8 useful web tools for expedition base camp

August 16, 2011 Opinion and advice 8000m peaks, altitude junkies, blogging, digi comms, everest, explorersweb, facebook, gasherbrum, himalayas, hootsuite, phil crampton, rss feeds, twitter, web tools, wordpress 1 Comment

Well, it’s nearly that time of year again when I escape from the real world to spend a couple of months in a tent on the side of a mountain. At the end of the month I head for the

What’s the definition of a mountaineer?

August 9, 2011 Opinion and advice alpinism, bouldering, british mountaineering council, climbing, ecuador, gasherbrum, high altitude mountaineering, hill walking, indoor climbing, pakistan, rock climbing, scafell pike, sport england, tramping, trekking 27 Comments

I’d been climbing for several years before I dared to call myself a mountaineer. I suddenly realised it one evening a couple of years ago when I got introduced to someone down a pub with the words, “here’s my friend

5 reasons why Bhutan is NOT worth the $200 per day tourist fee

July 19, 2011 Opinion and advice bhutan, buddhism, gangkar punsum, himalayas, mountain environment, mountain gods, nepal, refugees, responsible tourism, snowman trek, souvenirs, thimphu, tourism, trekking, weather, world expeditions

I explained in an earlier post how the government of Bhutan charges a minimum USD $200 per person per day fee to all tourists irrespective of what they do, a fee that’s set to increase to $250 next year. I

5 reasons why Bhutan IS worth the $200 per day tourist fee

July 12, 2011 Opinion and advice adventure travel, bhutan, buddhism, drukpa kunley, gompas, gross national happiness, himalayas, huayhuash circuit, monasteries, nepal, padmasambhava, paro, peru, snowman trek, thimphu, tiger's nest, tourism, trekking, wildlife

This is a post of two halves, with the second instalment next week looking at the other side of the coin. Much has been said about the high cost of tourism in Bhutan, where the government charges a minimum fee

What price an outdoor gear reviewer?

June 29, 2011 Opinion and advice advertising, blogging, climbing, digi comms, gear reviews, google, old post, outdoor clothing, sleeping bags, walking boots

Apart from a few Google Ads and the odd Mars bar provided by Amazon’s associate links programme, I’ve never tried making anything out of my website by advertising. Although I’ve been approached many times, I’ve always ended up deciding I

All experience is an arch: a traveller’s motto

June 25, 2011 Opinion and advice eric shipton, famous explorers, mountain literature, mountain photography, poetry, quotations, that untravelled world, travel diaries, travel writing 0 Comment

“All experience is an arch wherethrough Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades For ever and for ever when I move.” Alfred, Lord Tennyson I recently added the above quotation to the main page of my travel photos on this

The Krakauer Syndrome

June 8, 2011 Opinion and advice adventure consultants, anatoli boukreev, explorersweb, false summit claims, gasherbrum, into thin air, jon krakauer, makalu, mountain madness, nepal, old post, pakistan, rob hall, robert anderson, scott fischer, the alpinist

Must there always be blame when a climber dies on a mountain? I was more than a little upset by something I read on a climbing website recently. This had been the intention of the article, but I was annoyed

The Buddhist Wheel of Life

June 4, 2011 Opinion and advice buddhism, buddhist wheel of life, gompas, himalayas, karma, monasteries, nirvana, shegar, tibet 0 Comment

Be a good person and you too can become a demigod Trekkers and mountaineers who spend a lot of time travelling in the Himalayas often experience the feeling of being gompered out, ie. having visited so many Buddhist monasteries (or

Would you sacrifice a digit for a summit?

May 30, 2011 Opinion and advice 8000m peaks, baruntse, cho oyu, denali, everest, frostbite, gasherbrum, muztag ata, phil crampton, richard parks, seven summits 0 Comment

It’s an old cliché that there’s nothing quite like reaching the summit of a mountain, but the feeling of elation when you return to base camp and the achievement begins to sink in can be just as satisfying in a

When does trekking become mountaineering?

May 24, 2011 Opinion and advice exodus travels, himalayas, ice climbing, island peak, jagged globe, ke adventure travel, mark dickson, mera peak, nepal, nepal mountaineering association, the responsible travellers, trekking, trekking peaks

I was thinking about this question last week, when a friend emailed me after returning from an expedition to Island Peak in Nepal to say he hadn’t been able to reach the summit because a section of ice climbing on