I've noticed recently that a decent tech-t for walking will set you back a good twenty to thirty quid. All fine and dandy until you realise that our cousins in the running fraternity can get hold of similar tops for much less. Essentially, you need a wicking shirt - there's no rocket science or voodoo ceremonies - it's simple.

I've recently got some short sleeve New Balance tees for about a tenner that are a fine fit and have been on a few hill trips so far and performed fine. Funnily enough - my baselayer of choice is currently a winter weight Canterbury rugby compression top. It wicks, it keeps me warm and is a really good fit (unlike my Paramo cambia that is huge, even for an XL). It was only £15 on discount as well. Try and find a decent walking top on discount and you might get lucky. Running tops and other suitable sport tops always seem to be cheaper. I might have been luck over the last few weeks, and I'm also keen to keep as much overlap as possible between my walking and running gear, but it's got to be worth a punt.

Nokia N97 as an Outdoor Phone?
WILL ADD PHOTOS SOON
Features: 32GB storage, touch screen, built in GPS, slide out keyboard.
It arrived a few months back now, and I’ve had plenty of time to play with it. Ok, I admit that I missed the first few calls as I wasn’t sure how to answer it, but beyond that it’s pretty easy to use. It looks like a typical touch screen phone. You can easily customise the home screen with widgets such as Facebook, email, favourite contacts and so on. There’s not much choice yet, but this is certainly going to increase as this phone becomes more popular.

For a start there's decent video and photo quality, especially compared to the N95. The video quality is pretty amazing – playing back well in full screen on my netbook.

Battery life is now much better. I found that using Sports Tracker on my N95 would exhaust the batteries on one run! And I certainly can't run that far or fast. I can use the N97 all day on one charge, maybe browsing the web, making a few calls and using the GPS upwards of 2 hours depending how far I run. Using it lightly, I found the battery life good for about 2 days. I’m pretty impressed with this considering what’s been packed inside, and I’m sure with some fiddling around that battery life could be improved slightly (screen brightness). Some reviewers, even on the BBC, seem to claim the battery life is poor; but that's not been what I've found.

GPS speed is impressive, as opposed to the N95, and even picks up enough signals indoors. This means that the Sport Tracker running app work a dream. If you do any sort of outdoor sport then Sport Tracker is a free download from Nokia that allows you to track all your walks, runs, bike trips or whatever else you could apply it to. I found it tracked my stock run perfectly, where my Garmin GPS unit usually fails due to the tree coverage.

Nokia Maps has been useful on a few non-outdoorsy trips this summer, finding an Indian restaurant in Bridgnorth on foot and Stirling by car competently. It did try and re-route me to North Africa when I looked for an outdoor shop in Edinburgh (even on restarting!) It is also far from comprehensive when searching for local facilities, finding barely anything in Caernarfon. If you have the post code however, then you can use that to find your destination. That said, I’m making use of a free 30 day trial and would rather pay for a dedicated Sat Nav than this software; although the walking routing really was impressive. Google Maps is a free alternative that provides driving and walking directions, but only by a list of directions and a map rather than the more intuitive live map on the Nokia Maps. You can search for anything locally and it was pretty good, but like the Nokia offering, is still far from comprehensive. I can see this becoming a standard phone function in the next few years, most useful in the larger urban centres, but of limited use until there’s a proper database we can call upon.

GPS Viewranger works on the N97 and looks impressive. Viewranger and the N97 is definitely a killer combination – considering the GPS rarely worked on the N95. Being touch screen, you can scroll effortlessly through the maps and create routes much easier by tapping the waypoints in. If the phone was waterproof, it would double as a proper GPS, but it isn't and it's just not rugged enough to replace it outright.

Extras: Setting up the N97 as a modem is painless. I was online in seconds from my Samsung NC10, but then the performance depends on the signal strength in your area. There’s a built in FM transmitter so you can listen to tracks in the car, but whenever I used it I got an annoying beep every few seconds.

Some annoyances. While email was quick to set up, you can’t add a contact from a new email - something pretty fundamental if you ask me, or for that matter, by adding a new contact from a text message. On opening an html attachment in an email, you open the browser, but it’s not the full browser for some reason; bookmarks are missing. Overall, while I've found receiving email on the go has been a boon, the software is utter pants. Oh, and you’ve got to pay for Acrobat Reader – only a few quid, but annoying! Can be slow browsing the web, but this is probably down to the net speed than the phone.

Best features? 32gigabytes of storage means that you can put as much music as you’d need for a trip. It’s also large enough to store some video files, which you can download for free from iPlayer. There’s some half decent speakers built in, but you really need to listen on headphones for any real level of quality.
Some down sides? The overall build quality is good, but the battery cover is a little disappointing. It’s also a little awkward to remove, and suggests that it would not be wise to continually swap batteries. The silver button on the front! Why Nokia? Why? I’m not convinced either with the new charging socket – I don’t think that’ll survive the wear and tear over the next couple of years, but hopefully I’ll be wrong. Maybe once I stop trying to put it in upside down I might feel differently, but after three months I’m yet to figure up from down.

Another problem is the current lack of decent specific accessories. There are no decent cases available, and due to the annoying lock button on the side of the phone, it’s very difficult to unlock in a standard aquapack case as the plastic is thick, and while I can unlock it, it’s only going to be a matter of time before the case is holed. The arm band case from Aquapack though does the trick, but as the fit is snug and the plastic so grippy, it takes five minutes to get the phone in. Will post a review soon as I think that it’s becoming easier with age.

As an outdoor phone I’ve been more than impressed with the phone’s performance so far, but I’ve mainly tested it as a runner’s phone. I’ve recalled my letter to Santa asking for a Garmin Forerunner 305 now as this does mostly what I need. What will be an obstacle again is Nokia’s inability to market and support their technology in the way Apple can. There’s a Bluetooth heart rate monitor available by Polar, but only as a bundle with another Nokia, and not as a separate accessory. This is typical Nokia, great hardware but no follow through and support that you’d expect for what is arguably one of the most advanced smart phones yet.

Wild camping, I can watch a video or listen to music now, as well as the radio but at the risk of flattening the battery. Being a competent camera (for a phone) means further battery drain. So yes, it’s useful, but so damned useful that you’re likely to drain the battery before you need to make a call, so again a spare battery is essential for multiday trips. But I’ve used it for a few overnighters, listening to loads of music on the mp3, browsing the internet, couple of calls and a few videos and photos and still had enough battery to make and receive calls the following day.

Summary. A Smartphone that does it all, and much more if the software will be developed for it. Very expensive unless you pay £40 a month on a contract to receive it for free. Could be a tad faster and could do with being sturdier for outdoor use, but then it’s designed for mass market. Still waiting for the perfect outdoors mobile, but despite small niggles, this is a huge leap in the right direction. 9/10.

Ok, it seems that whatever those fine guys at Paramo decide to release, i buy. The trusty old cascada trousers, circa 1967, were now mostly hole and thread and both the pocket zips lost their effacy at around the same time at the Berlin Wall. They were also bulky, designed to be worn and never packed away. Added to this the fact that they did impart a slight air of MC hammer in the mid 90s, it was time for change. So when Paramo brought out the Velez Trousers that were not only lighter, less bulky and a better fit, but also a lot less navy blue and dragged my lower limbs into the twenty first century.

The first thing that strikes you about these trews has to be the lack of bulk. They arrived in a tiny package that, to my surprise, also contained both a Torres Smock and Trouser. Secondly, the fit. They fit. Like a normal pair of trousers. This is partly down to the fact that you can buy them in normal trouser-like waist sizes rather than the previous four sizes fit all with the bizzare choice of about ten different leg lengths. It's also because they're more tailored than some of the earlier offerings and as a result aren't at all baggy. Having lost some weight, with a bit more to go, I was glad to find that their sizing was on the small size with the 36" waist being about right but with plenty of room to grow out of.

When i first fondled these in the shop, I decided I didn't like the fabric one bit. What at first appears to be pertex, is their Analogy Light fabric. It felt even flimsier on the Velez Adventure Light and Quito jackets. On further reflection, I came to the conclusion that the original fabric was bombproof and that the lightweight stuff has to be as durable as your common or garden membrane waterproofs, so took the plunge. While I can't vouch for durability until I've used them for a good few months, preferably after a few week-enders and a week long trip to the wilds. To be fair though, there's different types of fabric on different parts of the garment depending on where you're going to need it most. If this means the weight and bulk is reduced, then i welcome it.

Another advantage of these trousers that's going to be difficult to evaluate till the spring is that they should be OK for all year round use. I can imagine using these on Yr Wyddfa on a wet summer's day, especially on the last three summers. I'm hoping to try them out for some trail running over the winter and see how they fare.

Summary.
What's good - Light (around 400g), well fitting Paramo waterproofs that don't show a hint of navy. Practical to carry on multiple day trips, which is a first for Paramo.
What's bad - Expensive (£137) and possibly not as durable as you'd expect from Paramo.
Proper Pics to Follow......

For the first time, I must admit that I’ve looked longingly at some gear by those darlings of the disposable camper, Gelert. I’ve bought a 500ml pan that i want to use to make bannock bread, and at 85g this is 5g less than the MSR Ti Kettly thing without a lid (though i can only measure to the nearest 5g). At £1.99 who said light weight had to be expensive! -image here - but Gelert don’t allow linking to their images.. Their loss! Click on link below instead- What really caught my eye was the Intensity Mini Folding Gas Stove that is essentially an MSR Pocket Rocket clone. I was surprised that it only weighs in at 87g as well considering it isn’t titanium (it’s made of an alloy of Magnesium and Stainless Steel). At £15 it looks like it will do the job, but the supports felt flimsy compared to the Pocket Rocket.

The Genuine Pocket Rocket - at twice the price!

Then they’ve got the Inferno folding remote stove. I’m sure this looks like another stove I’ve seen, but cannot identify but they all seem to look vaguely similar anyway. It’s not as light as it could be at 340g, but at £25 I doubt there’s a cheaper remote canister gas stove for winter use. Will post pics when i get hold of this for my next winter camp.

It does seem to me that, like the much maligned Skoda, Gelert might finally be producing kit that’s a serious alternative to the premium brands in much the same way as Alpkit have been doing for the last few years. One interesting challenge would be to go on a 3 day trip using nothing but the cheapest gear. Maybe a £50 budget?

p>Rest of the stuff. I carried all the gear in the OMM Villain pack. This isn’t really big enough for this sort of trip. The sleeping bag is a bit on the bulky side, and the down mat takes up the remaining space. An Alpkit Filo jacket also took up space but I couldn’t have done without it. As usual, Paramo Aspira jacket and trews were worn and performed well except for the poppers on the side of the trousers continually opening. For a £150 pair of trousers I expect perfection and will be looking to modifying the poppers with an actual old fashioned button. A fleece and yak wool hat from Nepal and sealskin waterproof gloves were enough to keep the cold away. Your hands tend to get cold using poles, and the Leki Ultralight poles have given me months of loyal service but are starting to look pretty tatty as the pole length markers are all but worn off. Meindl Burma boots do the job well for this sort of walk and as it was dry didn’t freeze solid overnight like last time. Merino wool warm socks with some thinnish outer walking socks kept my feet warm enough. I don’t think trail shoes would have been wise, the ground being frozen solid meant I twisted my ankles many times during the trip and clambering over icy boulders I could stabilise myself by jamming a foot between rocks often up to my ankles.

Nothing but a decent head torch will suffice for me, and the Petzl Myo3 is a good balance of weight and performance. It’s good enough for night walking, so it’s a vital piece of hill kit for winter day walks where ending the walk in the dark is often the norm. It also takes AA batteries, which any gear I take must also take. That means I can take my camera batteries if need be and use them in my head torch or GPS. In winter I carry a set of Lithium batteries as well as they don’t get affected by the cold.

A Nokia N95 was useful as an MP3 player, radio and for a bit of web browsing. On my last wild camp I managed to post on the blog with it. Soon I’ll be getting an Asus EEE 901 which may be my luxury item on summer wild camps (review soon). I always use my Garmin GPSmap 76c to log the walk and it also gives a much quicker idea if we’re off path or not. If they don’t match up, then the map is straight out. The Fuji Finepix S9600 is bulky but I wouldn’t go on a trip like this without being able to take a decent photographic record.

What I didn’t use. Paramo mountain top – great fleece that’s also a base layer so counted as spare fleece and layer. First aid kit with whistle– few odds and sods only. Spare batteries weren’t used, but essential. Sunglasses were taken, but the sun wasn’t quite strong enough. I also had sealskin mittens and Paramo long johns that I just didn’t need, but I was glad that they were.

What I didn’t take, but wished I had? I could have done with a Complan for breakfast. I’d not been able to get to a shop to buy this over the busy holiday period and suffered a bit on the second day. One of these would have made a nice pudding in the evening as the meal left me craving something sweet but not chocolate. A windproof would have been my top of choice on the warmer second day if I’d been able to fit it in my pack! Definitely a better set of headphones for my Nokia and a decent portable radio as the N95 has an atrociously poor battery life. I can’t replace it with an MP3 player as I’m yet to see a decent one that takes AA batteries and they all require wall sockets to charge and proclaim is as a useful feature. Other than that, I was happy that the gear did the job well and that there was minimal dead wood. The rucksack needs to be larger for a longer trip in similar conditions though. Weight wise you could drop this down a kilo or so with a lighter bag, but for a significant price. The OMM Villain isn’t the lightest pack either, but it’s comfortable and I’d stick to this rather than go completely minimal. I think if I’d have cut weight down with most of the other gear then I’d have lost comfort at best or at worst I’d have had the wrong gear for the conditions at hand and suffered badly.

A rough estimate is that the pack weight was somewhere in the region of 8 kilos without counting the camera (non-essential) or the poles (as they’re’worn’). Of course, the rest of the worn gear adds a lot of weight as does the food – but on the net pack weights are usually stated without consumables (gas, water, food) or items worn (inc boots). The full weight of my gear would have been much higher, and this’Skin out’ weight included my waterproofs. In seeking lower weights I cannot see how any lighter gear would have performed as good as the Paramo, which at this time of year really does count as a lightweight choice. Aspira Trousers (850g) and the Jacket (840g) count as an insulation and a waterproof layer for the entire body, worn just with decent baselayers are enough for walking in this weather, you know you’ll be dry and warm. I might have got away with lighter clothing but had the weather changed I might not (definitely on the Saturday, normal walking trews and a windproof would have been OK). So it depends how much risks you like to take! You might go up Snowdon in January with t-shirts and flip flops and survive, it doesn’t mean it was a wise course of action.