The Outdoors Show 2011

The largest consumer outdoors show in Europe has drawn to a close after its 4 day stint in London's ExCel Centre. The Outdoors Show 2011 celebrated its 10th anniversary with a spectacular array of goodies and carnival-fashion exhibits.

Not wanting to miss an opportunity, we at WideWorld were on the floor with the hundreds of thousands of people flocking to see the latest in outdoors gear at the Excel Exhibition Centre last weekend. As always, we've been doing out best to keep you in touch with the latest and greatest in kit, and we've seen some great stuff too - much of which you'll be seeing on our reviews pages soon. 

Famous faces amongst all this outdoor inspiration included Simon King, Ray Mears and Ranulph Fiennes to name a few of our heroes. Many more talks and workshops were given by numerous professionals throughout each day, on everything from wilderness survival to adventure travel. 

One face that we loved to see was Ben Fogle, manning his own stall and surrounded by books of his adventures. He'd already had a mini-adventure that weekend when security guards failed to recognise him at the gate - “Needed three helpers to drag over a huge poster of me advertising the show as proof," he posted on Twitter later on.

British Bouldering enthusiasts grappled it out on the indoor face for a shot at the Championships. Pro bike riders showcased their indoor skills on a variety of obstacles while the maze of stalls kept punters entertained and bustling for hours.

Among the noted opportunities for future review were emerging brands like Jeff Green from Germany with their innovative clothing systems, BAM with their unique bamboo clothing range, Aquapac's selection of ultra tough waterproof packs and pouches and the latest in nutrition from the likes of Mulebar, Zipvit, & Clif Bar.

POWERbreathe, an impressive inspiratory muscle trainer for athletes of all ilk's has now become digitized and CoolBoard go head-to-head with Indo Board with their unique balance trainer that improves core strength and stability for a range of vigorous vocations.

We were also impressed by the Tentipi tents on show at the Nordic Outdoor stall - proper Scandinavian tents with a really hardcore build quality that put many of the more popular bell tent designs to shame - worth checking out. On the other end of the scale were Easton Mountain Products' range of super-lightweight tents, including the Kilo - a two man shelter that weighs in at a piffling 910g!

The best way to heat your campsite, of course, is a portable wood burner. We saw an amazing model for sale called the Frontier Stove, which weighs just 10KG and folds down like a Transformer to the size of a large briefcase - easy enough to carry in one hand (though we'd recommend putting the fire out first). Thanks to Simon from Bushcraft Magazine for the demo!

A successful and inspiring day out, we hope you all enjoy the reviews in the weeks and months to come that we hope will include a few if not all of the aforementioned.