ALL TERRAIN 95 PROFILE
Chasing the outdoor high.
ALL TERRAIN 95 PROFILE
Chasing the outdoor high.
*On the weekend of the 15th and 16th of October, The Hike Society by Columbia put on its first Annual General Hike (AGH) which saw them collaborate with outdoor communities across the UK to host a free hike in a location of the groups choice, ranging from the Brecon Beacons, Snowdonia and the Peak District. In total, over 500 individuals participated throughout the weekend which saw people coming together from across the country to explore the outdoors and engage with like-minded people. In spite of the UK’s burgeoning outdoor movement, AGH fuels The Hike Society’s mission to unlock outdoor spaces for new and existing audiences who previously would have flown under the radar.*
In 2020, as we began to explore the outdoors in a way that had previously been reserved for Duke of Edinburgh expeditions, new communities and subcultures emerged that revolve around, well, going outside, as nonchalant as it sounds. Groups such as All Terrain 95, alongside other participants of the Annual General Hike, were born out ofthis movement with a shared desire to venture beyond our known bubbles and appreciate the beauty that Mother Nature lays before us. As we’ll explore throughout, each of these entities expresses their individual reasons for venturing outdoors, but one thing they do have in common is their shared appreciation and conservation of the natural environment.
Born out of the pandemic, All Terrain 95 is a 10,000-person-strong outdoor community on Instagram that was started in 2020 by 22-year old, Kian Patel, as ameans for him and his friends to escape the mundanity of lockdown life whilst discovering new places within reach of their homes. To be specific, the idea to start the page was conceived during a descent of Scafell Pike when the conversation came up surrounding outdoor-focused pages such as Advanced Rock and L.Holl that were sources of inspiration to Kian. From there, All Terrain 95 was set up with similar ambitions and to act as a place where fashion and outdoor content can seamlessly sit side-by-side.
In the time since, AT95 has become a growing platform dedicated to supplying outdoors, apparel, footwear and photography-related content to its yearning audience of similarly aged people. Despite not boasting a following of hundreds of thousands, its audience is highly engaged with the breadth of content which has in turn welcomed collaborations from the likes of Columbia.
All Terrain has seen Kian travel all over the world from Thailand to Iceland and Austria, all of which fuels his desire to explore further and feed the addiction to finding new spots and peaks. It’s long been considered that people of Kian’s age are more interested in chasing a dopamine hit through drinking or clubbing, but Patel is driven by the chemical release he gets from climbing a mountain and the possibilities of where his adventures will lead him, pushing him and his community to accomplish higher feats further afield.
Heather greets my eye when we finally arrive at Britain’s oldest national park. The scene is patched with early sunlight, the light and dark areas creating a purple, mosaic-like art piece. This northern section of the park is known as the Dark Peak, with its gritstone ridges and high moors covered in thick, dark peat. The White Peak, to the south, is a lower region of rolling farmlands, named for its 300-million-year-old limestone filled with fossilised corals.
To Kian, there is no competition when it comes to deciding between hitting the club or getting outside -typicallya hangover-free experience -in chase of that buzz, whether you’re watching the sun come up or soaking up the awe-inspiring view atop a mountain. As they start to work their way around the country, from Scotland to Wales, ticking off different peaks on the way, their focus shifts slightly to what is beyond our borders to overseas.
As October rolled around, All Terrain 95 stepped up to the plate for its participation in the Annual General Hike which saw them navigate their way through Snowdonia taking on a pretty hefty peak, Glyder Fawr, which takes the title of the fifth-highest peak in Wales standing at over 1,000 meters. Through the Annual General Hike, AT95 sought to encourage like-minded individuals to follow suit and swap a pint for a pair of hiking boots.
Doing its bit for the outdoor community, the platform is another product of the post-Covid world, albeit a positive one, that is looking to incite exploration among a demographic that is typically not pictured as being the outdoors ‘type’, but instead typically more footwear and jacket enthusiasts.
YOU CAN STAY UP-TO-DATE WITH ALL TERRAIN 95 VIA INSTAGRAM -@ALLTERRAIN95.
GET THE GEAR
