The world’s most stupid navigational error

September 23, 2020 Humour britain, edita, grey corries, hill walking, munros, navigation, scotland, stob choire claurigh, weather 3 Comments

After a promising start to the day, the clouds moved in and the rain started pounding against them as they ascended the south ridge of Stob Choire Claurigh, the highest point in the Grey Corries, a ridge of quartz-laden peaks

5 surprising, educational facts about Everest, all for a good cause

September 9, 2020 Good causes acclimatisation, community action nepal, death zone, everest, melanie windridge, mountain films 3 Comments

While I was busy publishing last week’s blog post, physicist Dr Melanie Windridge, who climbed Everest in 2018, published this short educational video that describes five surprising facts about Everest in a way that’s fun, educational and accessible all in one.

10 facts about Everest success and death rates, based on scientific data

September 2, 2020 Opinion and advice alan arnette, climbing fatalities, commercial mountaineering, everest, himalayan database, media sensationalism, seven steps from snowdon to everest 13 Comments

How much does overcrowding, experience, age and sex affect how likely a climber is to reach the summit of Everest or die trying? A scientific paper was published last week that addressed these very questions. So what did it conclude?

When Joe Brown went hunting for Inca treasure in Ecuador’s Llanganates Mountains

August 26, 2020 History andes, cerro hermoso, ecuador, hamish macinnes, joe brown, llanganates mountains, martin boysen, mo anthoine, ruminahui, yvon chouinard 3 Comments

Much has been written about Joe Brown, the great alpinist and rock climber who made the first ascent of Kangchenjunga and died earlier this year. But we don’t often hear about the time he followed an ancient treasure map into the Andes in search of Inca gold.

If you climb a peak that collapses in an earthquake, did you still climb it?

August 19, 2020 Humour earthquakes, edmund hillary, first ascents, fred beckey, mountain films, pete schoening, rocky mountains, sawtooth mountains, united states 2 Comments

On 7 August, an earthquake in the Sawtooth Mountains, Idaho, caused a famous rock feature known as Baron Spire, affectionately known as Old Smoothie, to collapse. It also caused a man to shoot a video with the most entertaining commentary ever recorded.

His father, Frank Smythe – biography of a Himalayan legend

August 12, 2020 Reviews and tributes bill tilman, eric shipton, everest, frank smythe, george mallory, harriet tuckey, himalayas, history of mountaineering, howard somervell, kamet, kangchenjunga, mont blanc, mountain literature, tenzing norgay, thomas graham brown, tony smythe 3 Comments

It’s been a while since I wrote at length about Frank Smythe, the legendary British mountain explorer who was something of a celebrity in the 1930s when he became one of the first people to make a career of climbing,

The volcanoes of Colombia’s Los Nevados: the videos

August 5, 2020 Trip reports andes, colombia, jagged globe, los nevados, mountain films, nevado del ruiz, nevado del tolima, nevado santa isabel, trekking, volcanoes 2 Comments

It’s time for my very last set of videos, and those of you who like listening to the wind drowning out the sound of my voice are in for one final treat. Last Christmas and New Year, I journeyed to Colombia for a short trek in Los Nevados National Park.

What mountain summit has the world’s longest view?

July 29, 2020 Opinion and advice kilimanjaro, kunlun mountains, kyrgyzstan, mount kenya, pik dankova, tien shan mountains, tristan gooley 10 Comments

I’ve recently been reading The Walker’s Guide to Outdoor Clues & Signs by the unusually named Tristan Gooley. It’s an excellent book that will cause you to look at nature in a different light (to paraphrase climbing writer Jim Perrin

My second audiobook – Feet and Wheels to Chimborazo, narrated by Philip Battley

July 22, 2020 My books and writing andes, audiobooks, chimborazo, cycling, ecuador, feet and wheels to chimborazo, mountain literature, north coast 500, philip battley, scotland, travel writing 0 Comment

More excitement ! I’m delighted to say that my book Feet and Wheels to Chimborazo is now available as an audiobook. Once again, I’ve been enormously privileged to work with highly experienced, professional stage and screen actor Philip Battley as my narrator.

What does Mount Everest look like from space?

July 15, 2020 Opinion and advice everest, george mallory, international space station, island peak, lhotse, mountain photography, mountains from space, nepal, nuptse, tibet 3 Comments

If you follow the Everest Today (@EverestToday) account on Twitter, you may be used to seeing the occasional photo of mountains taken from the International Space Station. Mountains look very different from above, and views from the International Space Station are not always recognisable. But this one of Everest is so distinctive that I had to annotate it and share it with you.