When the mountain gods are angry

January 22, 2014 Reviews and tributes 8000m peaks, book reviews, broad peak, climbing fatalities, first ascents, galen rowell, gasherbrum, jon krakauer, karakoram, mountain literature, nanga parbat, pakistan 0 Comment

I’ve been pretty lucky with my adventures so far. Although they don’t always go according to plan I’ve never experienced a major disaster. I had a chance to reflect on this while I was sheltering in a mountain hut in Patagonia reading John Quillen’s account of his attempt on Broad Peak last year.

The first winter ascent of Broad Peak – a tribute

October 25, 2013 Reviews and tributes 8000m peaks, broad peak, climbing fatalities, first ascents, karakoram, krzysztof wielicki, mountain films, pakistan 5 Comments

Poland has produced some of the world’s toughest and bravest mountaineers, none more so than Krzysztof Wielicki, who earlier this year led a team of his fellow countrymen to attempt the first winter ascent of Broad Peak in Pakistan. A gripping film about the climb has recently been published on Vimeo.

Do we really need more 8000m peaks?

October 23, 2013 Opinion and advice 8000m peaks, asian trekking, broad peak, hillary peak, kangchenjunga, lhotse, mera peak, nepal, nepal mountaineering association, pakistan, peak bagging, reinhold messner, tenzing peak, topographic prominence, trekking peaks

The International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) is considering a request from Nepal to reclassify five peaks within the country, and another in Pakistan, as 8000m peaks. But are they worthy of the name, and is there any point? Let’s have a look at the peaks in question.

Summit day on Manaslu: what’s it really like?

September 25, 2013 Opinion and advice 8000m peaks, alan arnette, altitude junkies, commercial mountaineering, first ascents, gyalzen norbu sherpa, himalayas, jagged globe, manaslu, nepal, reinhold messner, toshio imanishi

Variable snow conditions mean summits of mountains can differ from year to year. One mountain whose summit is unrecognisable from when it was first climbed in 1956 is Manaslu in Nepal. Its summit has changed so much that modern mountaineers could almost be climbing a different mountain.

A dark year in the Karakoram

August 14, 2013 Opinion and advice 8000m peaks, broad peak, climbing fatalities, gasherbrum, k2, karakoram, karakoram highway, muztag ata, nanda devi, nanga parbat, pakistan, tourism, willi unsoeld

The mountaineering season in the Pakistan Karakoram is winding down, and not a moment too soon. I’ve been watching events unfold on its five 8000m peaks this year with a mix of sadness and horror which has left me wondering whether I will return there.

How civilised does an expedition base camp have to be?

May 1, 2013 Opinion and advice 7 summits club, 8000m peaks, acclimatisation, alex abramov, altitude junkies, bill tilman, charles bruce, cho oyu, commercial mountaineering, digi comms, elbrus, eric shipton, everest, everest base camp, expedition food, expedition logistics, gasherbrum, jagged globe, kenton cool, noel odell, seven summits 3 Comments

Photographs of members of the Russian 7 Summits Club playing pool at base camp on Everest’s north side will have raised the blood pressure of a few purists who believe such luxuries have no place in mountaineering, but a bit of pampering at base camp has long been a part of expeditions to the 8000m peaks.

Following the Everesters

April 24, 2013 Opinion and advice 8000m peaks, alan arnette, altitude junkies, blogging, commercial mountaineering, digi comms, edita, everest, explorersweb, grant rawlinson, margaret watroba, phil crampton, sherpas, the chomolungma diaries 15 Comments

This time last year I was lying in a tent on the north side of Everest, listening to a deafening wind pound against the nylon beside my head. Every spring a few hundred people seek to share my experience by trying to climb Everest, and thanks to the miracle of modern communications, it’s possible to watch from the sidelines.

Herbert Tichy’s amazing discovery on the first ascent of Cho Oyu

March 27, 2013 Humour 8000m peaks, annapurna, cho oyu, frostbite, herbert tichy, himalayas, history of mountaineering, maurice herzog, mera peak, namche bazaar, nepal, pasang dawa lama, sherpas, tibet 9 Comments

Mountaineering history is full of stories of heroic ascents which have come at a cost: loss of fingers and toes (or worse) due to frostbite. We understand how to treat frostbite injuries much better now, but one method of treatment discovered by a little known Austrian mountaineer in the 1950s, seems to have been neglected by the medical profession, and it’s one that sounds quite appealing.

Everest by the Venables Direct Route

March 20, 2013 Reviews and tributes 8000m peaks, altitude sickness, ed webster, everest, first ascents, frostbite, history of mountaineering, mountain talks, paul teare, robert anderson, stephen venables 4 Comments

In 1988 a ragtag quartet of mountaineers from the USA, Canada and the UK made one of Everest’s most intrepid ascents, and last Thursday I had the good fortune of attending a lecture at the Royal Geographical Society in London celebrating the 25th anniversary of their climb.

Is the death zone a myth?

March 13, 2013 Opinion and advice 8000m peaks, acclimatisation, altitude sickness, babu chiri sherpa, bottled oxygen, death zone, edouard wyss-dunant, everest, history of mountaineering, reinhold messner 13 Comments

If you’ve read a few things about Everest or other 8000m peaks then you’ve probably come across the term death zone. If you have then it’s likely you reacted in one of two ways. Either your respect for the writer grew enormously or you imagined the sound of evil laughter accompanied by a dramatic organ chord.