Alpkit Skip The Outdoors Show
yep you read that right. In the March email newsletter that Alpkit sent out today. This is how they broke the news:
“We have decided not to go to this year’s Outdoors Show. It takes a lot of energy and quite a bit of cash, and to be honest we thought we could make better use of both. We have a really cool event planned for later on in the year and we plan to come along to few smaller events, any suggestions anybody?”
Read more here.
Now I don’t know about you but one of the things that swings it for me in attending The Outdoors Show is the Alpkit stand and the coLab competition that they ran. Which I guess hasn’t been run for this year then.
Let’s face it The Outdoors Show tickets aren’t cheap despite any offers that are out there, especially when you add on the cost of parking at the NEC as well.
I know that they have Kate Humble there again this year. And yes the stalker in me was very attracted by that fact. Then they announced that Joe Simpson author/mountaineer/movie star/speaker and yes author of that book Touching The Void would be there giving a talk. I was reaching for the phone to try and get tickets, when I saw they were going to charge to see Joe on top of the ticket price. That killed the moment for me and I didn’t call. Since then I have been flip flopping between wanting to go and not wanting to go.
But no matter which celebrities they have talking in the main theatres, over recent years one of the stands you knew you would be going to at the show, and a highlight, was the Alpkit stand. Now whether it was a visit to see and buy the kit they sell (which always sold really well), or to see any prototypes that they have on display, or to see the finalists in the coLab their stand was always worth a visit. Plus the Alpkit guys would stop and chew the fat with you. A friendly bunch of guys.
So with the cost of getting there, and extra cost of seeing Joe Simpson and now Alpkit not there. I think I have firmly now flopped down on the side of not going.
Yes I know there are new organisers behind the show this year. And for the majority of joe blogs out there or as one friend describes them “weekend warriors” I’m sure that the show will be a hit. But each year in the past just a little bit of the show has died when it comes to attractions for those of us that I shall label the “hardcore”.
Maybe we are not the audience they want to hit, but when I spoke to the new organisers last year at Stoneleigh that was not the impression I got. They came across as wanting to appeal to us as well.
Plus the final nail in the coffin for me going was did I really want to see that tacky Trail fashion shows, or listen to Graham Thompson whinge on and on? In case you are wondering the answer is no.
What Have I Done?
Yesterday I drove down with a friend and the wolf pack to visit the Backpackers Club AGM & ‘Lightweight Equipment & Tent Show’.
Were the Backpackers ready for wolf pack mayhem?
They say first impressions are everything. In that case I was a little underwhelmed with the ‘Lightweight Equipment & Tent Show’. The show didn’t seem to buzzing.
This year there seemed to be less stands than the previous year, and attendance also appeared to be down. Outside of the hall booked were a Satmap stand, along with the Backpackinglight.co.uk stand. While the Backpackinglight.co.uk stand had a handful of people around it, the Satmap stand looked like ‘billy no mates’. So you can see the outside of the hall was not crawling with people.
Was the inside any better? Not really. Alpkit, Cameron McNeish, club merchandise, and Ultralight Outdoor Gear and one no show. None of the stands looked swamped.
Granted those on the stands did say it had been busier in the morning. But from my faded memory of last years AGM the afternoon was certainly less well attended at the hall this year.
I spent my time at the hall socialising. It was good to catch up with old friends. Ok I did buy some stuff as well. At the The Outdoors Show I missed the new Alpkit socks, so I was able to get a pack of three up here. Cameron was selling some of his dvd’s and books. It seemed the ideal time to pick up a copy of the book The Wilderness World of Cameron McNeish and get it signed by the man himself.
I bumped into Baz and Penny, Trentham Walker, and just before I was heading off to see the tent show Gayle and Mick turned up in the hall. I also bumped into Lilo and a couple of other Challengers.
We headed over to the tent show. The usual suspects were there on display, Terra Nova, Big Agnes, Golite and Vaude. Of course more socialising was done at the tent show and camp site. Cameron turned up to look at the tents on show, it was here that a young boy escorted by his father approached Cameron for his autograph. Oh to be famous.
I did a little show and tell with the stoves I took along. I think folks found them interesting. The stoves I showed were the Whitebox Solo, Voodoo #1, FeatherFire, Snow Peak Lite Max,Bios 2, the gnome and QMH kit,starlight, Magic Mouse and the Peak Ignition. The Peak Ignition was there for folks to have as a comparison to the Snow Peak Lite Max.
I hadn’t planned to attend the AGM part itself, I was going to stay with the wolf pack. But somehow I ended up in the AGM itself, standing at the back.
The AGM went through it’s usual business until it came to electing the officials for the club for another year. The club secretary was standing down, no one had come forward before the meeting expressing a desire to do the job. So if no one put their name forward then the position would remain empty. The fallout from this would mean that there would be no one to organise the AGM or the Christmas Meet. Even after explaining to those at the AGM what the job involved no one came forward. Well that’s not true, some poor soul standing at the back seeing no one else was going to do it, put his name forward. Yes that poor soul was me, and yes I am now the new Backpackers Club Secretary. My travelling companion for the day sat on the opposite side of the hall with a great big grin on his face laughing.
Anyway I’m off now to write this bit for the next Backpackers Magazine, apparently the deadline was last week, and they need a letter from the club secretary.
Read Gayle and Mick’s experience of the show here
Backpackers Club AGM Tomorrow
Just a gentle reminder that tomorrow is the Backpackers Club AGM & ‘Lightweight Equipment & Tent Show’.
I know for sure that Alpkit and Backpackinglight.co.uk will be there selling their wares. But there is a fuller list on the Backpackers Club site of who else is there.
Remember this is a great chance to get your hands on some of that nice new lightweight kit, but more important see it before you part with those all important gear tokens.
Apparently Cameron McNeish President of the Backpackers Club will also be at the AGM and the days lightweight fest.
I’ll be there so if you see me pop on over and say hi.
Up North: Frogs
I returned back to the Oakenshaw Wildlife Reserve today (yes another failed attempt to find a parking spot elsewhere). Bud is still limping so needs a gentle walk still. If he doesn’t pick up in the next he will have to visit the vet. It doesn’t seem to be causing him any pain, he lies on that side and leg, so I think he may of pulled a muscle or something.
Anyway whilst walking round the largest of the three ponds at this reserve I noticed the dead bodies of about five frogs. So I thought with this many dead frogs there must be some frog spawn. I had a look at the edge of the pond and saw none.
Later on the walk, I decided to go out on the little viewing platform on one of the smaller ponds. As I went past some reeds I noticed ripples in the water, air bubbles and the odd splash. I stood still, within seconds I noticed one or two heads popping up amongst the reeds. It looked like there was maybe four or five frogs. How wrong I was, there was more like twenty or more! I think this is the largest concentration of frogs in one place that I have ever seen.
I spent some time photographing them, and also filming. One thing you have to laugh at with my dogs is that they don’t care about frogs. Especially ones hiding in the water. All Barney was interested in was paddling (he loves to paddle, he has a happy tail wag when he comes out and almost smiles I’m sure of it). Frogs? They just better not be under his foot while he paddles. Barney paddling stirs up the silt/mud on the bottom, leaving a cloud in the water obscuring the frogs from view. Thus bringing to an end my photographing and filming.
Finally below I saw this rather large bird box, which I assume is for owls.
PS I hope you liked the April Fool that Alpkit did this morning.
Alpkit Gamma Specs
At TOS ’09 the Alpkit guys told me about this new product of theirs that they had developed. Last night after unpacking from their successful stint at the show the guys finally sent me photos and info on this product.
Here is what they said in the email:
“As promised here is the first photo of our prototype Alpkit Spec System, soon to be the worlds first commercially available 3D torch.”?
You can read the full details about this here
TOS ‘09: The Show In Words Part 2
In the first part I looked at the apparent signs of decline of TOS, you can read it here.
Here are some photos I took on the way into the show. Actually the birds were more interesting than the majority of the show.
Above: Not sure what the make of this tipi tent was (they didn’t have the card up identifying it when I arrived), but it looked like a fun family tent. If I get a chance in the future I might look into this in more detail as if it possible to put up solo I may get one for me and the dogs. I like the addition of the doorway/porch as it gets round the problem of the rain getting into the main compartment when you open the door up.
I visited the Satmap stand to speak mainly to them about the lack of Mac software. They have some developers working on it, and it appears that the hold up is not the Sync software, but the development of the device driver. But we are still at least two or three months away before Macheads can use their beloved Macs with their Satmaps.
They were showing off the new web based route planning on the stand, along with the chance to have a hands on go with the Satmap itself.
Satmap also launched the Active 10 Plus, the main difference between this and the original Active 10 is that the Plus has a World Base Map (WBM) and postcode look-up. The WBM means that Satmap is about to start sell European mapping for the Original and Plus. To add the WBM to the Original will cost the £39.99. Sadly due to licensing issues the Post Code look up can not be retro fitted to the Original.
The Plus also comes with rechargeable Lithium Polymer batteries, but can still take normal AA batteries as well.
For those that want to buy the Plus it will set you back £379.99 compared to the Originals £299.99.
I was barely one when Cicerone started publishing. Cicerone were celebrating their fortieth year of publish at the show. So congrats to Cicerone on reaching such a prestigious anniversary. Apart from selling their range of books at the show, and having a bargain section. Cicerone were also sponsoring a series of talks in a near by lecture theatre. Well calling it a theatre is stretching it a bit. However the speakers they had were probably the best at the show. Cicerone deserve a lot of praise for that. If there is a next time the show organisers should give more prominence to the Cicerone talks so they are not drowned out by the sound of the show.
Buff had a special offer on for folks with a buff loving dog on their stand. The offer allows folks to get their hands on a proto-type doggy buff. Sadly I wasn’t able to get my hands on one, mainly because I didn’t need to buy any more buffs at the moment.
Apparently there is a vote going on the website for folks to choose which Batman design will be used for the adult Batman buff due to come out later in the year. I can’t provide a link as I wasn’t able to find the poll on their site.
It also appears that it will be awhile before we see a UK release of the insect repellent buff. The hold up seems to be that the UK office is trying to source a supplier of insect repellent that is a known name over here. The name given to me was that they had been talking to Nikwax about their insect repellent products. But for those that can’t wait the advice from the stand was to get an insect repellent and spray it yourself. The draw back of this is that this method will not last as long as if the manufacturer has done it. In the meantime I will try and get one sent over from the US.
Let down at the last moment Alpkit were unable to make the planned announcement about the new stove. All I can say is that the new stove is a gas stove. See I can tease as well 
But to compensate folks Alpkit put up a last minute display of some proto types of some meths stoves that may or may not see the light of day. But for a good look at these and the CoLab stuff see the video I will be putting up in the next couple of days. As usual the Alpkit stand was buzzing, and why shouldn’t it. These guys get what folks want. They give folks the chance to see the kit they sell, and also to buy it. Plus you get to see planned new stuff as well.
The final post on this years TOS will be a video of stuff that I shot at the show. Hopefully it will give a flavour of the show, and also show off the new stoves there.
Alpkit Tease
Whitebox Stove Solo Update
If you remember in yesterdays post I gave some initial thoughts that came to mind after reading the details that were available and after watching the video.
Now Bill the creator of the Whitebox stove has left a comment over at FreezerBagCooking in response to my post yesterday explaining things.
In his answer he said that the new solo stove has a smaller diameter flame ring. The solo is geared more to a pot with a 4 to 5 inch base. Sarah at FBC gives a pretty good list of pots that meet that criteria, the list includes the “MSR Titanium Titan Kettle, Vargo .9L pot, Snow Peak 900 or 1100, flat bottomed ‘tea’ kettles such as the GSI HAA Halulite” (get the full list here).
Bill did point out that they don’t recommend the use of mug sized pots with the new solo. Which means pots like the Ti-Lite/Myti mugs are not usable with it, as the flames will come up the sides.
In the meantime I’m trying to find out if this stove will be officially available over here in the UK, and if so when. As soon as I know I’ll post the info.
Already I am receiving comments from folks that they can’t wait to see the video of this new Whitebox solo stove. So I will do my best to get one ASAP (which is sooner than sometime in April).
New Whitebox Stove For Solo Hikers Available
I was just reading the Freezer Bag Cooking blog (which I do hope you are following as well it is rather good) where they announce a new stove to their store. Well we know what I am like with stoves. Anyway the new stove is a solo version of the White Box stove.
PLEASE REMEMBER WHAT FOLLOWS IS BASED ON LOOKING AT THE PHOTOS AND VIDEO AND NOT ACTUALLY OWNING ONE (YET! )
It’s rather interesting as the main change seems to be that it is not as tall therefore holding less fuel. All the other dimensions look the same. So a solo hiker would still have to take similar if not the same wide based pots as some-one using a regular White Box stove. For solo hiking my preference is a Ti-Lite/Myti mug, maybe the Snow Peak 900 or even the Eta Power 1 litre pot. All of which are pots that are not wide enough to be used with the White Box stove, but for a stove aimed at solo hikers I would expect them to be usable.
So what is the advantage of the White Box Solo Stove? Surely you might as well just use the regular White Box stove and for a small weight hit have the flexibility of being able to use more fuel if need be.
It certainly would be interesting to hear what the designer of the White Box stove has to say on the subject. They are a great stove, and maybe I am out of touch on this, and that US solo hikers want a slightly smaller and lighter stove to use with pots that are suitable for a couple of people. But then if they are that worried about weight, surely they would want the stove to work with a smaller and lighter pot?
Oh I don’t know go read the stuff I linked to and make your own mind up, and then come back and tell me how wrong I am.
In the meantime I’ll think about trying to get my hands on one in April sometime after I have moved up North (which is immanent).
Another U Turn
It wasn’t long ago when I was declaring on this blog that I wasn’t going to go to this years Outdoors Show at the NEC. But in recent days I have found reason to change my mind.
One of the reasons I now want to go is to look at the Outdoors career section/stand. Why? Well as regular suffering readers of this blog will know I was made redundant last August. Since then I have decided to take a “gap year”, and need to think about the direction my working life will go. To that end I think that having a look at possible careers in the Outdoors might be an option.
The other main reason, and this won’t come as any surprise to you is stoves. There is one company there this year that have done enough to lure me to the show with their talk of stoves. That company is Alpkit. Over at a popular UK based Outdoors forum Alpkit said they would be making an announcement at the show about a new product. Well we all know Alpkit, they bring out new kit and it sells like hot cakes (mind you so does the current kit). This new bit of kit will apparently be a stove. But that is not all, Alpkit sponsor/run a competition called CoLab. Two of this years finalists are stoves (what did happen to the one in last years final?). So I want to go along and have a look at them as well. Hopefully they will give me a demo of their entries that I will be allowed to video and share with you all.
So there we have it me justifying another U turn
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