Kendal Mountain Festival 2025
Our Outdoor Gear Chat Podcast is back at Kendal Mountain Festival for 2025!!
After an incredible podcast season last year listen here our podcast team is psyched to be heading back to Kendal this November for a bigger and better festival season of chat, laughter and inspiration. The festival theme this year is “Hope” and we have a mind blowing line up of guests to chat with about their favourite kit, how they use it and how it helps them achieve their goals.
Sir Chris Bonington - looking back on a year of Everest The Hard Way 50th Anniversary celebrations, what it has meant to him, the team members and how the legacy of that 1975 expedition is positively impacting the people of Nepal.
Ed Jackson and Alice Sainsbury - explain how adapting technical clothing designs enabled Ed to become the first disabled person to make a first ascent of a 4000m unclimbed peak in the Tien Shan mountains.
Sarah Perry - The worlds toughest maths teacher chats about her incredible Back Yard Ultra world record and her trusty Suunto watch.
Dave Evans - Head of Climbing and Mountaineering at Plas Y Brenin, the National Outdoor Centre; Dave knows a thing or two about how to prepare for vertical fun in some of the worlds foulest weather. Especially Scottish winter!
Hannah Mitchell and Sam Jagger - Going through a rough time? Find a mate and take yourselves off to climb a 4000m peak in Tajikistan! That's exactly what Hannah Mitchell and Sam Jagger did earlier this year and they tell Cathy & Wayne all about it in this laughter packed episode.
Jesse Dufton - The first blind person to climb the Old Man of Hoy, Montane sponsored athlete Jesse describes how his wife describes the rock in front of him which he then interprets with his fingers to place gear and build belays. Listen to how their unique relationship has lead to new routes and climbing all over the world.
Caitlin Connor - Sponsored by Rab, Caitlin describes the gear and training she uses in this niche sport to compete on the World stage. A member of the GB climbing team, she has her eye firmly set on the 2030 Winter Olympics. If you want to learn what's involved in getting there - listen in and brace yourself!
Robbie Phillips - Robbie Phillips delving into key rock boot fitting tips for all types of climbing. Through his career, Robbie has moved from comp climbing for Team GB through all disciplines including bouldering, sport climbing, trad climbing, winter climbing, and big walling.
If you want rock boot advice from the modern master then this episode is for you!
Nigel Vardy - While surviving -60 degree temperatures, Nigel lost his nose, toes and fingers aged just 30. His film "Frostbitten" tells the story of what was the highest and most daring helicopter rescue ever accomplished, his recovery and subsequent return to the mountain and his incredible team of rescuers 25 years later.
Warning: Dark humour from the outset!
Professor Rachel Carr and Sonam Rinzin - Rachel and Sonam specialize in the threat of Glacial Lake Collapse, an increasing issue due to climate change and spend weeks in remote, glacial regions on fieldwork. Listen to their descriptions of how they use their kit in the unique environments they work in and the broader positive impact of the work they do.
Sally Orange MBE - Listen to learn why Sally holds the Guinness World Record for the first (and possibly only) person to run a marathon on every continent dressed as a piece of fruit, how she had to re-think her clothing while running the Everest Marathon with a cancer diagnosis and why running to her chemotherapy appointments was so important.
Alex Staniforth - the “Adversity Adventurer” shares how he’s used the outdoors to manage epilepsy, anxiety and bulimia to become the first and fastest person to climb all 446 mountains in England & Wales by human power in just 45 days, raising money for his mental health charity; Mind Over Mountains.
Available 4th February