Hiking Boots (Required)
Hiking boots are a required piece of equipment for any trip with us. If you don't have sufficient hiking boots, we may not let you go on the trip. Sufficient hiking boots are ones that provide ankle support and are not considered a fashion statement, we recommend that you try these on in person to ensure they're a comfortable fit and won't cause you to develop blisters.
Waterproof Coat (Required)
Rain is fairly common on a hike and therefore having a waterproof coat is a requirement for our trips. Coats are measured using a rating value called the Hydrostatic Head (HH) which measures how waterproof it is. The higher the number, the more waterproof the coat is. Lots of companies advertise their coats as waterproof when they actually have a fairly low HH rating (~3000mm), a coat can be considered waterproof against heavy rain and extended use when it's HH rating is above 10,000mm and then considered suitable for extreme weather when it's HH rating is above 20,000mm. It's recommended that you have a coat with a HH rating of 10,000mm or greater however these can be expensive and are not necessarily required as long as the coat is somewhat waterproof. The minimum HH rating is 1,500mm which is considered suitable for light showers.
Hiking Trousers
You're welcome to wear any trousers on our hikes as long as they're not jeans. We recommend purchasing a pair of hiking trousers, even if they're a cheap pair from Decathlon, however it's not required.
Backpack
You can bring any backpack or no backpack on our hikes, as long as you're carrying at least 1.5 litres of water, a coat, and your lunch. Having a specific hiking backpack would make things easier for you, especially if you're using your uni bag for hiking since everything can get soaked through on a hike and then you're stuck with a wet bag for uni the next day. We don't require you to have a hiking backpack.
Additional Equipment
As well as the equipment shown above, we also recommend you bring the following items on our day hikes to make it much more enjoyable for you and safer for everyone else:
- Lunch and lots of snacks
- Plenty of water (Ideally at least 1.5L)
- Hat and Gloves
- Spare warm layers
- Headtorch
- Waterproof trousers