are three elements to it that make it so good;
1.It
has a feature set designed by backpackers that actually work
2.It
has a very comfortable harness system
3.It
is extremely lightweight despite 1 and 2 above.
Feature Set
On a recent trip to Switzerland backpacking the Tour of the Matterhorn we took the Mariposa for a tes
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