Pictured (above): adidas Terrex Free Hiker Parley // Photo: Mike Brindley
Thousands and thousands and thousands of words, each one more outdoor gear-focused than the last. And photos, loads of photos, and videos, nice videos with nice scenery; the kind of audio-visual content you’d happily just project on your wall at your home (if you like the Lake District, you’re in for a real treat). Yes, it’s that time again; time to make a song and dance about another seriously informative, seriously good, Outdoor 100 over on our sister-site Outdoors Magic.
If you’re not familiar with the Outdoor 100, you’ve wasted your life quite frankly. Totally wasted it. You’ve missed out on annual gear round-ups so in-depth, so full of features discussion, that they’ve been known to bring salty tears to the eyes of a man called… well… let’s call him May Rears and leave it at that.
This year’s OD 100 features waterproof coats, insulated jackets, walking boots, trail running shoes, tents, sleeping bags, head torches, hammocks, water bottles, hydration reservoirs and more – all studied, played with, looked over, sniffed at, and analysed by people who live for getting outside and telling people all about it.
“The latest Outdoor 100… is bursting at the tapered seams with good brands doing good things”
As per usual, the Mpora crew got involved with putting this editorial beast together – testing products, typing up reviews, modelling some of the kit, and, in the case of Jordan Tiernan, flying a DJI Mavic Air 2 drone above the head of Will Renwick, editor of Outdoors Magic. It’s been a mission but we’re confident you’ll really, really, like the results.
Due to circumstances outside of Outdoors Magic’s control (i.e. the big C pandemic – it was in the news, look it up), the photography team had to get creative with how the items were shot. What they did is go above and beyond with an arts and crafts project so elaborate, so all about colour and composition that the sets wouldn’t look out of a place in a Wes Anderson film.
The latest Outdoor 100, like all of the Outdoor 100s before it, is bursting at the tapered seams with good brands doing good things. Lowe Alpine, Hanwag, Fjallraven, Paramo, Hoka One One, Merrell, Keen, CimAlp and Nikwax, for example, have all absolutely delivered (as have many, many, others of course). Head to OM now and spend some time exploring it. You’ll enjoy yourself. Promise.
