“Not another Gift Guide”. I hear you. Here is the perfect gift for the hiker, climber, skier, cyclist and packrafter in your life.

“T’is the season!”. Well, actually “the season” starts nowadays somewhere around September, when chocolate calendars and christmas decorations find their way into the supermarkets and the toys section doubles in size. “Buy. Buy. Buy.” it tells us everywhere. A couple of weeks later blogs and magazines will be full of Articles in the vein of “The ultimate Gift Guide”.

That’s why now is a good moment to reset the brain and engrain: You are not what you own.

The hiker, climber, skier, cyclist and packrafter in your life needs just one thing this Christmas:

Time

Time is for our hobbies essential. A weekend away in the hills, a day at the crag, an afternoon ride or paddle - all of them need just one ting: Time. It’s our most precious resource, and it is scarily finite. Our lives are so full of things that it’s difficult for many to follow our passions, because between picking up the kids, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning the house and other chores there’s often just too little time to pursue what we love to do. It’s the one thing you really can gift (or ask for) this Christmas: Time. It’s relatively cheap - likely free - and you can give the same gift to your partner.

There’s many advantages to this, not least for the environment. How long does happiness last when you get a gift? A few moments? A day? Compare that to a weekend backpacking or climbing, kayaking on the sea, a long cycling ride. That’s adventures, memories, which will last many, many years - maybe a lifetime even. Do you remember what you got last holidays? Might be hard to remember, right? How about the last weekend you were outdoors?

So instead of buying something material, ask for time. You have the gear and it’s just collecting dust in the closet because it so rarely gets used. You don’t need another piece-of-something, you need to have the time to go out and use what you already have. Take your time and go on a long backpacking weekend. Use it for working on your climbing project. Cycle to that hill outside of town which you see each day on your way to work and sleep on top of it that night.

I’ve asked for time the last few years, and it was always a memorable present. I went to Korouoma the first weekend of this year with my time present and climbed Ruskeavirta, Finland’s highest ice waterfall. Last year I went to the Abisko Ice Climbing Festival, skied & ice climbed and saw beautiful Northern Lights. I’m already pondering what to do with my time present this year - go on a Microadventrue? Northwards to Lapland? Or maybe even Scotland? Anticipation is the greatest joy - after being outside, of course!

Get time to go outdoors.