Learning the alpine skills: another update about my book

Learning the alpine skills: another update about my book

It’s been a while since I updated you on where I am with the book I’ve been promising to write about my journey from simple hill walker to Everest summiteer, so here’s some more news along with a teaser from the book.

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Sir Chris Bonington’s life in 90 minutes

Sir Chris Bonington’s life in 90 minutes

Britain’s greatest living mountaineer is currently touring the country with a series of lectures about his life, and I was lucky enough to see one of them. An important World Cup qualifier was taking place that evening, but if Chris Bonington’s life were a football match it would be a 22 goal thriller which ended 11 goals all and went into extra time.

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Ueli Steck’s ridiculous mountaineering career

Ueli Steck’s ridiculous mountaineering career

If you read the title of this post and think I’m about to slag off the Swiss climbing superstar, famous for his speed ascents in the Alps and Himalayas, then you should know upfront that I’ll be doing precisely the

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The great great grandfather of mountaineering

The great great grandfather of mountaineering

“I was desperately anxious to see at close quarters the great Alpine summits which look so majestic from the top of our mountains.” Horace-Benedict de Saussure Modern mountaineering is said to have begun on 8 August 1786, when Michel Paccard,

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5 reasons Ecuador’s mountains are great for beginners

5 reasons Ecuador’s mountains are great for beginners

When the Victorian mountaineer Edward Whymper visited Ecuador in 1879 – ostensibly to study the effects of high altitude, but in reality to polish off a few first ascents in the High Andes – he was far from impressed. In

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