It’s over three years since I last released a series of my trademark shit videos on YouTube. Some of you are wondering if a yeti got my tongue. Eighteen months have gone by since I trekked in Ladakh, and the hilarious footage that I took has been lying untouched on my hard drive. It’s time to give it an airing.
Read moreTrekking
BREAKING NEWS: Solo trekkers in Nepal will have to carry a live chicken
Solo trekking will be banned in Nepal’s national parks starting from next month, unless hikers carry a live chicken strapped to their backpacks. Officials say it will improve safety for millions of thrill seekers who travel to the Himalayas every year.
Read moreWham! Bam! Langtang! Chang! Four days of trekking joy
When I woke up inside my tent on the morning after our Dzo Jongo double header, I was very much looking forward to the final few days of relaxing trekking after the strenuous grind of the two climbs. But I didn’t realise quite what a treat I was in for.
Read moreDzo Jongo West: the world’s shortest 6,000m-peak summit day?
I hadn’t been intending to do anything too technical on my first return to the mountains, but perhaps I should have expected to. Our ascent of Dzo Jongo West was my first proper mountaineering for several years. Would I remember what to do?
Read moreDzo Jongo East: a 6,000m peak so easy you can just walk up it
Our plan to climb Kang Yatze I was abandoned after looking at it from a distance and deciding it would be too epic. The popular Kang Yatze II looked about as interesting as a round of golf, so we set our sights on the two Dzo Jongo peaks at the top of the Nimaling valley.
Read moreMarkha Valley Trek: a perfect reintroduction to trekking in Ladakh
After three years without a foreign holiday, how would I respond to a multi-day remote camping trek? My axe and crampons had been gathering cobwebs. Would my climbing skills still be up to the job? I headed to Ladakh in northern India to find out.
Read moreA return to the land of mountain passes
Wow, it’s been a hectic last few weeks for me and my apologies for not posting for a while. The good news is that I’ve made it to the end of all the hecticness, and I will soon be leaving for my first real foreign holiday since December 2019 – which now seems an age away in a parallel universe (and for all I know, it probably is).
Read moreKilimanjaro cable car: is it a good idea? That depends on its purpose
Is a cable car on a mountain always a bad idea? If its purpose is to shorten the journey for trekkers aiming for the summit, then it may not help much. But if it’s for day trippers heading up for a nice view before going back down again, then it could work.
Read moreThe volcanoes of Colombia’s Los Nevados: the videos
It’s time for my very last set of videos, and those of you who like listening to the wind drowning out the sound of my voice are in for one final treat. Last Christmas and New Year, I journeyed to Colombia for a short trek in Los Nevados National Park.
Read moreLearning about the Manang Valley in the early days of the Annapurna Circuit
Now that the pubs are all closed, I’ve been spending Saturday nights searching for mountain gems on YouTube. Here’s one. In the Shadow of Annapurna offers a glimpse into an earlier age in Nepal, when things were rapidly changing but many of the old ways remained.
Read more