author, mountaineering writer – books, blog, opinion
Shipton was a legendary mountain explorer who travelled through the Himalayas and Karakoram at a time when many peaks and valleys remained unmapped. His books were evocative and humorous, and provide a window into another world.
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Last month Britain’s top mountaineering organisation, the British Mountaineering Council (BMC), puzzled its 80,000 members by announcing out of the blue that it would be changing its name to Climb Britain.
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The Manaslu Circuit is one of the success stories of regeneration after the earthquake, with locals quick to repair bridges and trails. One of my abiding memories of the trek was the sheer number of bridges. For bridge lovers, this blog post is pure porn.
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The highest point in Abruzzo was one of our earliest objectives when we started exploring the Apennines. But although we’d done quite a bit of hiking in Lazio we were yet to reach its highest point, so a couple of weekends ago we set out to rectify that
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The Himalayan Times reported last week that Sherpas who climbed Everest this year will not be receiving summit certificates. Whyever not? Once again I try to shed some light on the bizarre workings of Nepal’s Ministry of Tourism.
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Cho Oyu is generally considered the most achievable 8000m peak for amateurs to climb. Despite this, even the best mountaineers have had difficulties climbing it, and two of the early expeditions there experienced contrasting fortunes.
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A couple of weekends ago I visited Monti Ernici, a group of hills little more than an hour’s drive from Rome, that reminded me so much of the Scottish Highlands that I just had to write a blog post about them.
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Those of you who like Nepal might be interested in an unusual film project that will be taking place in the Everest foothills next autumn, featuring a memorable cast of characters from a remote Sherpa village.
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For those of you who still prefer the waft of ink on the page, and have steered clear of reading any of my travel diaries because they’re only available in digital format, you no longer have an excuse for not reading them.
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Last week The Economist published an article about why Everest is dangerous, without mentioning avalanches, rockfall, crevasses, precipitous terrain, oxygen deprivation, altitude sickness, exhaustion, exposure, extreme temperatures, frostbite, storms or murderous jetstream winds.
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