Much of the gear that I used on this year’s Challenge has been tried and tested over more than a couple of events. In general it all worked very well and I do think that — for me at least — the gear works very well in Scottish conditions. The weather on this year’s vent was dreadful with lots of driving wind and rain and ground that was absolutely saturated. While exposure to high winds was a constant feature out of the wind the temperatures were not too low and on some evenings things felt a little humid. On the west coast the midges were out and biting! I’ll pick out some things for special comment, but here is a general overview.

Paramo Waterproofs

The jacket was the now, sadly, deleted Third Element. The trousers were the lightweight Velez trousers.

This year’s Challenge really put waterproofs through their paces. many people using conventional Goretex or eVent waterproofs complained of regular wet outs and water leakage. I had no such problems with the Paramo kit which kept me nice and dry at all times.

I’m not sure what I am going to do when my Third Element wears out but I reckon I can squeeze another couple of years out of it. This jacket has removable hood and arms which allows it to convert to a gilet. There is absolutely no need fora mid layer when carrying this jacket.

This is the second year that I have worn Velez trousers. There is no way I would walk in Cascadas as they are too heavy but the Velez are effective and cool enough to wear even in sunny weather and like last year I walked in them every day. There seem to have been some quality control issues with early batches but Paramo now seem to have got over these problems. However, try and buy these from a store rather than online. I reckon these are best when they are a size larger than your usual size.

Inov-8 Terrocs

As brilliant as ever. Wonderful when paired with Trek Light X Socks or lightweight Smartwool or Teko socks.

Pacer Poles

My Pacers are now more than a little battered and worn. The lower sections have been bent so many times that they now do not collapse into each other and have to be dismantled for transportation. But I still think that these poles work more efficiently and intuitively than standard poles. On a gruelling event like the Challenge I prefer to rely on aluminium poles rather than carbon ones.

Thermorest Neoair

Almost perfect. Nothing copes with uneven or tussocky ground than a Neoair. I was a late convert but now consider myself to be an evangelist for this mat!

Caldera Cone

This alcohol system is so simple yet amazingly effective and efficient. This year was the first time I had used the cone with a big, two person, pot — the MSR 1.5.titan. I was a little concerned as to how well it would work but the system was just as effective as it is with my one person MLD pot.

The cones measuring cup allows you to be very precise with your measurement of fuel. Two of us used just over one 500 mil bottle of fuel over the two week. We had a hot drink each morning and then heated more eater for porridge. In the evening we had a hot drink and a meal. We also used the stove during the day for a hot drink whenever we could.

Comparing this Caldera to other lightweight alcohol stoves used on the Challenge it would appear that our system was significantly more fuel efficient.

ULA Conduit Pack

This is a simple yet wonderfully designed pack that has now seen six years of hard and consistent use. The pockets are superb and easily accessible. Although frameless the pack is exceptionally comfortable with reasonable loads, mainly due to the superb shoulder straps. This year the Conduit was carrying a 2 kilogram tent and food for up to five days at times. While this was probably pushing the load to the limit at no time did the pack feel out of its own comfort zone. However, the pack is now showing signs of wear and teat and will probably need replacing late this year. I’ll write separately and my thoughts for replacement.

PHD Minimus Sleeping Bag

Still wonderful after all these years!

PHD Drishell Down Jacket

I would live in this 24 hours a day if I could get away with it!

Smartwool 150 Microlight Baselayer

Lovely. A lightweight than the usual 20o used by both Icebreaker and Smartwool. I reckon this is a better weight for trekking and works perfectly with paramo base layers.

iphone4 and Routebuddy Atlas

I have the full 1:50 map of the UK loaded on my iphone. The quality of the maps on the ‘retina’ screen are wonderful and a testament to Routebuddy’s use of Vector graphics rather than the bitmaps used by competitors.

For most of the time I kept the iphone switched off and only switched it on when using the GPS. The batteries are strong enough to allow this to be used for five or six days at a time. The GPS on the iphone is very accurate.

I usually carry a small Garmin Gekko with me but this year didn’t use it once the combination of iphone and Routebuddy was so effective.

Suunto Core

A very expensive watch and a crap one at that. My watch misted up so badly that it was completely unusable. Cotswold have now sent it back for repair or replacement and I will dal with this again if I have to. Older readers will remember that I have had this problem with previous models and I’d hoped Suunto had got over their production problems. Talking to staff at the store it would appear not!