We asked some of the team here at the LD Mountain Centre, “what’s your favourite Lakeland fell?” Here’s the teams lucky seven fells. 1) Blencathtra 2) Catbells 3)Fairfield 4)Helvellyn 5)Pillar 6) Raise 7)Scafell
This is a little piece done for us by LD Mountain Centre Friend Barry Hobbs, site manager for Go ape Matfen. We all hope to do the ativities we love for as long as we can, here is a positive example of surgery allowing someone to continue taking part in the sport they love. After nearly forty years of self abuse through climbing and fell-running, I recently had a total hip replacement. Although the surgeon said that climbing with it wasn’t recommended, he also explained what... Read More
A good friend of Ld Mountain Centre Mark Dunn has kindly wrote us a blog on his mountaineering adventures. Mark is a passionate walker/mountaineer and has illustrated just how spectacular the British outdoors can be. Hope you enjoy… What a fabulous summer it has been, the best in ages. We’ve all enjoyed endless, sunny, warm days ideal for long, memorable walking and hiking expeditions in the hills. Sadly, despite some beautiful autumn weather, it seems that the spells of sunshine and cloud free days are coming to an end. Certainly... Read More
After watching Phil’s early morning bed hurdling to turn off our alarms which went off in sync at 5:30, something he must be accustomed to being an Apache helicopter pilot in the Army, we quickly ate our breakfasts before heading to the airport for our two flights to Tromso. As we headed through the airport, Katrina and myself decided to head to Duty free to cover ourselves in our favourite perfume and aftershave samples. As we wouldn’t have the luxury of showers or facility to wash ourselves though out the... Read More
News that the Lake District’s Blencathra is up for sale has started a rush of campaigns to purchase the famous mountain and donate it to the public. Noble as the sentiment is, however, the general response by many in the outdoor community has been a resounding, ‘why’? As visitors to the Lake District and other rural areas of the UK, we are constantly crossing private land and making use of our right to roam set out in the hard won CRoW laws. Blencathra has been under the private ownership of... Read More
Well the answer seems to be, pretty much everything. The humble walking stick has seen a fair transformation in the last century and whittled wood has been replaced by folding, carbon poles with anti-shock and ergonomic grips. Their purpose remains the same though; to help you walk, whether you need extra stability on tough terrain, to take some strain off your knees in descent, or for extra power getting up the hill. In all honestly, it is surprising that more people don’t use them. Before this weekend I had never... Read More
You’ve updated your rucksack, replaced those worn out boots and exchanged that plastic cag for a modern, breathable jacket, but how old are your maps? If you’re anything like us you’ll have accumulated them over years and maybe not all first hand. Ordnance Survey make on average 10,000 changes to their mapping a day, including revisions of footpaths, bridleways and access boundaries. If you’ve worn through a few pairs of boots, your likely to have a few out-dated maps on your shelves or ones that are well worn on the... Read More
Having tried on a few pairs of boots in store and found a pair that fit you’ll want to use them on a trip. But wait, you’re not quite ready to head for the hills and hit up those trails. You should treat your boots before their first use. You might ask why the manufacturers don’t do this, well they do but care products don’t last. We recommend reading the instructions and spraying or waxing your boots before using them for the first time. It is even more important to clean... Read More
Fjallraven packs will be new to the LD Mountain Centre for spring/summer 2014, in 1960, Åke Nordin established Fjällräven, meaning “Artic Fox”, with the goal of making nature more accessible to more people. Fjällräven offer functional outdoor equipment to make trips into the outdoors more comfortable, by using innovative, smart solutions, improved materials, and decreasing weight.
Before we know it spring / summer will be knocking on the door, and with a new season comes new stock. Over the next few weeks we’re going to offer an insight into some of the styles that will feature in our summer range. To start the ball rolling we’re looking at Norrona, one of Europe’s oldest outdoor brands. Made from re-cycled materials /29 offers technical performance with enough style for the tea shop. We’ve kept with the classics such as the /29 Warm1 Zip Hood and added some technical tees... Read More
