The Great Outdoors

TGO Magazine is your essential guide to hillwalking and backpacking in the UK and overseas. Get out more! We provide all the inspiration you need to plan your next trip, plus expert reviews and tips. The Great Outdoors is for anyone who loves walking in the hills, mountains and wild places. With information on the latest gear, in-depth features and stunning photography, The Great Outdoors will help you access the high peaks and long trails of Britain and beyond. Our enhanced digital addition includes even more great photos and interactive content.

Connecting the dots

Contributors & contacts • Meet some of the folk that made this magazine…

The Great Outdoors

ALMANAC

Inshriach, Cairngorms

HOAR FROST • There’s only one thing in nature that conjures the crisp, sharp beauty of the shoulder seasons for Nadia Shaikh…

Readers’ page • Postal address The Editor, The Great Outdoors, Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent ME18 6AL. Please include a phone number and postal address.

And So I Run

THE VIEW FROM HERE • A place for bold views or interviews, outdoor arts and culture or the latest in access or environmental stories, this column is a newsroom, forum and soapbox (though perhaps not all at the same time!) for the outdoor community. Whatever our differing points of view, we’re all united by our love for the great outdoors. This time, it’s over to…

FIACAILL COULOIR • Jim Perrin raises our anticipation for the coming season, recalling the gleaming, glittering challenges of winter climbing in the Cairngorms

TAKE THE GREAT OUTDOORS EVERYWHERE!

FRAMING THE VIEW • The connection between nature and creativity comes in many forms. Here, artists, writers and musicians talk about the different ways in which they take inspiration from the outdoors - and share the places that fuel their imagination

NOT ALL WHO WANDER ARE LOST (BUT SOME REALLY ARE) • Norman Hadley shares a tale of youthful misadventure, when a navigational mistake on the Cairngorm plateau seemed to defy all constraints of space and time

ACROSS SCOTLAND • After crossing Scotland on foot following their own bespoke routes, graduates of the TGO Challenge Class of 2025 tell first-hand tales of heatwaves, high camps and bog-trotting through the landscape on this truly unique long-distance journey

SACRED SUMMIT • Borneo’s Mt Kinabalu is both a popular trekking destination and a spiritual site for the indigenous Dusun people who inhabit its foothills. Phoebe Smith sets out to climb the peak and learn more about its place in Dusun culture

SKILLS: SHARPEN UP YOUR NAVIGATION • Relying on digital mapping can erode your traditional navigation skills. Could a refresher course be the answer? Alex Roddie joins an Austrian Alpine Club-organised course in Eryri to find out

GEAR • Outdoor kit reviews from Britain’s most experienced gear-testing team. First, David Lintern and Steph Wetherell focus on two new innovative products

Osprey

STOVES • Woodland ranger Pete Macfarlane appreciates a brew with a view and all the tech that goes into making it happen. Here’s a small but select group of backpacking stoves

MIDLAYERS • Mountaineering Instructor Kirsty Pallas and outdoor author Alex Roddie layer up with the most adaptable and temperature-regulating mids for the cooler seasons

GLOVES • Steph Wetherell and James Roddie keep the frost nip and wind chill at bay with the best in gloves for all weathers (except deep Winter)

The Long ReView • This month sees the introduction of a new gear spot supported by Nikwax, featuring our reviewers’ long-term favourites. We’ll focus on products that have stood the test of time, why they endure and how to care for them. The Long ReView...