Rite in the Rain Waterproof NotebooksI'm not convinced that waterproof is exactly the right term to describe Rite in the Rain notebooks, but my copy deadline is looming. You get what I mean I'm sure: you can write in these when they're sodden wet, even underwater in fact. Yet the paper just feels like regular, good quality paper – which it is.
The idea was developed by one Jonny Darling – a movie star moniker if ever there was one – back in the 1920s, when he was logging in North America’s Pacific Northwest. It was wet and Jonny needed paper that could stand up to the elements.
The paper itself is a patented substrate, using high quality FSC certified renewable wood sources. The covers are in Polydura from recycled packaging. And the whole lot is produced in a zero-carbon footprint plant with 100 per cent soy-based inks. This is one very eco-focused company.
And boy does it work. It’s amazing, and something of a well-kept secret amongst its users – everyone from naturalists to fishermen to explorers and adventurers. If you want to be able to take a note or make a sketch in the wet, this is it. And they’ve an enormous range of specialized formats and sizes to suit every interest.
CostFrom €3.62 for a mini-notebook upwards, from chmarine.com. See riteintherain.com for the full range.
Zanier GTX Heated GlovesIt's all about heat technology in active clothing these days, with companies really cracking the problems of battery life and discreetly integrating heating elements.
Zanier have stepped up the game with their GTX Heated Gloves. These are smart for hands, with heating right up the fingers and thumbs where it’s really needed. When was the last time just your palms were freezing? And the lightweight, rechargeable Lithium-Ion batteries are secreted away in the cuffs.
A microprocessor controls the temperature spread and with easy-to-access controls and an LED indicator on the outside of each glove, you don’t have to undo all the glove’s good work to check or change the temp. You can set it to three levels, with about five hours out of the mid (37 degrees) setting – enough for the average day out on the slopes – and up to 12 hours on low.
Moreover, as you’d expect from an Austrian company, these are excellent gloves in themselves, heating aside, with Gore-Tex lined leather.
Cost€249.95, from Great Outdoors.
Survival BraceletOkay, so this looks like some class of more rugged friendship bracelet, but believe me, one could prove to be your new best friend. Strictly in a gadget sense, of course.
The Survival Bracelet is made from about five and half metres (18 feet) of military-grade, parachute cord. Just undo the D clip and it unravels faster than a teenager’s alibi to give a very decent length of super-strong cord when you’ve been caught short.
Improvise a dog lead. Rebind that fallen luggage to the roof rack. String up a hammock. (Okay, sorry, went a bit Bear Grylls there.)This could make you hero of some unexpected “emergency” on anything from a family outing to far-flung mountain adventure. In your mind’s eye at least.
And when I say this paracord is tough, it can take almost 250kg, that’s about 40 stone in real weight. Once you’ve used it, you can also entertain yourself by rebraiding it. Or if you’ve used it on a story-worthy adventure, the original US manufacturers will do a contra-deal of your tale of daring-do for a rewound one.
Available in a range of colours and damn cool looking to boot.
Cost€26 from firebox.com. See survivalstraps.com