A very sad loss in the climbing world

We were saddened to hear of the loss of one of the Uk's up and coming climbers and adventurers recently.

We followed Rob Gauntlett's progress from a distance and admired such talent, skill and tenacity at a relatively young age.

Rob sadly died in an ice climbing accident in the French Alps together with his climbing friend, James Atkinson, on the 10th January 2009.

From the Times Online:

Mr Gauntlett’s family spoke of their devastation at their son’s death, adding that their only consolation was that he died while “doing something that he loved”.

We at Storm hope both of you though lost whilst climbing are continuing your quest and passion for adventure in the next life. You'll be missed by many.

Vampire Camping? Bite me!

Whilst I was surfing the web I found this little gem of a camping website over in Bulgaria, it made me chuckle and I thought I would share it with you!


www.vampirecamping.com

If anyone does go and stay let us know at Storm Outdoors how you got on!

Impeding Life all the way to New York City

Food for thought:

America's Yellowstone National Park long known to be a volcanic caldera long overdue to violently explode has since the 26th December 2008 experienced 250 tremors, something that to some scientists is rather worrying.

If Yellowstone did erupt it is forcast that there would be enough sulphur dioxide to drastically affect the American Mid West where a lot of farming is done. Its reported it could destroy crops and impede life all the way to New York.

When you see the expected magnitude of this volcanic explosion it does leave one with a somewhat dry mouth and the feeling that this recession is nothing compared to the calamity and likely extremely severe losses Americans would face.

We as humans tend to easily forget the power of mother nature.

More here:

http://www.wariscrime.com/2009/01/11/news/yellowstone-volcano-a-threat-to-the-entire-usa/

Would be a damn shame to see Yellowstone go up in flames and ash too, its certainly a gorgeous part of the world.

Sometimes you gotta think out of the bra!

Yup we like a good survival story and this is a great example of a young American lady who didn't think out of the box, more thought out of her bra!

Whilst hiking in the Bavarian Alps a solitary female hiker slipped and fell 18 feet in bad weather. Suffering injures sustained from the fall she managed to hang out her highly coloured bra on a cable used to send logs down to the valley below.

Luckily for her a logger spotted the bra, heard a woman was missing and contacted the emergency authorities. Within a few hours the young hiker had been rescued by helicopter under difficult circumstances. Its great to hear she is going to make a full recovery.

A couple of things we would recommend is don't hike in mountains alone if you are not experienced, instead go as a group so you have others around to help with your survival in the event of an accident.

If you are experienced enough to hike alone then leave a route map with someone and a time you expect to be back by and a time for them to contact emergency services if you have not made contact. Ensure you have enough food to last at least 24 hours (seems like this lady only had a small amount of biscuits and water).

The young lady mentioned above kept calm and used what she had available to attract attention but in 3 simple words:

She Was Lucky!

The REAL "Best Job in the World"

Heh its great so many people have submitted their details for the "Best job in the world" - a 6 month post paying $100,000 (USD) to somebody to hang out on a tropical island and work a few hours a week.

Tasks involved are to blog about the island once a week, walk around the beach, snorkel the crystal blue sea waters and explore other islands along the same reef. Sounds strenuous!

But there is another Best Job in the World! And thats here working for Storm Outdoors giving customers the best advice on camping equipment. You don't think so? Well we like it and thats the main thing we guess. We've all got the potential to have the best job in the world as long as we have the right mindset and the passion. More on the best job in the world here

Winter Camping Guide

Ya know we just love winter camping and we were all prepared to bring you a detailed report but seeing as we found this one we thought we would share it with you, its well written and produced by someone who knows what they are doing.

Some great tips are included in this guide to winter camping so don't miss out, its a real eye opener!

Plans for Walking Holidays this year!

Welcome to 2009 Storm Outdoors fans!

I always look forward to this time of year, the clear blue skies, snow and fresh, crisp (but cold) air changes the view of our towns, villages and more importantly hills and countryside. The Storm Outdoors store is busy both offline and online, in fact we received online orders on Xmas Day (a first!) and Friday the 2nd January was an extremely busy in the shop keeping us all very busy.

What we're really excited about is planning our walking holidays for this year. We're always great fans of The Lake District and regularly visit to relax (and secretly I get to test new camping gear and equipment).

There's loads of places to stay in the Lakes, from campsites, to caravans through to wonderful cosy cottages in the villages and towns like Ambleside, Grasmere, Keswick or Windemere. To help you out here's our favourite websites for staying in the Lake District:

For Lake District Campsites we recommend the Great Langdale campsite found at the head of the majestic Great Langdale and the National Trust Wasdale Head campsite (great for access to Scafell Pike or Great Gable).

For caravans we like the quiet peace of Langdale's Greenhowe Caravan Park - great value though a bit of a walk to the pub but its a pleasant enough stroll on a summer's evening.

But our favourite place to stay is in a Lake District cottage and really get a flavour of how life was years ago. Its also preferred especially when you return from a walk where the weather has been atrocious, its so great to sit in front of a wood fire and get warm.

We use the following websites and all have come highly recommended from our own personal experiences (though we won't admit to which cottages we regularly book unless you email us!)

www.cumbrian-cottages.co.uk

www.lakelovers.co.uk

www.heartofthelakes.co.uk

These 3 Lake District holiday cottage websites all have an extensive list of properties to view and book online. We've used them all in the past and would happily book again with any of them.

Let us know how your holiday goes this year, we'd love to hear where you're headed!