author, mountaineering writer – books, blog, opinion
Standing just 1.65m tall and weighing 82kg, nobody would ever have suspected Babu Chiri of being an athlete if he walked into a bar. But in 1998, he was one of the top three in the world at his specialist event of climbing Everest.
Read more
There have been many books about Sherpa mountaineers over the years, but few have been written from the perspective of Sherpas themselves. One that comes close is Sherpa by Pradeep Bashyal and Ankit Babu Adhikari, which I read recently.
Read more
There was forecast to be one day of glorious weather over the Easter weekend. I nabbed it to take a day trip to the Brecon Beacons in South Wales, now known as Bannau Brycheiniog, and climb its highest peak via an extended route through a quieter part of the range.
Read more
There is a moment in your life when you start reminding yourself of your dad. For me that happened earlier this month while I was editing Edita’s videos of myself trekking the GR20. It wasn’t a pleasant realisation.
Read more
A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog post about climbing tiny Little Solsbury Hill above the city of Bath, the setting for Peter Gabriel’s 70s progressive rock classic. Two years on, here I am writing a blog post about another small English hill that was once the subject of a classic 70s prog rock album.
Read more
It’s that special time of year when you get to see more of my amazing videos. A full eighteen months ago, Edita and I had the great pleasure of trekking the GR20, the infamous long-distance trail along the spine of the mountainous island of Corsica.
Read more
I’m delighted to say that Thieves, Liars and Mountaineers, the thrilling diary of my very first 8,000m peak expedition to the Gasherbrums in Pakistan, is now available as an audiobook. It’s the fifth one that I’ve narrated and produced myself and I’m happy to say that they just get better and better.
Read more
A few years ago on this blog, I posed the question Where are the humorous mountaineering books?. Towards the end of last year, I discovered a hidden gem of witty mountaineering literature quite by chance: a collection of whimsical short stories that I believe would have had P.G. Wodehouse chuckling appreciatively.
Read more
There’s been some controversy in mountaineering circles about the noble gas xenon after mountaineering operator Furtenbach Adventures announced that they’ll be offering it to their Everest clients. It’s entirely appropriate that somebody has got around to using a noble gas to aid in mountaineering, for reasons I will explain.
Read more
Which of us hasn’t spent at least one night of our lives at a party sucking helium from a balloon in the hope of talking like Mickey Mouse? We marvelled how those balloons, containing a gas lighter than air, rose to the ceiling. What we didn’t realise was that what works for a balloon also works for people.
Read more