kathmandu

In my spare time I’ve recently taken up the role of trustee for a charity which provides sustainable aid for education in Nepal. It’s a privilege to be able to give something back to a country which has given me so much, and how I ended up doing this role has been an interesting story in itself.

Imagine a metal tube of human sardines flying through the air. Sixteen people are crammed tightly together inside with their thighs pressed up against their chests and modestly full day packs balanced on top of their knees. Most of them

The story of Cho Oyu, autumn 2010 While we live in a society which offers us a huge amount of choice over what we do, for the bigger events the wheel of life more often than not turns in a

Mountaineering can be a frustrating business and exceptional weather conditions across the Karakoram and Himalayas has made this year one of the most frustrating in recent times for high altitude climbers, with a hugely reduced number of summits on all

There’s an old cliche in mountaineering, getting to the top is optional, but getting back down again is mandatory. There are climbers who ignore this simple axiom – and, indeed, there were some of them on Cho Oyu this year

It’s now been a few days since our puja and it feels like our ascent of Cho Oyu has truly begun. On Monday we made an initial foray up to Camp 1 at 6400m. This involves a three hour crossing

Why I’m paying Nepal back for the good times

The Lukla flight: is it really that scary?

Cho Oyu 2010: Climbing high on steak and kidney pie

Baruntse post mortem: bad luck or bad decision-making?

Reflections on Cho Oyu

Initial forays on Cho Oyu