Kenton Cool is one of Britain’s best-known high-altitude mountaineers. He has a record number of British ascents of Everest, and has made a number of notable first ascents in the Himalayas and Alaska. But for some reason, he reminds me of Alan Partridge
Read moreReviews and tributes
Move over Lonely Planet – here are the best travel guidebooks to Nepal
I’ve mentioned a couple of times how I’m a keen follower of The Longest Way Home blog, written by UK-born travel writer David Ways. He’s also been writing a series of guidebooks to Nepal, and while I was there in March I took the opportunity to try one of them out.
Read moreWhat Ueli Steck meant to ordinary people like me
The word inspirational has been used a lot in tributes to Ueli Steck, who died last weekend. Ueli did things which no ordinary person could do, but there was something about him that appealed to people both inside and outside the climbing community. Here’s what he meant to me.
Read moreIntroducing Grant Axe Rawlinson, the human-powered adventurer
My old Everest tent mate Grant Axe Rawlinson specialises in a form of travel he calls human-powered adventure – carrying out long personal challenges without resorting to motorised transport. I’ve been reading his book and following his latest challenge.
Read moreBook review: A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby
One of the best books about mountaineering ever written, and certainly one of the funniest, was written by a complete novice, who had never climbed in his life when he decided to tackle a remote peak in Afghanistan that had never been climbed before.
Read moreNawang Gombu: Heart of a Tiger
When I watched the documentary Nawang Gombu: The Heart of a Tiger last weekend, it had only been watched 151 times before me. This is ridiculous. It has some flaws, but it deserves to be watched more widely because of its subject matter.
Read moreThe Ascent of Rum Doodle vs. The Ascent of Nanda Devi – how similar are they?
Two of the best mountaineering books ever written were designed to be read side by side, but I wonder if anyone has. I set myself the challenge of reading alternate chapters of The Ascent of Nanda Devi by H.W. Tilman and The Ascent of Rum Doodle by W.E. Bowman.
Read moreWhy a crowdfunded mountain rescue raised $200,000 in under a week
When I first became aware of a crowdfunded appeal to search for two climbers who had been missing for days on a remote peak in Pakistan, my immediate impression was that it was both desperate and futile. Not everyone saw it that way, and what happened next was remarkable.
Read moreK2: Touching the Sky – a film review
There are not many films about mountaineering that tackle questions about risk and death by trying to understand rather than by being evasive or dismissive. It’s a dark and poignant film, but it’s also thought-provoking and worth watching for its interesting characters.
Read moreKilimanjaro: To the Roof of Africa – a film review
While surfing YouTube the other day, feeling nostalgic for the mountains of Africa, I stumbled across David Breashears’ 2002 IMAX documentary Kilimanjaro: To the Roof of Africa. It was an enjoyable film which had me yearning to go back.
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