author, mountaineering writer – books, blog, opinion
It’s not often you get great weather on Snowdon, but there was a good weather forecast the other day so I decided to head up there. Many people describe the highest peak in England and Wales as hill walking’s equivalent
Read more
I don’t know too much about the organisation Kickstarter, so I hesitate to be too critical about them, but this morning an item appeared in my Twitter feed about a campaign of theirs which appeared to be taking bad taste
Read more
Every once in a while you see something that reminds you what an amazing place the natural world is, and that happened to me today. This video by glaciologist Allen Pope (@PopePolar) from the Scott Polar Research Institute is so
Read more
It’s not always wise or worthwhile to respond to a rant, but occasionally something you hold dear is attacked so mercilessly that you can’t help yourself. There’s been quite a lot of nonsense published about last month’s avalanche on Manaslu,
Read more
“Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.” Sir Ernest Shackleton (allegedly) At the beginning of his book Round Ireland with a Fridge, the
Read more
This blog needs lightening up I think. For the last few posts I’ve been banging on about Everest and avalanches and so forth, and you’re probably getting a bit fed up with it, so this week I’ve decided to return
Read more
Huge congratulations to the 15 members of the Altitude Junkies team (6 clients, 8 Sherpas and expedition leader Phil Crampton) who have just returned safely to Samagaon after summiting Manaslu on Monday. Ten days ago they were lying in their
Read more