A Christmas gift guide to outdoor gear

The perfect Christmas gift for you or your loved ones. With subscriptions from just £49.99 why not get someone a gift they can enjoy all year round? A subscription to Trail magazine immerses readers in high octane excursions across beautiful, yet challenging terrain, while offering skills and tips from outdoor experts, gear reviews and more. Not only this, with your Trail subscription you will also get 50% off a 12-month subscription to OS Maps.

Get someone geared up with an OS map, or maps. Alternatively, you can get them an OS app map subscription.

Walking socks never go unwanted. Bridgedale socks are made in the UK and are well engineered to offer impressive comfort and durability. Its Midweight Merino Endurance Crew Socks are made from a merino-nylon blend and offer temperature regulation and keep feet warm even when damp. They keep their shape, too thanks to Bridgedale's Thermo Fit process.

Of all the base layers we've tested this year, this one from small Scottish-based brand Loomi, was our favourite. It ticks all the boxes for comfort, performance, and durability. It's pretty sustainable too. So, if you're after a base layer to gift, this one is pretty awesome.

This Patagonia organic cotton t-shirt is sustainable and looks brilliant. It's Fair Trade Certified
and is really well made.

Check out the women's version here

Montane's Fury Gloves are value favourites of ours, being deceptively warm and versatile. They can be worn on their own when it's nippy or as a liner to beefy waterproof gloves. They have good stretch and are touchscreen compatible on the index finger and thumb.

Check out the women's version here

Nikwax makes some of the best outdoor gear cleaning products. This complete kit from Nikwax contains cleaning and reproofing solutions for clothing and footwear, plus a footwear brush and 10-litre drybag. Nikwax's products are PFC-free and all water-based.

This microfibre travel towel is very compact, fast drying, absorbent. It's better than most because it has an anti-odour treatment and is made from recycled plastic. Various sizes and colours are available.

A first aid kit is a necessity when hiking. Lifesystems makes brilliant, compact, CE-certified kits. This 32-piece kit is specifically for hiking. It's 14cm x 11cm x 5cm and weighs just 241g. There is an even smaller Pocket First Aid Kit if you want it.

Dry bags are an unsung hero of outdoor gear. The Sea To Summit Lightweight Dry Sacks are our favourites because they add little weight and are more sustainable than many, thanks to a recycled 70D fabric and PFC-free DWR. Various volumes are available - or you can get a set.

Wide mouth flasks are easy to use and very easy to clean. Hydro Flask's version is our recommendation because it is sturdy and effective (hot for 12, cold for 24 hours), yet reasonably light (591ml volume is 340g). It comes in three volume sizes and a host of colours.

You'll see Sigg water bottles appearing in many of the world's far flung places. They're lightweight and durable and those sporting dents and scratches are a source of pride for their owners. Sigg now makes this classic in a very sustainable manner (recycled, recyclable, and carbon neutral).

To be frank, while £20 headtorches are alright for finding your spork at camp, they aren't powerful or tough enough for hiking at night. Silva's Scout XT is a suitable hiking headtorch, featuring plenty of power, durability, and details like night vision. It's also one of the more sustainable headtorches around.

For a compact and reliable little camping light, look no further. Goal Zero's Crush Light offers up to 60 lumens and up to 35 hours of run time. It can be recharged via USB or by the built-in solar panel on top. Weight is 91g; size when open: 125 x 125 x 100mm, and height drops to 15mm when closed.

Vango's camping stove is a stoic little cooker than delivers exactly what you need. At 102g it's very light but still has an output of 3,000W and can therefore boil one litre of water in about four minutes. It comes with a storage box.

The letdown of a tent can be as simple as the inadequate pegs that bend out of shape or keep pulling loose. These Y-shaped aluminium alloy pegs are a great upgrade. They are strong yet light and pierce hard ground easily. Being red, they're also easy to spot.

Genuinely tough power banks are few and far between. This is one of our favourites, especially in terms of value. It has excellent ingress protection (IP67) and a decent battery capacity. It also has the features you want such as USB A and C, and a handy light.

A hard hike or summit conquest is so often best celebrated with a victorious drink of choice. Stanley's little hip flask is the best receptacle for your favourite tipple. It's volume is 230ml, it's leakproof, tough, and comes with a lifetime warranty. Available in several colours.

Speaking of a tipple, we thought we'd sneak in a couple of top whiskeys. Laphroaig is a very flavoursome whiskey that warms the cockles. 2019 San Francisco World Spirits Competition gold award winner.

Talisker's Skye whiskey is another winner. Its slightly spicy flavour brings a welcome and fresh approach to scotch. 2015 International Wine and Spirits Competition gold award winner.