We hear many stories of blame on Everest, but rarely stories of heroism. This isn’t because they don’t exist, but because the media prefer to focus on the negative. In this week’s post I do my bit to rectify this with the help of an old friend.
Read moreReviews and tributes
Book review: Summit 8000 by Andrew Lock
Andrew Lock was the first Australian to climb all fourteen 8000m peaks. I agree with Sir Chris Bonington: his book is honest, gritty and riveting. It’s also refreshing and humorous in places, and well worth a read if you can get your hands on a copy.
Read moreA 250-page love letter to Nepal
Abode of the Gods by Kev Reynolds can best be described as an edited journal covering eight treks in different parts of Nepal over a 23-year period. It is the best tribute anyone could pen to a country that has become their second home.
Read moreMy review of Sherpa – Trouble on Everest
I expect not too many people have found themselves in a movie theatre watching a two-hour film about a real life drama for which they have been an eyewitness. In December I had that experience for the first, and perhaps the only, time in my life.
Read moreBook review: The Ghosts of K2 by Mick Conefrey
K2’s history has been covered in depth in a number of well-known books, so why another one? The reason I wanted to read this one was because I very much enjoyed reading Mick Conefrey’s other mountaineering history about the 1953 Everest expedition.
Read moreThe first ascent of the Southwest Face of Everest
On 24 September 1975, Doug Scott and Dougal Haston became the first two Brits to reach the summit of Everest, by a new route on the Southwest Face. Forty years later, on 24 September 2015, I had the privilege of hearing all about it from members of their team.
Read moreEverest the Movie: my review of the Hollywood blockbuster
They’ve just released a big-budget film about the 1996 Everest tragedy, which I went to see at the BFI IMAX in London earlier this week. I was expecting to hate it, but although I had some reservations, I ended up really enjoying it.
Read moreNepal earthquake gets the BBC Panorama treatment
I was a little apprehensive when I heard there was a BBC Panorama documentary about the Nepal earthquake called Disaster on Everest, by a journalist who accompanied climbers to Base Camp. I need not have worried.
Read moreRemembering the avalanche: a tribute to all Sherpas
There’s no better way to mark the anniversary of the avalanche on Everest last year than by remembering one of the Sherpas who died. Here’s a post that is a tribute not just to him, but to all Sherpas who work the high mountains.
Read moreFarewell Samuli Mansikka, the fearless Finn
It’s time once again to pay tribute to a friend who has sadly lost his life in the mountains. Last week Samuli Mansikka stood on the summit of Annapurna, his tenth 8000m peak, but he did not return.
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