The great Nepal helicopter rescue fraud: an introduction

August 29, 2018 Opinion and advice global rescue, mountaineering insurance, nepal, seven summits treks, tourism, trekking 8 Comments

Last week AFP reported that a group of insurance companies from Britain, Australia and New Zealand have given the Nepal government a deadline of 1 September to take concrete steps to prevent helicopter rescue fraud, or it will stop providing cover to tourists.

5 stepping stones on the path to high altitude

August 22, 2018 Opinion and advice aconcagua, argentina, everest base camp, hill walking, jebel toubkal, kilimanjaro, mera peak, morocco, nepal, seven summits, tanzania, trekking 6 Comments

Are you keen to branch out and develop the skills to climb higher peaks? Here is a series of mountains further afield that more experienced hikers should visit if you are interested in reaching a challenging altitude.

Introduction to the Apennines – Part 3: Abruzzo National Park

August 8, 2018 Opinion and advice abruzzo, apennines, hill walking, italy, monte marsicano, monti della meta, wildlife 0 Comment

Abruzzo National Park is the wildlife capital of the Apennines. Its peaks are slightly lower in altitude and are aproned in forest which are a sanctuary for bears, wolves, lynx, chamois and deer. It is particularly vibrant in autumn, when the peaks rise in a rainbow of colours.

Flashing on Everest: is it worth the money?

July 25, 2018 Opinion and advice acclimatisation, alpenglow expeditions, altitude chambers, altitude junkies, commercial mountaineering, everest, furtenbach adventures 12 Comments

Last month I examined the practice of climbing Everest in a shorter period of time by acclimatising at home and using larger quantities of oxygen during the climb. In this week’s follow up post, I take a look at the cost of these expeditions.

Where are the humorous mountaineering books?

July 11, 2018 Opinion and advice andy kirkpatrick, book reviews, chris darwin, eric newby, felice benuzzi, history of mountaineering, jan morris, joe simpson, jon krakauer, kenton cool, maurice herzog, maurice isserman, mick fowler, mountain literature, seven steps from snowdon to everest, stewart weaver, the ascent of rum doodle, tom patey, travel writing, vertebrate publishing 10 Comments

Mountain literature isn’t devoid of humour, but generally speaking, comedy takes second place to heroics in mountain writing. But I know there must be some laugh-out-loud funny, two or three jokes a page mountaineering books out there. If you know of any, then I’d like to hear about them.

Flashing on Everest: is it safe or sensible?

June 20, 2018 Opinion and advice acclimatisation, adrian ballinger, alpenglow expeditions, altitude chambers, altitude junkies, ben fogle, commercial mountaineering, everest, furtenbach adventures, griffith pugh, harriet tuckey, kenton cool, lukas furtenbach, phil crampton, robert anderson, tibet 31 Comments

Many teams climbed the north side of Everest this season, but two seemed to get the lion’s share of the attention. These two teams were using new techniques to shorten their expeditions. But was their approach sensible or effective? Let’s have a look.

Drohmo Ri, the world’s easiest 6,000m peak? Not quite

April 25, 2018 Opinion and advice bokta, doug scott, drohmo peak, drohmo ri, himalayas, jamie mcguinness, kangchenjunga, nepal, project himalaya, trekking, trekking peaks 6 Comments

If you ever trek to Pangpema to see the north side of Kangchenjunga, then you should definitely allow an extra half day to climb Drohmo Ri, even if you’re just a trekker. It’s a piece of piss to get up, and the view is something special.

Introduction to the Apennines – Part 2: Maiella

April 18, 2018 Opinion and advice abruzzo, apennines, hill walking, italy, monte acquaviva, monte amaro, monte morrone, wildlife 3 Comments

Maiella is Italy’s equivalent of the Cairngorms, but at a much higher altitude. It’s a huge plateau of multiple summits linked by broad ridges, and divided by deep, mouth-watering gorges. You can walk for miles without dropping below 2,000m.

Introduction to the Apennines – Part 1: Gran Sasso

March 7, 2018 Opinion and advice abruzzo, apennines, corno grande, corno piccolo, hill walking, italy, monte brancastello, monte camicia, monte corvo, pizzo cefalone, pizzo d'intermesoli 0 Comment

Without doubt the Gran Sasso massif is the crowning glory of the Apennines. It contains its highest and most dramatic peaks, limestone cathedrals, ruled over by 2,912m Corno Grande, the highest mountain in the Apennines.

Everesting on Everest: how mountaineers differ from endurance cyclists

February 28, 2018 Opinion and advice acclimatisation, altitude chambers, cycling, everest, everesting, himalayas, north coast 500, sea to summit, tibet 14 Comments

Everesting involves repeatedly cycling up and down a hill until you’ve ascended the height of Everest. I read an interesting article about Everesting on the Tibetan side of Everest, that shed light on how poorly adapted endurance training is for altitude.

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