John Silvester aka The Birdman

If you've been at any of the Mountain film festivals over the last 18 months you'll probabaly will have seen the amazing Al Hughes film "The Birdman of the Karakorum" featuring John Silvester.

John has been using Mountain Equipment clothing on his Himalayan paragliding expeditions for years - as you can see in the below clip below from the film, where he's using our Classic synthetic Snowline Parka.

This weekend John sets off to India on his next adventure -

John - "We are going to go back in over the 4600m Thamsur pass and visit the remote village of Barabhangal, then hopefully continue through the 4800m Kalicho la into Kistwar and to Keylong (i flew here last year via Manali over the Rhotang pass...but this way will be much better!)....or, other wise continue to Padam!!!"

John will also be doing some guided trips while he's out in India more info on this here - http://www.flyskyhigh.net/ and http://www.himalayanskysafaris.com/

On this trip John is going to using some of our New Winter'10 Synthetic products and putting them to the test -

Citadel Jacket
Fitzroy Pant
Fitzroy Mitt

Check back here soon for pictures and John's report

OSC Charity Calendar - 2011

This Autumn, female staff from OSC Ltd who work across the brands - Mountain Equipment, Sprayway, Ronhill & Hilly - are raising money for 2 charities, Cancer Research UK and British Heart Foundation, in memory of some fantastic friends Mark Clifford, Mike Screeton & Angela Deegan.

Taking inspiration from the original Calendar Girls, our girls have had the courage & enthusiasm to produce a calendar for 2011, they now need your help to raise as much money as possible.

Calendars are available from www.ronhill.com/calendar or by calling 0161 367 1311.

100% of the profits of the sale of each calendar will be split equally between the 2 charities. The only costs incured are the printing costs which were supplied at cost price. Photography, equipment and locations were supplied free of charge.

The Perfect Line - Dolomitten Cross 2010 - In pictures

We've just had a selection of photos in from Mountain Equipment Pro Partner and professional photographer Bernd Ritschel; from the recent "Dolomitten Cross expedition".

During the expedition across the Dolomites, Bernd and the team covered - 5 mountains higher than 3000 meters, three difficult alpine Rock climbs, 5 "Via Ferratas", more than 200 km of alpine Hiking in just 12 days.

Bernd and the team were also putting some of our new Summer 2011 styles to the test as part of our continuous product testing programme. (sneek peek of some products in the below slideshow)

Below is just a small slide show from the 80GB!!! of photos that Bernd snapped



You can read the whole trip report at Bernd's site lightwalk.de

Fault Line Living - update

We've just had a email in from Tamsin and the Fault Line Living team. They are nearly half through their research expedition and are currently in Greece having already driven from the UK to Denmark then Iceland back through main land Europe to Italy.

Tamsin in Norway

Tamsin, Serena and Adam also sent us a full report with some great photos which you can view/download via our main site

here

Also keep up with all the latest at http://www.faultlineliving.com/

Film Festival Season

Winter is just around the corner and what better way to get inspired than to check out one of few the Mountain Film festivals going on in the UK over the next few months.

Mountain Equipment will be a headline sponsor at Edinburgh Mountain Film festival for its 8th year, there you can catch ME Pro Partners Dave Macleod and Twid Turner.
Dave will be co hosting "The Ethics of Adventure" debate on the Sunday afternoon and Twid will be lecturing on his recent successful "Baffin Big Walls" expedition on Thursday evening at Ratho.

EMFF kicks off on Thursday 21st Oct'10

Further info here



Dave MacLeod and Andy Turner climb Great Chimney on Ben Nevis to celebrate the achievements of Robin Smith and Jimmy Marshall.

If your heading to Kendal Film Festival then make sure you check out Dave Macleod and Andy Turner and the world premiere of "The Pinnacle" The Smith/Marshall week on the Ben - on Friday night (see the above clip)

Saturday night sees "The Great Climb" night where Dave will be co hosting a night based around his and Tim Emmetts recent success on Sron Ulladale, Harris - which was broadcast live on the BBC.

Twid Turner and Stu McAleese then round things of with their "Baffin Big Walls" lecture on the Sunday Morning.

Kendal kicks off on the week of the 15th November'10

further info here

GORE-TEX® Experience Tour - Knoydart - last call for entries

Today is the last day you can apply to be one of two people on a week long trek through Knoydart, Scotland under the tutelage of Cameron McNeish. The whole expedition, which is the second to be launched as part of the GORE-TEX® Experience Tour, will also be filmed by Richard Else.

After 5 days under the expert guidance of Cameron, the two winners will set off on their own kitted out in Mountain Equipment and record their experiences on video. This is a great opportunity for people who already have an interest in the outdoors to increase their knowledge and understanding of the countryside. The event will take place from 26th October – 2nd November'10.

For application form and more details of the trek click

here

Applications are also still open for other projects and expeditions details of which are available on the same page.

Ben Saunders - Land Rover Clip

Check out Mountain Equipment Pro Partner Ben Saunders in the clip below filmed recently in the Lake District for Land Rover as part of their "Go Beyond"campaign.



In 2011 Ben will attempt to be the first person to make the return journey to the South Pole on foot.

You can find out more about Ben and his work as a Land Rover ambassador here and at www.bensaunders.com