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

The peat-bog method of training for a big adventure

September 1, 2017 Expedition dispatches an teallach, britain, chimborazo, corbetts, cycling, ecuador, edita, hill walking, munro bagging, munros, north coast 500, peak bagging, scotland 1 Comment

In the last three weeks I’ve cycled 830km across 1273 hills, hiked up 8 Munros and 4 Corbetts, and scratched 253,953 midge bites 37 times per day. I camped for 20 consecutive nights and have lost count of the number

Get me off this bike and back on my feet

August 21, 2017 Expedition dispatches britain, cycling, edita, hill walking, north coast 500, scotland, wildlife 1 Comment

There was a surreal moment during our cycle ride of the North Coast 500 a few days ago. I had pedalled myself to complete exhaustion up and over steep hills for nine days, and my legs had nothing left. I

Some thoughts on hiking in the Dolomites and via ferrata

August 2, 2017 Expedition dispatches austrian alpine club, cicerone guides, dolomites, edita, italy, tre cime di lavaredo, trekking, via ferrata 3 Comments

We looked upon our four days in the Dolomites as a reconnaissance: an easy hike from hut to hut, carrying little more than a day pack. We had no set itinerary, and chose our route from day to day. We also wanted to do some research with a view to climbing the famous via ferratas.

Unfinished business on Corno Piccolo

July 29, 2017 Expedition dispatches abruzzo, apennines, corno grande, corno piccolo, gran sasso, hill walking, italy 2 Comments

Our big adventure was due to start in the Dolomites, but just before we left Rome, we had one final opportunity to sneak up Corno Piccolo, the last major peak in the Gran Sasso range to elude us.

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