And the winner is

According to random.org: Helen J. Fisher!. She has an abundance of good karma stored at the moment :). Congrats.

Raffle time: aLOKSAK set

It's time for another raffle! This time it's for a set of four aLOKSAK waterproof/sandproof bags/pouches that are excellent for storing and protecting important items like your passport, first aid kit, electronic devices etc. The sizes are : 5"x4", 4.5"x7", 6.75"x6" and 9"x6".

To be part of the raffle I ask you to share an important lesson you learned while out hiking, or a practical tip that other readers might find useful.

I'll draw a winner with random.org the 25th this month. Good luck!

And the tarp goes to

The last entry: Niels! Congrats - can you send me an e-mail (thomas_gauperaa*at*hotmail.com) with your full address?.

I wish you all a happy new year!

Raffle: backpackinglight.co.uk solo tarp

I have a very nice solo tarp from backpackinglight.co.uk lying around not getting the attention and adventures it deserves, so I'm giving it to one of you readers.

The tarp isn't brand new, but it's not far from it having only been pitched in fair weather a couple of times to practice, never in anger. It's a high quality silnylon tarp with several pitch options. More information can be found on the product page at backpackinglight.co.uk.

To participate you only have to give a short presentation of yourself - I'm curious about who my readers are. Please leave a link to your blog or your twitter feed if you have one.

I will use random.org on the 1st of january 2011 to find out who gets the item.

Thank you for following my blog - I really appreciate it. Have a great weekend and take care.

And the winner of the raffle is ...

Nr. 2 Ptarmigan. Congrats!

Ptarmigan wrote:

"My favourite new UL kit is my pair of Fizan Ultralight Compact poles. Quoted as 158 grams each, mine are actually 168g but they are still the lightest 3 piece poles you can buy (I believe). Aluminium, but still somehow lighter than my previous Alpkit Carbon Fibre poles and just as stiff. The lack of plastic collars on the ends of each section makes them much easier to slide down inside a pack. Finally, they are actually quite cheap compared to the competition."

Raffle: Photon Freedom Micro Light

I am giving away one of these to one of you readers. It's got a blue LED and comes with a clip so you can attach it to various things, for instance to a baseball cap to use as a head lamp, or maybe to the inner of your shelter to illuminate it?. It's quite bright for its size and has some nice features like brightness adjustment, four safety modes: slow/medium/fast/SOS and a morse code mode.

To be a part of the raffle you just have to leave a comment to this post with a mini review of your favourite piece of gear. Please include as a minimum a short description of the item, why you like it so much and a link to a product page or similar. Feel free to add more info. I'll draw a winner with random.org on thursday 1st of July.

In the meantime: take care and go out and hike!