Footsteps on the Mountain

Farewell to the Pilgrim’s Book House, Kathmandu

The phrase Aladdin’s cave is often used to describe a place crammed full of interesting objects, and if ever there was a building worthy of the definition it was the Pilgrim’s Book House, Kathmandu. Squeezed between souvenir shops and tourist guest houses was an inauspicious shop front which led into a maze of rooms filled from floor to ceiling with books. Sadly, last week it burned to the ground. Continue reading →

May 22, 2013 4:05 pm | Comments (5)

Tags: buddhism | himalayas | kathmandu | mountain literature | mountain photography | nepal | travel writing

A tribute to Sherpas, the tigers of the snow

This is a post I have been meaning to write for a while. Much has been written by westerners about Sherpas over the last hundred years, but the voice of the Sherpas themselves is rare. I can’t provide it, but I can provide my own perspective of a people who have given me many happy memories, taken me to places I could never have been without them, and put their lives at risk to help me. Continue reading →

May 15, 2013 4:04 pm | Comments (11)

Tags: alexander kellas | angtharkay | annapurna | bill tilman | cho oyu | commercial mountaineering | eric shipton | everest | fritz wiessner | gasherbrum | george finch | george mallory | herbert tichy | himalayas | howard somervell | journalists | k2 | maurice herzog | mera peak | mountain literature | muztag ata | nanda devi | nanga parbat | pasang dawa lama | sherpas | simone moro | tenzing norgay | ueli steck

The Mynydd Du microadventure

Perhaps I’ve only just noticed, but all of a sudden people have started using the term microadventure for things that used to be called walks. I used to laugh, but after my trip to the Mynydd Du hills last weekend, I’m going to stick my neck out and say that I have now become a microadventurer. Continue reading →

May 8, 2013 4:06 pm | Comments (13)

Tags: alastair humphreys | backpacking | black mountains | brecon beacons | britain | camping | grant rawlinson | hill walking | microadventures | mynydd du | wales | walking | wild camping

Everest is not for climbers – you’re joking aren’t you!

There’s nothing like a negative Everest story to trigger a flurry of publishing absurdity. For example, some people say Everest has now become so crowded with commercial expeditions there is no longer any room for real climbers, an argument that can be easily refuted with a single photograph. Continue reading →

May 6, 2013 12:16 pm | Comments (2)

Tags: cathy o'dowd | commercial mountaineering | ed webster | everest | first ascents | george mallory | guided climbing | history of mountaineering | mountaineering ethics | stephen venables | tibet

How civilised does an expedition base camp have to be?

Photographs of members of the Russian 7 Summits Club playing pool at base camp on Everest’s north side will have raised the blood pressure of a few purists who believe such luxuries have no place in mountaineering, but a bit of pampering at base camp has long been a part of expeditions to the 8000m peaks. Continue reading →

May 1, 2013 4:01 pm | Comments (2)

Tags: 7 summits club | 8000m peaks | acclimatisation | alex abramov | altitude junkies | bill tilman | charles bruce | cho oyu | commercial mountaineering | digi comms | elbrus | eric shipton | everest | everest base camp | expedition food | expedition logistics | gasherbrum | jagged globe | kenton cool | noel odell | seven summits

All you need to know about the Everest fist fight

Some of you have been asking for an insightful analysis of the punch up on the Lhotse Face over the weekend. As usual people have been falling over themselves to report the story without waiting for the facts to emerge, and in the Footsteps on the Mountain team we’re not averse to joining the stampede. Continue reading →

April 29, 2013 9:32 pm | Comments (23)

Tags: everest | journalists | mountain humour | mountaineering | sherpas | stephen venables | ueli steck

Following the Everesters

This time last year I was lying in a tent on the north side of Everest, listening to a deafening wind pound against the nylon beside my head. Every spring a few hundred people seek to share my experience by trying to climb Everest, and thanks to the miracle of modern communications, it’s possible to watch from the sidelines. Continue reading →

April 24, 2013 4:06 pm | Comments (15)

Tags: 8000m peaks | alan arnette | altitude junkies | blogging | commercial mountaineering | digi comms | everest | explorersweb | grant rawlinson | margaret watroba | mountaineering | phil crampton | sherpas

Top rock climber accuses sunbathers of cheating

This week the Footsteps on the Mountain team caught up with champion rock climber Bill Scheidt, who has completed many first ascents on bold new routes. Bill is known for a very pure style of climbing, and over the years has become an outspoken critic of climbers who employ artificial aids to enable them to complete an ascent. But it’s not just use of pitons and supplementary oxygen that make his blood boil. Continue reading →

April 17, 2013 4:04 pm | Comments (4)

Tags: bottled oxygen | interviews | mountain humour | mountaineering | mountaineering ethics | rock climbing

Why Tenzing is the greatest Everest climber

While George Mallory, Edmund Hillary, Reinhold Messner and Eric Shipton all deserve their place in the Everest pantheon, if there’s to be an award for the greatest of all Everest climbers, then IMHO it should go to Tenzing Norgay, because he had to work so much harder to achieve his ambition than any of the other climbers. Continue reading →

April 10, 2013 4:06 pm | Comments (5)

Tags: apa sherpa | chongba sherpa | earl denman | edmund hillary | eric shipton | everest | first ascents | george mallory | himalayas | history of mountaineering | nepal | reinhold messner | sherpas | tenzing norgay

A winter wonderland above the Bridge of Orchy

It might be April and the beginning of spring, but the conditions on Scotland’s hills are still distinctly wintry. I checked the avalanche forecast before spending Easter in the hills above Bridge of Orchy, home of the poet Duncan Ban MacIntyre, famous for composing an Ode to Trousers. Continue reading →

April 3, 2013 4:04 pm | Comments (5)

Tags: beinn a chreachain | beinn achaladair | beinn an dothaidh | beinn dorain | beinn mhanach | ben lui | black mount | bridge of orchy | britain | duncan ban macintyre | hillwalking | munro bagging | munros | rannoch moor | scotland | walking

Sherpa hospitality as a cure for frostbite

Mountaineering history is full of stories of heroic ascents which have come at a cost: loss of fingers and toes (or worse) due to frostbite. We understand how to treat frostbite injuries much better now, but one method of treatment discovered by a little known Austrian mountaineer in the 1950s, seems to have been neglected by the medical profession, and it’s one that sounds quite appealing. Continue reading →

March 27, 2013 4:03 pm | Comments (6)

Tags: 8000m peaks | annapurna | cho oyu | frostbite | herbert tichy | himalayas | history of mountaineering | maurice herzog | mera peak | namche bazaar | nepal | pasang dawa lama | sherpas | tibet

Everest by the Venables Direct Route

In 1988 a ragtag quartet of mountaineers from the USA, Canada and the UK made one of Everest’s most intrepid ascents, and last Thursday I had the good fortune of attending a lecture at the Royal Geographical Society in London celebrating the 25th anniversary of their climb. Continue reading →

March 20, 2013 4:03 pm | Comments (4)

Tags: 8000m peaks | altitude sickness | ed webster | everest | first ascents | frostbite | history of mountaineering | paul teare | presentations | robert anderson | stephen venables

Is the death zone a myth?

If you’ve read a few things about Everest or other 8000m peaks then you’ve probably come across the term death zone. If you have then it’s likely you reacted in one of two ways. Either your respect for the writer grew enormously or you imagined the sound of evil laughter accompanied by a dramatic organ chord. Continue reading →

March 13, 2013 4:06 pm | Comments (11)

Tags: 8000m peaks | acclimatisation | altitude sickness | babu chiri sherpa | bottled oxygen | death zone | edouard wyss-dunant | everest | history of mountaineering | reinhold messner

Did Chinese climbers reach the summit of Everest in 1960?

There has been a lot of gushing editorial written recently to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first American ascent of Everest in 1963. I could write a bit more about the expedition here, but I wouldn’t be adding anything to what’s already out there. Instead I’m going to talk about another expedition which took place on Everest’s north side three years earlier. Continue reading →

March 6, 2013 4:05 pm | Comments (8)

Tags: bottled oxygen | china | chris bonington | chu yin-hua | dougal haston | everest | false summit claims | first ascents | history of mountaineering | jim whittaker | pete boardman | tibet | tom hornbein | wang fu-chou | willi unsoeld

First ascent of Aconcagua: a story of self-inflicted altitude sickness

When the Swiss guide Matthias Zurbriggen stood on the highest point in South America in 1897, as far as anyone knew it was the highest place man had ever been, but he stood there alone. His expedition leader Edward Fitzgerald had been left behind with altitude sickness at 6000m. Continue reading →

February 27, 2013 4:04 pm | Comments (4)

Tags: aconcagua | altitude sickness | andes | argentina | chimborazo | edward fitzgerald | edward whymper | first ascents | history of mountaineering | matthias zurbriggen | mountaineering literature | seven summits

Why I’m paying Nepal back for the good times

In my spare time I’ve recently taken up the role of trustee for a charity which provides sustainable aid for education in Nepal. It’s a privilege to be able to give something back to a country which has given me so much, and how I ended up doing this role has been an interesting story in itself. Continue reading →

February 20, 2013 4:02 pm | Comments (5)

Tags: blogging | chance | digi comms | everest | hill walking | himalayas | john hunt | kathmandu | mark dickson | nepal | the responsible travellers | tina stacey | trekking | volunteering | web development | wordpress

Book review: Sacred Summits by Pete Boardman

Pete Boardman was only 31 years old when he went missing with his climbing partner Joe Tasker on the Northeast Ridge of Everest in 1982, but already he was a climbing legend who had packed an enormous amount into his short life. He climbed Everest by a new route on the Southwest Face in 1975 at the age of only 24, and the world’s third highest mountain Kangchenjunga also by a new route in 1979. Continue reading →

February 13, 2013 4:04 pm | Comments (7)

Tags: boardman tasker prize | carstensz pyramid | changabang | doug scott | gauri sankar | george band | indonesia | joe brown | joe tasker | john barry | kangchenjunga | mountain literature | nepal | pete boardman | seven summits

Is it OK for mountaineers to miss a puja?

An obscure subject for a blog post if ever there was one, but one of the perks of writing a mountaineering blog is every so often I get asked some very obscure and intriguing questions by email out of the … Continue reading →

February 6, 2013 4:01 pm | Comments (7)

Tags: buddhism | everest | gasherbrum | himalayas | karakoram | mountaineering | mountaineering ethics | pakistan | puja | sherpas | tibet

Touching Doug Scott’s void: a crawl down The Ogre

No, the title of this post is not a euphemism, but a reference to the similarities between one of the great mountaineering survival stories, Joe Simpson’s Touching the Void, and another less well-known survival story which happened in the Pakistan … Continue reading →

January 30, 2013 4:02 pm | Comments (7)

Tags: accidents | adventure travel | chris bonington | clive rowland | doug scott | joe simpson | karakoram | mo anthoine | mountaineering literature | nick estcourt | pakistan | paul braithwaite | peru | porters | presentations | simon yates | siula grande | the ogre | twitter

Kenton Cool and the Olympic gold medal for climbing Everest

Snow on the hills is great, but it’s best not to go out walking when it’s actually snowing, so last weekend I took the easier option and spent it indoors at the Outdoors Show at London’s ExCeL conference centre, if … Continue reading →

January 23, 2013 4:03 pm | Comments (1)

Tags: adventure travel | arthur wakefield | edward norton | everest | george finch | george mallory | helen skelton | howard somervell | kenton cool | olympics | outdoors show | presentations | sebastian coe | ueli steck | weather forecasts

The Footsteps on the Mountain travel diaries

If you're a keen reader and lover of adventure and have enjoyed this blog, you may be interested in my notes from the trail. My trekking and mountaineering travel diaries are available on Kindle.