An Antarctic Exposition.

Continuing the theme here, it must be the weather. Psychedelic Mountain Men. The South African Antarctic Expedition Team dating from the 60's and 70's.

Pics via Glenn from The Rig Out.

Icons of our time - Chris Bonington.

Sir Christian John Storey Bonington, with his grizzly beard gentlemanly demeanor and colourful goretex jackets, a man amongst men. Never afraid of getting out there, forget scuffed knees, grazed elbows and getting your socks wet. This is one serious climber.
One of the most famous British Mountaineers, Bonington has participated in many expeditions to the Himalayas, Everest, the first ascent of Kongur, Vinson Massif and Changabang.
Leading expeditions to Everest, K2 and Annapurna. Born in 1934 and educated in Hampstead, serving in the Royal Fusiliers, training at Sandhurst and with the Royal Tank Regiment.
Having started climbing at an early age, Bonington had established a high standard of rock climbing whilst still in his teens.
Bonington's famed and outstanding climbing expeditions were not without tragedy, in 1975 fellow climber and cameraman Mick Burke failed to return from a summit push of the South West face of Everest. Whilst during an unsuccessful attempt at scaling the north east ridge of Everest in 1982 he lost companions Joe Tasker and Stockport's very own Peter Boardman in the desolate and deathly conditions.
A Decorated ambassador of climbing, Bonington was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1976, and knighted in 1996 for his services to the sport. Receiving the chancellorship of Lancaster University, the Honorary President of both the British Hiking clubs and the Orienteering federation, succeeding Edmund Hillary as the President of Mountain Wilderness along the way, he also has a boat named after him near his now native Cumbria..
As an author, Bonington has released many books detailing a lifetime scaling savage rock faces and the world's deadliest mountains.
He also put his name to original clothing brands such as Belstaff and Berghaus, where the iconic Trango jacket a favourite of acid casuals was put through it's paces in it's intended purposes in the mid to late eighties as a new range Extrem was developed.

The Grepon, Chamonix, France.

Mount Kongur team 1981 : Alan Rouse, Peter Boardman, Chris Bonington and Joe Tasker.

Everest 1975, base camp - Paine 1963, the foot of Chandelle 1961.

Training with breathing apparatus in 1980 ahead of the Kongur expedition.

In earlier days Chris Bonington was affiliated with Belstaff.

And of course, a long standing attribution to Berghaus.

WYWT

Once again the snow has fallen, I've never seen it this vast in thirty winters.
today I was decked out in a Vintage Powderhorn mountaineering parka, vintage Faconnable denim shirt, Woolrich railroad vest, Lee 101B's and confidence on my feet with a sturdy old pair of Italian made La Sportiva hiking boots.

I like this.

Stumbled across this site today whilst browsing the net. Olly Moss a young designer with a very smart quirky style, check it out. I especially like his take on the film posters.

And so to Boxing Day.

This day used to be about scoffing the leftovers of yesterday's big dinner, more alcohol and of course a great day on the footballing calendar, a day which conjures up great memories following my club, beating the likes of Wolves and Fulham at a packed Edgeley Park.
Or localish derbies at home or visiting the likes of Wrexham and Port Vale. Unfortunately we're now up shit creek without a boat, never mind the paddle, I won't bore readers of this blog with our tedious troubles though. Today sees us play MK Dons away, it's about to finish and we're 4-1 down, our tenth defeat in a row. I don't care what people may think, I'm glad I'm not sat in the cold at that plastic franchise hellhole. Instead, as the telly's shit and I'm bored here's a few highlights from what Father Christmas brung me...

I'm nearly thirty and not spoilt so there's no expensive gadgets and loads of new clobber to show off. So one of the best presents this Christmas has to be Viz's Magna Fartlet.

A complete pocket version of Roger's Profanisaurus. The world famous swearing dictionary crammed with filthy expletives and expressions old and new.

This year was all about books, I must be getting old.

No excuse to ever find myself drinking substandard ale in a substandard pub ever again.

More serious reading this time, with Keith Mann's From Dusk Till Dawn.

A huge chunk of a book charting the growth of the Animal Liberation movement.

I've been after this for a while, and whilst I'm a veggie - my philosophy is to never eat anything with a face through choice, I'm not a vegan, nor am I a peanut and leaf munching tree hugger, but I totally support and admire the work of these people, and who knows? once I've got through the six hundred odd pages I might be a full on yoghurt weaver prepared to bally up and nick animals from the clutches of evil labs.

There's nothing like some good old War during the festive period, a bargain of the epic Band of Brothers box set and Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds on US R1 dvd. I get a lot of American dvd's, usually the bigger films or seldom heard of independent films, most of the time they are better, from the features to the case itself...



Aside from the usual smellies and socks and gruds, there was plenty of stuff to over indulge on.
From chocolates aplenty to lots of ales. And a box of Nurofen (Plus) wrapped up, an ongoing family joke/possible addiction (LOL)

A Winter's Trail

With it just four days until Christmas day, I'm finally feeling a little festive.

Waking up on Sunday morning to see sprinkles of snowflakes flickering behind the bedroom blind, I got up to discover a snow covered garden. Proper snow, not that shit icy hail we get, but real bright, white snow.

Enough to cover everything from parked cars to frozen dog poop, a clean blanket of pure whiteness. Now I'm sure anyone reading from further afield will think this is toy snow in comparison to the States or Scandinavia, but this is as good as it gets for us.

Stuck enough and thick enough it crunches under each and every footstep. Fantastic.

I think in my lifetime growing up in the North West of England we've had maybe one 'White Christmas'. To me it looks great, to the rest of the country we seem to go into a rather embarrassing meltdown, flights are cancelled, trains shut down, lorries are backed up, and every one's in a state of panic.

Not me, I went for a walk instead.

Today the sun was shining, so it was time to make the most of it.

I put on my Berghaus 'Trango', Connoisseur scarf, vintage Lacoste ski hat, cords, thick socks and some Cabourn x Brasher boots, along with a Mulberry fair isle fisherman's pullover over a denim shirt, so woolly it's hairy, so hairy it's itchy, but who's looking? snug as a bug in a rug.

I like to go a wondering...

Stansfield

Picked this up yesterday, Stansfield '208B. Car Coat'.

One of my favourite labels, Stansfield produces some really well crafted and unique garments.

Arguably an acquired taste perhaps, but he (Dominic Stansfield) does his own thing, centered all around heritage, it's smart, functional, traditional clothing with a modern twist and an amazing attention to detail.

Due to them being out of action this season, I chanced upon this coat from this time last year.

I'd say it's pretty funky, even by my standards, but it works, a double breasted heavy duty wool coat, sheepskin lined with shawl collar, and polka dot lining with pockets in the right places.

I'm not sure if this even went into production, as it's slightly different to the product shots I've seen online.

Proper Magazine

The long awaited issue 8 is now available, and it's arguably the best one yet. features include Heritage Research, Universal Works, Oi Polloi, 6876, Greg Wilson and much more.

Available here.

New Polloi

For those a little further afield than the North West and Manchester, here's a sneaky peak at the new forthcoming bigger site where Manchester store Oi Polloi will be moving early next year.

Just a jog around the corner from the existing Tib Street shop, is the 1600 sq ft Thomas Street store, the place has been totally transformed over the last few months and is coming along nicely.