A Look At The October Issue Of The Great Outdoors

The October issue of The Great Outdoors has just come out. My contributions this month are reviews of the Nemo Riff 30 sleeping bag and the Keen Ridge Flex boots.

Also in the gear pages David Lintern and Lucy Wallace review five fleece/midlayers apiece and David also tests three cleaning and waterproofing products. 

As every October this is the TGO Challenge issue and there are stories and pictures from this year's event as well as info for 2022.

In the big features this month Dougie Cunningham traverses the Mamores (beautifully illustrated), Carey Davies goes wild camping on Helvellyn, David Lintern backpacks across Ben Alder, and Emily Woodhouse breaks records in Spain's Sierra Nevada.

The opening spread of this issue is a wonderful photo of Castell y Gwynt in Snowdonia by Alan Novelli. 

The Sky Walks flagged big on the cover are TGO's pick of ten ridge walks in Britain and Ireland. It's a good selection but no Aonach Eagach? Really?

Separate to the picked Sky Walks Alex Roddie describes the Ring of Steall, a superb horseshoe ridge walk in the Mamores. 

On serious issues Hanna Lindon asks some climbers, hillwalkers, and mountaineers about climate change in the run-up to COP26, and Lucy Thraves describes a long walk in response to violence against women. 

In the Hill Skills section Alex Roddie and Plas y Brenin instructor Dave Evans explain how to use pacing and timing in part three of TGO's navigation basics series.