A Christmas Message

As the year draws to an end Kenny reflects on a year of outdoors

Remember that feeling? When you step outside and the air hits your face differently. When you round a corner on a trail and the view stops you dead. When you're halfway up something ridiculous and you start laughing because this is absolutely brilliant, or you get eaten by a giant metal fish.

That's what it's all about, isn't it?

This year, you lot went to some properly magnificent places. I have seen the stories, the product feedback Your Year in Adventure. Lisa spent her summer at Port Lockroy in Antarctica facing brutal blizzards, scenery that "glows and glitters," penguins outnumbering people about a million to one.

She wore our Definition jacket while doing conservation work, and you? You took our gear everywhere. Perhaps not everyone was wearing Definitions.. all though if you do need one you know where they are!

From winter bothies in the Cairngorms to gravel routes that don't appear on any map to that perfect wild swimming spot you're definitely not telling anyone about to coffee-outside situations to dawn starts and late finishes and all the bits in between where you remembered why you love this stuff. And breathe, sorry I wasn't sure where to place the commas.

The best adventures happen when you stop overthinking it. The trail runner who stuck a bivvy bag in their pack and accidentally discovered wild camping. The cyclist whose route ended at an alpine lake and now plans every ride around finding the next swim. The hillwalker who realised scrambling is just hiking with your hands involved. You're not picking one thing, you're following whatever looks brilliant.

Go nice places. Do good things. Simple as that.

When The Great Outdoors Magazine readers voted us Brand of the Year, we were properly chuffed because it came from people who actually use this gear. In all weathers. In proper conditions. People who know the difference between kit that works and kit that sounds good on paper.

The Alpkit Foundation hit £1 million this year. That's 1% of every purchase you've made over ten years, now funding 542 projects. Your old jackets went to teenagers tackling Ten Tors. Your sleeping bags went to people sleeping rough. Your donations got people outdoors who thought it wasn't for them. Turns out it absolutely is for them, they just needed a hand getting started.

We're still learning, still tinkering, still trying to make better gear with less impact. Our BCorp score jumped to 122.6 (still not perfect, still working on it). We worked with Nottingham Trent University students again, they pulled apart our Radiant mat and found ways to halve costs while slashing the carbon footprint. They made us think harder, as do you.

So here's to 2026. To mornings when you absolutely can't be bothered but go anyway. To the moment when you're soaking wet and freezing and completely happy. To summit snacks and wild camps and that first brew of the day. To dragging your mates out when they'd rather stay in bed. To staying out longer than you planned because it's too good to leave.

From everyone at Alpkit -

Have a brilliant Alpkitmas and a ridiculously good New Year.