CheapTents Outdoor Gear Blog

Mike Kloser never stops training. This is his idea of just hanging around!

Mike Kloser is one of the world’s top endurance athletes. He is an Adventure Racing and Mountain Biking World Champion. Among his many achievements, Mike has won the AR World Championships 5 times, Eco Challenge 3 times and Primal Quest 5 times. Before taking up Adventure Racing, Mike Kloser was a dedicated Mountain Biker and won a gold and two silvers at the MTB World Championships. With a whole host of championship titles for endurance sport events, Mike Kloser is an outstanding athlete with a passion for competing in, and winning, epic races.

• Exclusive Interview! Graham Gristwood Professional Orienteer
• Exclusive Interview! Pro Ski Mountaineer, Kit Deslauriers
• Tim Graham: Downhill Mountain Biker

Swiss Alpinist and speed climber Ueli Steck is famous for his fast and lightweight approach to the world’s hardest and highest mountains. Sponsored by Petzl, Scarpa, Leki and Mountain Hardware, Ueli Steck has set the speed record for the Matterhorn (1 hour 56 minutes), Grandes Jorasses (2 hours 21 minutes) and the North Face of the Eiger (2 hours 47 minutes). Has has also summitted Gasherbrum II (8035m) and soloed Makalu west pillar (8463m).

Speed climber Ueli Steck climbed the Matterhorn in 1 hour 56 minutes. Source: Flickr by Jeff Pang.

• Solo Climbing in the Lake District
• Exclusive Interview! Professional Climber and Artist, Renan Ozturk
• Exclusive Interview! Pro Climber & Mountaineer, Kevin Thaw

When Mark Moxon isn’t working on web development projects for the likes of the BBC and the Victoria and Albert Museum, he puts on his walking boots and sets off on hiking and travelling expeditions. Mark has travelled extensively in West Africa and the Far East, to countries including Senegal, the Gambia, Burkina Faso, French Polynesia and Australia. He has done a number of long distance hikes in far flung parts of the world such as Indonesia, Malaysia and New Zealand. Back in the UK, Mark has walked from Land’s End to John O’Groats (LEJOG) and in 2008 he embarked on a fascinating, 500 mile urban walk following the routes of all the London Underground train lines.

• Lake District Walks Route Planner Review
• Polar Explorer Lonnie Dupre Interview
• Hunger Project Seeks Walkers

Last month we posted about Ed Stafford who had just completed a 4000 mile, 859 day expedition along the entire length of the Amazon river. Yesterday, Outside Blog posted a great interview with Ed Stafford, which is well worth a read.

Ed Stafford walked the entire length of the Amazon. Source Flickr by Ivan Mlinaric.

Walking the Amazon

In the interview Ed reveals how he got the idea for the expedition on Google. However, he does not reveal whether or not the expedition was undertaken as a reconnaissance mission for Google’s River View project. Inspiration also came from projects that his contemporaries have undertaken. Ed goes onto explain that his experience in the military and leading conservation expeditions set him in good stead for the adventure.

• Exclusive Interview! Pro Ski Mountaineer, Kit Deslauriers
• Dixie Dansercoer: Polar Explorer and Expeditionist – Exclusive Interview!
• Alastair Humphreys Adventurer Interview

Going for a long walk takes on a new meaning…

Samuel H Gardner will trek four thru hikes, that's over 12,500 miles! Photo by Greg Maino.

Walking a long distance hike is undoubtedly something that many of us hikers wish they had the time and stamina to take on. In the United Kingdom trails like the Pennine Way, the West Highland Way and Pembrokeshire Coast Path typically take between one and three weeks, depending upon how many miles you want to walk each day. To walk from Land’s End to John o’Groats you are talking the best part of two months hiking, which is a pretty big commitment.

• Exclusive Interview! Professional endurance runner: Sam Thompson
• Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge
• Walking North Wales – Route Planner Review

When it comes to Adventure Racing, Ian Adamson has achieved phenomenal success, winning the World Championships no less than six times! He has achieved fifteen world championship podium finishes and fourteen international adventure race championship titles, including Eco-Challenge and Primal Quest.

Ian Adamson: Adventure Racer and Kayaker

• Exclusive Interview! Graham Gristwood Professional Orienteer
• Exclusive Interview! Professional endurance runner: Sam Thompson
• Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge

We were recently contacted by Living Water International about a running event called “Running Water” which is due to take place this year. Runner Abe Clark is going to run a staggering 2,860 miles across the entire width of the USA. Abe is taking on this challenge in order to raise money for the charity which helps to provide clean water for people in developing countries. For many people in Africa obtaining water can be a laborious and time consuming task. According to the UK Department for International Development (DFID)…

Households in rural Africa spend an average of 26% of their time fetching water.

• Polar Explorer Lonnie Dupre Interview
• Ironman Triathlon 2010 Bolton
• Warrington Tri Club to Run Sandstone Trail

Stepping Lightly on his climb up Blackpool Tower, August 2009.

In August this year, climber and urbex legend “Stepping Lightly” hit the headlines in the national press following his covert ascent of Blackpool Tower. Stepping Lightly has climbed many structures including one of Battersea Power Station’s iconic chimneys, Willington Power Station cooling towers and the famous Angel of the North in Gateshead. He also likes bridge climbing and has climbed the Forth Rail Bridge, and the Humber and Severn Bridges.

• Green Bridges: Hiking in the Future
• Exclusive Interview! Professional Climber and Artist, Renan Ozturk
• Polar Explorer Lonnie Dupre Interview

A red kite By Sue Trantor, courtesy of rspbimages.com

Being out in the countryside hiking, camping and climbing often gives us the opportunity to see wildlife. A most impressive sight is that of a bird of prey circling high above, in the clear blue sky, sightings such as this have at times been rare, but thanks to the hard work of individuals and societies such as the RSPB something is being done to conserve an important factor in our ecology.

• Affects of Bird of Prey Conservation
• Red Kite Tourism Boosts Local Economy
• Cairngorms National Park Enlarged

Today marks the first birthday of the CheapTents.com blog! During this time we have published lots of gear reviews and interviews with outdoor professionals plus news and advice about camping, hiking, equipment and outdoor activities.

Best Ever Outdoor, Hiking, Climbing and Gear Posts!

In order to celebrate this achievement we have compiled a list of our favourite blog posts from the year. Some our posts are informative, providing useful information about gear, outdoor pursuits and travel. Some posts provide ideas about where to go hiking, climbing, cycling and mountain biking. The interviews with outdoors professionals provide an exciting incite into the adventures of people who take outdoors sports to the extreme and/or travel to the remotest parts of the world. And some posts are about things that are just plain daft! This brings me nicely onto…

• Outdoor Blog Post
• Best Songs for Walking, Climbing and Running
• Climber and Urbex Legend Stepping Lightly : Exclusive Interview