When you’re heading deep into the wilderness for 5 days or more, space and support matter. A 70‑litre or larger backpack allows you to pack the food, water and extra clothing needed for long routes. However, be aware that the required capacity of a backpack greatly depends on the equipment and supplies that you need/want…
Approximately half of a year ago, I purchased the Montane Minimus jacket and since then I’ve been regularly using it as a shell layer on my hiking trips. The Montane Minimus jacket is a hardshell jacket which means that it’s made of a waterproof/breathable fabric. Hardshell jackets are typically lighter than softshell jackets and offer better…
A couple of months ago I received the Woolly Ultralight Crew Neck Merino t-shirt and since then I’ve been regularly using it as a base layer for hiking. The Woolly Ultralight Crew Neck Merino t-shirt is made of 100% Merino wool. Base layers made of Merino wool have certain advantages in comparison to the more…
In April 2017 we were travelling around France and on our way we also stopped in Grenoble. Grenoble is a quite big city in southeastern France which lies at the foot of the French Alps. Being so close to the Alps, we of course wanted to go hiking there. After a brief research we decided to…
A fleece jackets is a very useful garment for hiking because it provides light-weight insulation and can be worn as a mid-layer in cold and/or rainy weather conditions or as an outer layer in dry and moderate weather conditions. Towards the end of 2016 my old fleece jacket, made of Polartec Stretch fabric, started to…
For many, Casio might stand as the quintessential manufacturer of high quality sports watches, but regrettably the brand has fallen behind the competition (namely Suunto and Garmin) in the area of outdoor watches. Until 2012 Casio Pro Trek watches offered features and functionality comparable to Suunto’s outdoor watches such as Suunto Core (first released in…
In January 2017 I decided that it was finally time for me to get a pair of proper hiking boots and I ended up purchasing a pair of Scarpa Marmolada Trek hiking boots. I tested them on the Bodenhaus-Ammererhof and Grubereck trails in the Austrian Alps and on minor hikes since then and this is…
In the beginning of January 2017 Garmin announced two new products; the Fenix 5 GPS watches and the Garmin inReach handheld satellite communication and navigation devices. While the Garmin Fenix series watches have been on the market since 2012, the inReach devices are the first satellite messengers (devices designed for communication where GSM signal is…
In the beginning of 2017 we spent a couple of days in the Austrian village Rauris where we hiked, climbed mountains and skied. Our first hike there went to the 2167 meters high Grubereck mountain which lies north-east of the village. We decided to climb the Grubereck peak because the trail starts in the village…
In the beginning of January 2017 Garmin announced the release of the new Fenix 5 series GPS watches which are replacing the highly popular Fenix 3 series watches (note that a Fenix 4 series will not be launched, according to Garmin). The Garmin Fenix 5 collection includes three different and highly customizable GPS watches –…
