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If you've ever walked back-to-back 20-mile days or tackled a steep descent with a 60-litre rucksack, you'll know what a godsend a decent pair of trekking poles can be. These lightweight carbon ones from Silva weigh just 400g, and can be shortened down to 67cm long for easy stowage. The soft-touch cork handles are comfortable for all-day use in hot or cold conditions, and you've also got foam sections below the main grips. Combined with the adjustable wrist straps, these should help you on the uphills. The telescopic joints use the flick-lock system, which some of the long-distance walkers on the WildBounds team reckon are more reliable than twist-lock poles. The hard-wearing carbide tips are replaceable, and each set of poles comes with snow baskets and rubber tips for road walking.
It’s a bit of a cliché to say, ‘this brand needs no introduction…’, but sometimes it really doesn’t. If you ever did scouts, guides or cadets, got epic blisters on a D of E expedition or went on an outward bounds residential, chances are you did it with a Silva compass in the pocket of your boil-in-the-bag cagoule.
Like so many world-changing inventions, the Silva compass began as a problem that needed solving. Back in the day, your standard compass wobbled all over the shop, making it tricky and time-consuming to get a decent reading. That is, until 1933, when four Swedes invented a liquid-filled compass. The resistance from the fluid slowed and stabilised the needle, meaning you could nail a reliable bearing in seconds. Navigation was never the same again.
But iconic as the compasses are, they’re only one part of the Silva story. They were one of the first companies to make reliable electric head torches for the outdoors, and they’ve also branched out into optics, trekking kit and other navigational gear. Tried and tested for the better part of a century, Silva’s precision instruments have literally been the difference between life and death for generations of outdoor adventurers – and as brand pedigree goes, that’s pretty much impossible to beat.
