I’ve not won many things in my life. I don’t write the sort of books that will ever be considered for an award and I’ve never been good enough to win a prize for being clever. As for winning something really prestigious? Don’t be silly. But then this happened.
Read moreEverest
Ascent Into Hell by Fergus White: An authentic account of climbing Everest
When I published The Chomolungma Diaries in 2012, there were very few books about climbing Everest written from the perspective of a commercial client. Now there are several and one runaway success has been Ascent into Hell by Fergus White.
Read more5 surprising, educational facts about Everest, all for a good cause
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.
Read more10 facts about Everest success and death rates, based on scientific data
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?
Read moreHis father, Frank Smythe – biography of a Himalayan legend
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,
Read moreWhat does Mount Everest look like from space?
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.
Read moreMy very first audiobook – Seven Steps from Snowdon to Everest, narrated by Philip Battley
Exciting news! I’m delighted to say that my book Seven Steps from Snowdon to Everest is now available as an audiobook. I’ve been enormously privileged to work with a highly experienced, professional stage and screen actor as my narrator, and I would like to introduce you to him in this post.
Read moreWhy did a Chinese team climb Everest during the coronavirus pandemic?
Last week a team of Chinese surveyors climbed Everest and were among only a handful of people to climb it during the coronavirus pandemic. But aren’t we all supposed to be in lockdown? Not all of us, it turns out. I will try to explain.
Read moreCan you really see Mount Everest from Kathmandu?
One of the side effects of coronavirus lockdown that many people have been talking about is the clarity of the air. Less traffic means less pollution. Nowhere illustrates this better than Nepal’s capital Kathmandu. Last week the Nepali Times posted a photo that purported to show a view of Everest from the city. Could it be true?
Read moreCool Conversations: experience the mountains during lockdown by social distancing Kenton Cool-style
So far I’ve not been finding lockdown too bad. I don’t know whether this makes me unusual. I know I’m lucky in many respects. We have a nice garden beside the river here in the Cotswolds and we’re able to
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