hilltrek

We will be holding a sale at our shop in Aboyne this weekend when we will be offering great discounts on some of our end of season winter retail stock including Rab Down Jackets, Helly Hansen, Patagonia, Páramo, Craghoppers, Cross Ski Wear etc. Included will be gloves, socks, jackets, ski salopettes, winter trousers, childrens ski clothing etc etc

We will have  deals on Helly Hansen baselayers, Paramo Torres Insulators etc

In the spirit of ‘Ne’er cast a clout till May be oot’  we have an offer of a combination Helly Hansen HH®Warm™ Prowool Long Johns and Freeze Prowool half zip top with £20 off, normally £90. We are basking in early Spring sunshine but…….who knows what is round the corner? This offer is naturally open until the end of May.

 I’m afraid that it is a retail sale only and not offered over our website -you have to visit us in beautiful Aboyne!

Sunday was a perfect day in Deeside for testing my new Åsnes Nansen Mountain Skis, called Fjellski in Norwegian. The sun was shining and fresh snow had fallen on the hills. My destination was Cairn Leuchan, a small hill in Glen Muick, following a track from Ballater over to Mount Keen. This a great mountain bike track in summer, dropping into Glen Tanar and downhill to Aboyne. Today the track was icy, with hard packed snow, and some powder blown across from the moor. Difficult to walk up but perfect to skin on the skis. It was a very cold day just below freezing  but with strong north winds and frequent snow squalls it felt like minus 20.  So as well as testing my new skis I also tested lightweight Paramo Velez trousers for these conditions. They are much lighter than Paramo’s Cascada Trousers, as they use a lighter Nikwax outer and pump liner inner, and are designed for summer walking -not these conditions. The lightness of the Velez trousers is a great advantage for ski touring and cross country skiing and they were fine on the move but a little cold on my lunchstop behind the Cairn. I should have taken some new Torres Insulator Trousers to pull on ……still it was a day for skiing not for sitting around testing new gear!