For busy executives: the world’s shortest 8,000m peak expedition

April 19, 2017 Humour bottled oxygen, commercial mountaineering, interviews, mountaineering ethics 11 Comments

It’s been a while since we did our last interview on the Footsteps on the Mountain blog, but I can promise you this one has been worth waiting for. Earlier this week we caught up with a man who raised a few eyebrows by announcing the shortest ever 8000m peak expedition.

Book review: The Ghosts of K2 by Mick Conefrey

October 21, 2015 Reviews and tributes 8000m peaks, achille compagnoni, art gilkey, bottled oxygen, charles houston, fritz wiessner, history of mountaineering, k2, mick conefrey, mountain literature, oscar eckenstein, pasang dawa lama, walter bonatti 9 Comments

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.

Book review: Everest The First Ascent by Harriet Tuckey

October 2, 2013 Reviews and tributes acclimatisation, book reviews, bottled oxygen, edmund hillary, eric shipton, everest, griffith pugh, history of mountaineering, john hunt, makalu, medicine, mountain literature, nepal, olympics 8 Comments

There has been a flurry of books about Everest published this year to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the first ascent. This one stands out because it challenges many widely held beliefs and provides a very different perspective of the 1953 expedition than most other accounts.

What’s the world’s best mountain for cheating?

August 21, 2013 Humour aconcagua, bottled oxygen, denali, douglas freshfield, elbrus, everest, kilimanjaro, machapuchare, mont blanc, mountaineering ethics, pico de orizaba, snowdon, vinson massif, wilfrid noyce 17 Comments

Climbing purists should look away now. This post is for those with a more laid back approach to getting up mountains. I thought it might be interesting to compare some of the world’s high mountains to see how far you can get up them using mechanical transport, and so I give you the Mountains for Cheating infographic.

Everest comes to London: celebrating the 1953 Everest expedition

June 5, 2013 Reviews and tributes alfred gregory, bottled oxygen, charles evans, climbing equipment, edmund hillary, everest, first ascents, george lowe, history of mountaineering, mountain talks, royal geographical society, tenzing norgay, thierry levenq, tom bourdillon, tyrolean traverse 1 Comment

Although I’ve lived here for 17 years, I’ve never been a big one for taking advantage of London’s art galleries and exhibitions. Last weekend was an exception because it had a mountaineering theme. I spent the afternoon at two exhibitions celebrating the 60th anniversary of the first ascent of Everest.

Top rock climber accuses sunbathers of cheating

April 17, 2013 Humour bottled oxygen, interviews, mountaineering ethics, rock climbing 7 Comments

This week the Footsteps on the Mountain team caught up with champion rock climber Bill Scheidt, who has completed many first ascents on bold new routes. Bill is known for a very pure style of climbing, and over the years has become an outspoken critic of climbers who employ artificial aids to enable them to complete an ascent. But it’s not just use of pitons and supplementary oxygen that make his blood boil.

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.

Did Chinese climbers reach the summit of Everest in 1960?

March 6, 2013 History bottled oxygen, china, chris bonington, chu yin-hua, dougal haston, everest, false summit claims, first ascents, history of mountaineering, jim whittaker, pete boardman, tibet, tom hornbein, wang fu-chou, willi unsoeld 25 Comments

There has been a lot of gushing editorial written recently to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first American ascent of Everest in 1963. I could write a bit more about the expedition here, but I wouldn’t be adding anything to what’s already out there. Instead I’m going to talk about another expedition which took place on Everest’s north side three years earlier.

The Everest weather window

May 14, 2012 Expedition dispatches altitude junkies, blogging, bottled oxygen, chongba sherpa, everest, grant rawlinson, manaslu, sherpas, summit push, weather 9 Comments

The waiting, the resting and the acclimatisation is over. Tomorrow we move up to Advanced Base Camp (ABC) to get ourselves in position for our summit push. Our exact schedule is not yet confirmed as there still remain a few

Mallory and Somervell, 13 May 1922

May 13, 2012 Expedition dispatches bottled oxygen, china tibet mountaineering association, everest, george finch, george mallory, history of mountaineering, howard somervell, nepal, pumori, tibet 0 Comment

Here on the north side of Everest ropes have been fixed as high as 8300m, and the remainder will likely be fixed when the winds drop on 18th and 19th. If all goes to plan then teams will begin summiting

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