author, mountaineering writer – books, blog, opinion
It’s not very often that the ascent of an 8,000m peak makes international news headlines, but earlier this month something rather special happened when a team of 10 Nepali climbers stood on the summit of K2.
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Last week was one of those weeks when a mountaineering story is so big that it makes it into the popular press. On the face of it, it was a straightforward story of someone smashing a record to smithereens. But if you dig a little deeper, there is another side to it.
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The problems which occurred on Everest this year are nothing new, but they have now reached such a degree that it’s time for operators who value their reputation and for those who dream of climbing Everest to take a principled stand.
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Last week AFP reported that a group of insurance companies from Britain, Australia and New Zealand have given the Nepal government a deadline of 1 September to take concrete steps to prevent helicopter rescue fraud, or it will stop providing cover to tourists.
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We had ascended a long valley to climb our peak and see the north side of Kangchenjunga. Now it was time to see the south side, and the nature of the trekking was about to change as we crossed a number of passes. This is part two of my Kangchenjunga trek report.
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There was another big controversy on Manaslu this year. It was widely reported that record numbers reached the summit, but it now appears that a problem with the rope fixing meant that the majority didn’t reach the main summit at all, but one of the two foresummits.
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The South Face of Aconcagua, with its tumble of icy seracs and snow chutes, has long been attractive to extreme alpinists who need a liberal sprinkling of danger with their climbing. The first team to climb it certainly got that.
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Western operators say cheap Nepali operators who employ inexperienced Sherpas are making Everest more dangerous. There are two sides to this issue, and I will do my best to outline both as I provide the commercial client’s perspective.
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