A Look At The January Issue Of The Great Outdoors

The January issue of The Great Outdoors is out now. The theme is natural wonders and how to see them with short pieces by six writers. I've written about seeing moose in the Rocky Mountains. Foxes, cloud inversions, owls, Brochen Spectres, and pumas are described by Ryan Simpson, Kirstie Smith, David Lintern, Andrew Terrill, and Phoebe Smith. There's also a long feature on golden eagles by James Roddie, illustrated with his wonderful photos.

I have rather more than usual in the gear pages with reviews of the Danner Panorama boots and the Peak Design Travel Backpack, a look at waterproof jackets costing under £200, advice on how to look after your waterproof jacket, and a gear trip report on an overnight trip in Glen Feshie. Also in the gear pages David Lintern reviews six trekking poles, Kirsty Pallas reviews three pairs of gaiters, and Francesca Donovan looks at how to stay dry when hiking.

In the main features Minreet Kaur describes a transfomative climb of Snowdon with a group of South Asian women, Dan Aspel has a winter bothy trip in the Cairngorms,there's an excerpt from Andrew Terrill's wonderful new book On Sacred Ground (I'll be reviewing it soon), and Alice Morrison shares an insider's view of some of the best walking in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. 

Also in this issue the Creator of the Month is Colin Woolf who uses tiny bird pin-feathers to create artworks of the natural world, Mary-Ann Ochota asks if we should stop dreaming of a white mountain Christmas, Andy Wasley reviews Raynor Winn's Landlines, and Jim Perrin considers Rhinog Fawr. 

There's a list of all the entries for the Reader Awards 2022 too. Fifteen categories from walkers' pubs to apps, retailers, and campaigners. You can vote here. 

Finally, in the Wild Walks section there are wintry visits to White Coomb and Loch Skeen in the Southern Uplands by Stefan Durkacz, Buckden Pike in the Yorkshire Dales by Ian Battersby, and Farelton Fell and Hutton Roof Crags in Cumbria by Roger Butler, and less wintry visits to Aber Falls and the North Wales Path in Snowdonia by Andrew Galloway and the Lulworth Ranges and Jurassic Coast in Dorset by Fiona Barltrop.