andes

The photograph on the wall in the farmhouse at La Esperanza where we stayed the night had been taken 15 years ago, but it looked very different from the place we had walked through earlier in the day. I use

In this, the second of my posts about my recent visit to the mountains of Colombia, I’m going to digress from my usual topics of trekking and mountaineering to talk about flora. This isn’t unprecedented. Last year I managed to

Walking Colombia’s classic trek, and an ascent of Ritacuba Blanco “I’ve always associated Colombia with drugs and gangs,” a colleague said to me after I returned to work last week following my Christmas trekking and mountaineering holiday in the country.

This post is for people who love the outdoors and find Christmas a tedious bore. I know there must be some of you out there, and those of you who love it, look away now. Over the years I’ve found

When the Victorian mountaineer Edward Whymper visited Ecuador in 1879 – ostensibly to study the effects of high altitude, but in reality to polish off a few first ascents in the High Andes – he was far from impressed. In

If you like books about mountaineering, here are some of my favourites. I make no claims that these are the 5 best books about mountain exploration ever written, because I can’t claim to have read them all. They are simply

Yesterday I returned to the UK again after a short visit to Argentina, and am surprised not to see any snow. Since August, when I left for Cho Oyu in Tibet, it seems that barely a week has passed when

It’s a small world indeed. Two days ago I was sitting on the tarmac at London’s Heathrow Airport, wondering if my flight was ever going to take off. The plane had already taxied down the runway in a howling blizzard

Five years ago when I turned back on Aconcagua, the highest mountain in South America, 500 metres from the summit, I told myself I would never go back. It’s a boring mountain, the guides are too cautious, there are plenty

Colombia’s glaciers will soon be gone

Two strange plants of the Colombian paramo

Cocuy Circuit trek: You say cojones, I say cojines

7 mountainous places to escape to for Christmas

5 reasons Ecuador’s mountains are great for beginners

5 great books about mountain exploration

Aconcagua: when returning is better in every way

From snowy London to sunny Mendoza

The Stone Sentinel: return to Aconcagua (as usual)