Rab have recently celebrated the 10 year anniversary of their famous Microlight jacket range and to coincide with this they have released the new Microlight Summit Jacket. The Microlight Su… Read More

The Patagonia Micro Puff Hoody is Patagonia’s lightest synthetic jacket providing a true down-like feel and loft yet it will still retain its warmth even whe… Read More

We have a fantastic range of sleeping mats at Facewest, covering everything from Luxury car camping to ultralight backpacking and multi-day mountaineering missions. This Spring Thermarest a… Read More

Over the last couple of months I’ve been testing out the Rab Alpha Flash Jacket, a breathable midlayer jacket ideal for use under a shell or windproof when working hard. Sorry for the… Read More

We’ve been given a set of 4 articles on transceivers and transceiver rescues by our partners the International School of Mountaineering (ISM). They all written by experienced IFMGA M… Read More

We’ve got 2 new packs and a redesigned shovel from Mammut this winter, here’s what we think of them… Spindrift 26 The new Spindrift pack is a great day pack for skiing… Read More

Choosing your first transceiver or even replacing an old model can be a difficult decision and you can spend hours researching various different makes and models only to be left none the wi… Read More

Petzl have updated their technical axes this winter. Here at Facewest we will be stocking two of their new axes; the Quark and Nomic. Between them they cover the full spectrum of Winter cli… Read More

Black Diamond have entered the transceiver market for the first time but don’t be put off at their lack of experience, these transceivers are actually the latest generation devices fr… Read More

We have a new brand called 10 Peaks for winter this year. They’re an independent glove brand named after the 10 Peaks mountain range in Alberta, Canada. They make gloves, but with a… Read More

The Rab Torque Jacket is a lighter softshell jacket made form Matrix DWS (Double Weave Stretch) fabric through the body, shoulders and sleeves. The inside of the elbows and hood use Matrix… Read More

There are a few new products from Mountain Equipment this year. Scroll down to see what’s what. K7 Jacket The K7 is an expedition down jacket designed to get the balance between warmt… Read More

Mammut have released the first software update for their new (as of last winter) Barryvox and Barryvox S transceivers. The main feature of the new software is that it allows users to share… Read More

Rab Xenon XThe Rab Xenon X Jacket (available in Mens and Womens)  is a lightweight synthetic insulated jacket which is designed to be warm and windproof but still very breathable… Read More

The Patagonia Down Sweater is a classic narrow baffled down jacket ideal for casual wear and less technical outdoor use. The whole range features recycled polyester shell fabric with a DWR… Read More

Here’s the top picks from Arcteryx of what’s new to us or has been updated for the autumn/winter 2018 season. It’s mostly in stock, though a few products aren’t due… Read More

The Rab Microlight Range has been redesigned and expanded for winter 2018. The Microlight Alpine was the original jacket of the range and has been ever popular. Here’s a rundown of wh… Read More

Marker have released a recall for all 2017/18 model Kingpin bindings. The bindings are being recalled because the pin in the toe part can break under rare circumstances. This can result in… Read More

OMM have a very modular design for all their packs, the downside of this is that it can be quite difficult to work out exactly what is compatible with what. The good news is most add ons f… Read More

Getting ready for a trip to the Alps? Not only do we have a kit list courtesy of British Mountain Guide and Director of Mountain Tracks Olly Allen, in this article we’ll go through th… Read More

We’ve got a number of new packs for 2018, they all fit into the walking/hiking/general use category. The new Deuter Aircontact Lite series are a range of packs ideal for all hikes and… Read More

The Rab Radius Pants are stretch cotton canvas climbing trousers cleverly disguised as a nice pair of casual trousers. They have all the features and patterning that you need to push it at… Read More

Our friends at Crosby Ravensworth Primary school have arranged this fun event. Saturday 23rd June 2018. 10am. 40km or 25km single track mountain bike ride, money raised goes to the local sc… Read More

About a year ago I went off to do a variant of the Haute Route. I choose the Mammut Trion Light 28 as my sack. The weather was stable but cold all week so I had a reasonable amount of cloth… Read More

In early March I headed off to Chamonix for 7 days (it was supposed to be 9, but the so called ‘Beast from the East’ had other ideas and my outbound flight was cancelled). The a… Read More

Mountain Equipment have recently released their new range of lightweight mountaineering packs. The packs have been in creation for the last 3 years and have been vigorously tested by some o… Read More

Windburner Duo Stove System MSR have brought out a new, larger version of their popular Windburner stove – the Windburner Duo. It features the same Reactor Burner technology as the o… Read More

What little we have left from last year’s Spring and Summer stock is now 40% off so it’s a great time to grab a quick bargain before the warm weather (finally) kicks in. Go to S… Read More

Tupilak 37We’re so confident that you’ll love the all new, ingeniously designed, super tough yet lightweight and highly customisable Mountain Equipment Tupilak pack that we&rsqu&helli…Read More

Just returned from the La Sportiva Epic Ski Tour in the Dolomites. It’s 3 fairly short but intense ski mountaineering races over 3 days, with your position based on your cumulative ti… Read More

Dave Sarkar, qualified Mountaineering Instructor and co-editor of the Gear magazine Climbing Gear Reviews page takes you through everything you need for going running in the mountains in wi… Read More

For 2018 Mountain Equipment have decided to (re)enter the mountaineering packs market with a brand new pack – the Tupilak. It’s available in 3 sizes, 30 litres, 37 litres and 45… Read More

Dave Sarkar, qualified Mountaineering Instructor and co-editor of the Gear magazine Climbing Gear Reviews page takes you through everything you need for going running in the mountains in wi… Read More

Mammut have issued a safety check notice for all generation 3.0 avalanche airbags. This involves looking at the installation of the airbag in the pack to ensure it is installed correctly an… Read More

Our range of touring skins has got quite a bit bigger this season and for a product which most people don’t really care that much about (skis and bindings are of much more interest, r… Read More

The Fritschi Tecton 12 and the Dynafit ST Rotation 10 are new, whilst the G3 Ion 12 and the Fritschi Vipec Evo 12 have been updated. Fritschi Tecton 12 The Fritschi Tecton 12 is Fritschi&r&helli…Read More

The new Mammut transceivers have been predictably popular, what has been less predictable is how long the stocks we receive will stay on our shelves. Hopefully the information below will o… Read More

The brand Pomoca was created in 1957 in Switzerland by Louis Dufour off the back of the development and marketing of the “Dufour-Gaillard” rescue sled. Prior to the founding of… Read More

Leki was founded in 1948 by Karl Lenhart who was frustrated with the quality and functionality of ski poles at the time. He started by making his own grips and baskets before he began to m… Read More

I’m not much of a runner so for this Staff Picks I’ve sought advice from those with a bit more experience than me. Here’s what my research returned… Baselayer Smart… Read More

With some pretty great conditions forming and some nice stable cold weather plonked down over Scotland (at the time of writing), now is a great time to discuss layering and preparing for th… Read More

This December we’re going to go all out on our popular staff picks feature and have articles on what we’d pick from Facewest if we were to kit ourselves out from scratch for var… Read More

We’ve got some Thermarest NeoAir Dreams in size XL which are now 30% off, so you can have one for £157.50. Go to the NeoAir Dream What do we say about the NeoAir Dream? The The… Read More

For the first time we’re stocking Outdoor Research gloves. Outdoor Research are about making outdoor gear that just works – we like their gloves because they are designed to be… Read More

We’ve got some great Black Friday offers on Suunto watches. OK, it’s not Friday yet but you can still claim your discount right now. Offer lasts all weekend – valid until… Read More

With winter approaching and some snow in the alps now seems like the perfect time to recount my ski touring trip in the Bernese Oberland last year. Day 1 After a day of getting the ski legs… Read More

They’re here! Well a few are, we should have more in the coming weeks. Here’s a quick look and a quick test of both the new avalanche transceivers from Mammut. We’ll be do… Read More

We stock a pretty big range of base layers and with good reason: Base layers are probably the single most important part of your layering system when it comes to comfort over a long day. Un… Read More

For the winter 2017/18 season Mammut are releasing 2 new transceivers designed to replace the Barryvox Pulse and Barryvox Element. The Pulse has become something of an industry standard for… Read More

Climbing Gear Reviews take a look at the new and revised iconic Beta LT hardshell from Arc’teryx – is it still a versatile, iconic mountain shell? Pros Lighter Brilliant hood… Read More

The Suunto Spartan Trainer Wrist HR rangeThe Suunto Spartan Trainer Wrist HR is Suunto’s latest addition to their training watch range, and their latest attempt at the world record fo… Read More

After my trusty Mountain Equipment fleece finally gave up (the zip stopped working) after pretty much daily use for 7 years I’ve had to find a replacement. I opted for the Patagonia B… Read More

You might be noticing a theme on the blog at the moment, it’s that time of year when all the new stuff for autumn and winter gets released… so here’s what Patagonia have… Read More

Check out our pick of the new products from Rab this season… Kinder Smock Kinder SmockThe Rab Kinder Smock is a classic down smock originating in the early ’90’s. Now it… Read More

This year Petzl have released a range of super light crampons for ski touring and general use. We stock the Irvis Hybrid and Leopard LLFs. You may have seen them, taken one look at the cord… Read More

A quick look at the new clothing we’re getting from Arc’teryx ready for the upcoming autumn/winter season. I’ll cover their Whiteline and winter specific products when we… Read More

By Harley Lord Image Source: PixabayFor lovers of outdoor climbing, the thrill of trying new crags never wains. Whether you’re just starting out on your climbing career or you’r… Read More

Leatherman have released 4 new pocket sized tools which are now in stock. Juice CS3 Leatherman Juice CS3 (cinnabar orange)The CS3 is a handy little tool for weekends away or for just having… Read More

Having successfully completed the W Trek in the Torres del Paine national park in Chile our next trekking destination was the famous climbing town of El Chalten. If you haven’t read a… Read More

MSR brought out a few new and updated products earlier in the year and it’s fair to say that they’ve proved pretty popular. Access Tents Tough and stable hiking tent which neat… Read More

In April this year I went to Patagonia to do some trekking with 2 friends. We did two main treks during the trip, the first of which was the 5 day W trek in the Torres del Paine national pa… Read More

Now that summer’s here (well, it was when I started writing this) it seems like a good time to run through our range of tents. We stock a range of hiking and backpacking tents from MS… Read More

Now that summer seems to have arrived camping is most probably in mind. One of the most important and difficult buys needed for camping is your sleeping bag. With Mountain Equipment having… Read More

Dave Sarkar of Climbing Gear Reviews reviews the Rab Alpha Direct Jacket. I remember reading an Andy Kirkpatrick article a while ago – in it he discussed the attributes of soft shel… Read More

Exped have been working on making their sleeping mat range a lot easier to understand and this season they seem to have come up with a collection which has a naming scheme that makes sense… Read More

Dave Sarkar of Climbing Gear Reviews reviews the Petzl GriGri+: A major addition to the iconic Petzl GriGri belay range. GRIGRI+ is an assisted braking device designed for all climbers, f… Read More

We’ve updated our “How To Choose A Sleeping Mat” article to include the latest offerings from Thermarest, Exped and Sea To Summit. If you’re in the market for a new… Read More

The brand new Suunto Spartan Sport Wrist HR watch has just landed at Facewest. This is the first time that Suunto have added an optical heart rate monitor to one of their dependable sport w… Read More

If you read Stu’s blog post about his Midlayer / Jacket dilemma (I know, the anguish) – click here to read the post – then you’ll recall that he was off to do the Ha… Read More

After various forays into different types of outdoor gear in recent years, Lowe Alpine have now gone back to just doing what they’ve done so well for so many years – back packs… Read More

Thermarest have been updating their mats in a rolling process by category over the past couple of years. This year it’s the turn of their Trek and Travel series. The Trek and Travel s… Read More

We’ve got a small selection of some quality Montane gear this season – it’s mostly either mountaineering kit or running kit. Here’s a quick run down of some new stuf… Read More

I am off to do a Haute Route variant from La Fouly to Zermatt next month. My first non competitive touring for a few years. The number of people touring in race skin suits is on the up but… Read More

The new Kinetic Plus Jacket is a superlight stretchy softshell jacket that Rab claim is waterproof. I have been using for a couple of weeks that Rab have kindly sent us to test. T… Read More

Mountain Equipment have revamped their entire range of down sleeping bags for Spring 2017. Here’s what they’ve done and which bags you can find in each of the ranges. Classic Ra… Read More

Dave Sarkar of Climbing Gear Reviews reviews this years’ Arcteryx Alpha SV. I remember buying my first Arc’teryx Alpha SV, I bought both the jacket and pants second hand from… Read More

The ski mountaineering/ski touring season is upon us once again! Petzl have made comprehensive set of tips and tricks ideal for all things ski mountaineering, though there are some useful t… Read More

We’re now 30% off all Winter 2016 clothing – click here to view. New Stock for the Spring is also arriving – the latest products from Inov8, Thermarest and MSR are alread… Read More

We’ve got some shiny new Inov8 products this year, here’s some info on the new arrivals: Roclite 305 and Roclite 290 Roclite 305The Roclites have been completely redesigned from… Read More

Facewest sell a huge selection of headlamps. Unless you have experience of a particular model or have been given a recommendation then it can be quite a job finding the right lamp for you… Read More

We’ve sold more Avalanche Airbags this year that ever before and lots of them have been Mammut airbags. If you’re still considering one but not sure on the practicalities of act… Read More

It seems like I write a post at least twice a year about new Petzl headtorches; they certainly don’t sit back and let their headtorch range go out of date. The other thing that struc… Read More

One of our customers has kindly done an excellent and detailed review of the Suunto Traverse Alpha for us. Traverse Alpha FoliageThe review: When I took delivery of a Suunto Traverse Alpha… Read More

The Atom AR Hoody, I think, is a great bit of kit. I use mine as a belay jacket, so it spends most of its time stuffed into the bottom of my pack and I’ll only bring it out when stop… Read More

All our clothing from winter 2016 is now 20% off, so now is a great time to grab yourself a deal. Click here to view all clothing. We’ve also still got some size medium Arc’te… Read More

Christmas might have just come early! We’ve got some of last seasons Ultralight Removable Airbags on sale. You can pick up one of these for £252 for the pack and airbag or &poun&helli…Read More

This ‘Staff Picks’ is all about the handy little lights Black Diamond do – the most basic of which is the Moji. Black Diamond MojiThe Moji doesn’t seem like much it… Read More

I love this pack, I use it for just about everything because it’s a genuinely good pack for all mountain activities, at least the ones I take part in anyway! Deuter Guide Lite 32+I us… Read More

Our Christmas Gift Ideas pages are back up and running for Christmas 2016 – updated with the latest goodies any outdoor enthusiast would love to get their hands on. We’ve arrang… Read More

For this weeks Staff Picks I’ve gone with the Julbo Aerospace Goggle. The major selling point is what Julbo call the SuperFlow System. This system allows you to pop the entire lens i… Read More

We’ve got another new brand this winter: G3 Genuine Guide Gear or G3 are a Canadian brand who are relatively new to the backcountry/touring scene but are making some very high qualit… Read More

Pro Reviewer: I have been using the Grivel Air Tech Evo Axe for almost one year now for everything from Winter Skills sessions and guiding in Scotland to ski mountaineering and alpine gui… Read More

Mammut’s new 3.0 Airbag system has several advantages over the old system. All the obvious ones such as weight, pack size, new hi vis airbag are gone into in great detail on the produ… Read More

Pro Reviewer: Trainee British Mountain Guide James Clapham Reviews the Lowe Alpine Attack 45 – 55. Lowe Alpine have done a great job with this pack. Drawing on their extensive experie… Read More

Kahtoola MicrospikesI’ve been mulling over a few products for this week’s staff picks, but given the weather this morning there’s one super obvious item which makes life i… Read More

Kahtoola MicrospikesI’ve been mulling over a few products for this week’s staff picks, but given the weather this morning there’s one super obvious item which makes life i… Read More

Kahtoola MicrospikesI’ve been mulling over a few products for this week’s staff picks, but given the weather this morning there’s one super obvious item which makes life i… Read More

Kahtoola MicrospikesI’ve been mulling over a few products for this week’s staff picks, but given the weather this morning there’s one super obvious item which makes life i… Read More

Kahtoola MicrospikesI’ve been mulling over a few products for this week’s staff picks, but given the weather this morning there’s one super obvious item which makes life i… Read More

Kahtoola MicrospikesI’ve been mulling over a few products for this week’s staff picks, but given the weather this morning there’s one super obvious item which makes life i… Read More