For over 40 years, Terra Nova has been at the forefront of outdoor gear design. This category celebrates our rich history of innovation. Explore the archives to see how four decades of field-testing, meticulous British engineering, and a deep commitment to lifetime durability have shaped the ultimate lightweight and four-season camping equipment.
The tents were pitched beside a tarn on the broad crest of Flower Ridge. On arrival, we had dumped our sacks and swum in it, savouring the exquisite tingle of cold water on skin. Wow, that section of the scan…
The remote and primordial Likouala Swamps of the Congo Basin cover an area of some 63,000 square kilometres. Home to the little-known Babinga Pygmies and a wealth of exotic fauna and flora, the difficulty of penetrating the swamps has protected…
On October 11 th 1994, Dr Charlie Hornsby and Dr Roddy Kirkwood became the 21st and 22nd Britons to reach the summit of Everest, accompanied by Sherpas Dorje and Dawa Temba. This field report from the Expedition leader, Dr Simon…
The mountain environment and native people are not just an interesting ethnic backdrop to our adventures. Mountains are literally the world’s water towers, and like rainforests and oceans, we cannot afford to ignore our impact on these fragile ecosystems. The…
After the successful Cambridge Columbus Botanical Survey expedition, Peter and the team embarked on a thrilling backpacking journey in the Andes. The expedition was recommended by Hilary Branch, the author of the No Frills Guide to Venezuela. Their destination was…
The Cordillera Darwin is one of those places that doesn’t appear on most climbers’ maps — a 140-mile arc of glaciated peaks cut by fjords on the south-west tip of Tierra del Fuego, whipped by Patagonian storms, and reached only…
Read the original report here In the summer of 1987 four of us, two from Cambridge and two from St Andrews, walked five days up the Biafo Glacier to make first ascents of three unclimbed peaks, and ran a plant…
Read the original report here In the summer of 1989, five of us sailed south with HMS Endurance for South Georgia, four months on an island most people only ever see from a boat. The plan was to climb Mt…
Read the Original Report here Six of us, none of whom had been to the Himalaya before, went to the Kishtwar in the summer of 1987 to attempt the first ascent of Hagshu, 6,330 metres. We did not climb it.…
Read the original report here In the summer of 1988, thirty of us spent four months at Borup Fiord, on the north coast of Ellesmere Island, about as far north as land goes. The expedition had two aims: a complete…
In 1988, Nick, a passionate adventurer, started a new chapter of his life teaching in the breathtaking landscapes of North Wales. It was during this time that Nick acquired his trusted companion, the Quasar tent. Right from the outset, he could…
Read the original report here In August 1986, a five-man British team made the first British ascent of Salcantay (6,271m), the highest peak of the Cordillera Vilcabamba in southern Peru, by a new route up its huge and unclimbed south-west…
On 10 May 1983, four climbers stood on the summit of Manaslu North (7,200m) in the Nepal Himalaya. It was the first British ascent of the peak, made by a Joint Services team drawn from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines…
A Corner of Nepal Few Had Seen The Khumbu in 1983 was already feeling the pressure of its own fame. Paul Harris, the expedition’s 25-year-old chronicler, opened his report with a note that reads as relevant today as it did…
