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.

Everest is not for climbers – you’re joking aren’t you!

May 6, 2013 Opinion and advice cathy o'dowd, commercial mountaineering, ed webster, everest, first ascents, george mallory, guided climbing, history of mountaineering, mountaineering ethics, stephen venables, tibet 5 Comments

There’s nothing like a negative Everest story to trigger a flurry of publishing absurdity. For example, some people say Everest has now become so crowded with commercial expeditions there is no longer any room for real climbers, an argument that can be easily refuted with a single photograph.

Why Tenzing is the greatest Everest climber

April 10, 2013 Opinion and advice apa sherpa, chongba sherpa, earl denman, edmund hillary, eric shipton, everest, first ascents, george mallory, himalayas, history of mountaineering, nepal, reinhold messner, sherpas, tenzing norgay 9 Comments

While George Mallory, Edmund Hillary, Reinhold Messner and Eric Shipton all deserve their place in the Everest pantheon, if there’s to be an award for the greatest of all Everest climbers, then IMHO it should go to Tenzing Norgay, because he had to work so much harder to achieve his ambition than any of the other climbers.

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.

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

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.

First ascent of Aconcagua: a story of self-inflicted altitude sickness

February 27, 2013 History aconcagua, altitude sickness, andes, argentina, chimborazo, edward fitzgerald, edward whymper, first ascents, history of mountaineering, matthias zurbriggen, mountain literature, seven summits 6 Comments

When the Swiss guide Matthias Zurbriggen stood on the highest point in South America in 1897, as far as anyone knew it was the highest place man had ever been, but he stood there alone. His expedition leader Edward Fitzgerald had been left behind with altitude sickness at 6000m.

Two great histories of Himalayan mountaineering

January 9, 2013 Reviews and tributes 8000m peaks, book reviews, exploration, himalayas, history of mountaineering, kenneth mason, maurice isserman, mountain literature, stewart weaver, travel writing 5 Comments

Book review: Abode of Snow by Kenneth Mason and Fallen Giants by Isserman & Weaver. It’s always interesting to read two books which cover the same subject 50 years apart. It’s even more interesting when that subject is Himalayan mountaineering, one very close to my heart. In the last couple of months I’ve read an epic modern work and an old classic.

The snows of Kilimanjaro, and why seeing is believing

December 5, 2012 History africa, exploration, famous explorers, first ascents, glacial erosion, global warming, hans meyer, history of mountaineering, kibo, kilimanjaro, ludwig purtscheller, seven summits, tanzania, william desborough cooley 8 Comments

(I should start by pointing out to anyone hoping to read about the Ernest Hemingway short story of the same name, about a man who bullies his wife while dying of an infected leg on safari in East Africa, that