How to recover from a big altitude misjudgement

October 3, 2019 Expedition dispatches acclimatisation, altitude sickness, andes, cotopaxi, ecuador, fuya fuya, imbabura, llanganates mountains, trekking, tungurahua, volcanoes 3 Comments

Acclimatisation is a funny thing. On the face of it, it seemed like we had a good plan. After a full day acclimatising at 2850m in Quito, we would climb a 4258m volcano followed by a 4640m volcano. Then we

Two volcano hikes in northern Ecuador

September 24, 2019 Expedition dispatches andes, ecuador, fuya fuya, imbabura, trekking, volcanoes 0 Comment

A quick update from the road in Ecuador. Edita and I have finished our first two acclimatisation hikes exploring the northern part of the country. We started with Mojanda, a sprawling massif a 2-3 drive northeast of Quito. Mojanda has

A short escape to Ecuador to climb some of its more obscure peaks

September 18, 2019 Expedition dispatches andes, cerro hermoso, cotopaxi, ecuador, feet and wheels to chimborazo, hamish macinnes, imbabura, joe brown, tungurahua, volcanoes 5 Comments

Life has been hectic in the Horrell household recently and I’ve been finding it hard to keep on top of my writing. It is time for a holiday. We are returning to Ecuador for a couple of weeks to hike and climb some less-frequented peaks.

Three lucky breaks and one unlucky one

May 29, 2019 Expedition dispatches britain, cycling, edita, great glen way, scotland, scottish highlands, ticket to ride 3 Comments

Last Tuesday found us cycling the Great Glen Way in Scotland’s West Highlands. We were riding through forest above the village of Invermoriston when Edita’s bike chain snapped. For many people – many of you, perhaps – this would be

Ojos del Salado at last: climbing the world’s highest volcano

December 19, 2018 Expedition dispatches aconcagua, adams carter, andes, chile, chris groves, jagged globe, llullaillaco, ojos del salado, puna de atacama, volcanoes 3 Comments

This weekend I’ll be departing for my annual New Year mountaineering trip, and this time I think it’s going to be a bit special. Edita and I will be attempting Ojos del Salado, a peak I’ve been wanting to climb for a few years now.

A return to the Black Cuillin of Skye

September 26, 2018 Expedition dispatches britain, cuillin ridge, hill walking, isle of skye, munro bagging, scotland 4 Comments

For the first time ever, I’ve hired a guide to go hill walking in the UK. Our aim is to visit the Isle of Skye in north-west Scotland and polish off all eleven Munros on the Cuillin Ridge in the space of a week.

My first visit to Kangchenjunga

April 4, 2018 Expedition dispatches 8000m peaks, doug scott, douglas freshfield, erwin schneider, frank smythe, himalayas, jamie mcguinness, joe brown, joe tasker, joseph hooker, kangchenjunga, nepal, pete boardman, trekking 5 Comments

By the time you read this I will be somewhere in the Kangchenjunga region of Nepal, in the far east of the country near its eastern border with India. It’s a region dominated by one huge mountain, 8,586m Kangchenjunga, the third-highest mountain in the world.

A return to the Moroccan High Atlas

December 27, 2017 Expedition dispatches africa, atlas mountains, cicerone guides, jebel toubkal, morocco, rwanda 0 Comment

By the time you read this, I’ll be in the High Atlas mountains in Morocco bagging a few 4,000ers. We have hired a local guide and trekking agency, and are keeping our fingers crossed for a feast of winter mountaineering and a couple of days in Marrakesh.

Is this the world’s first ascent of Chimborazo from sea to summit?

September 29, 2017 Expedition dispatches andes, carihuairazo, chimborazo, chimborazo sea to summit challenge, cycling, ecuador, edita, edward whymper, first ascents, sea to summit 2 Comments

On Wednesday, Edita and I reached the 6310m summit of Chimborazo for the second time. We climbed via the Whymper Route on the southwest ridge, which traverses across the west face to join the Normal Route that we climbed last

Ice needles and guinea pigs: acclimatising in Ecuador

September 15, 2017 Expedition dispatches andes, chimborazo, chimborazo sea to summit challenge, cotacachi, cotopaxi, cycling, ecuador, edita, rucu pichincha, sea to summit, sincholagua, volcanoes 3 Comments

The fun is over. Tomorrow the serious business of cycling up Chimborazo begins. Our aim is to cycle from sea level then climb to the summit, with a bit of hiking in between. I have no illusions. It’s going to

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