author, mountaineering writer – books, blog, opinion
Is a cable car on a mountain always a bad idea? If its purpose is to shorten the journey for trekkers aiming for the summit, then it may not help much. But if it’s for day trippers heading up for a nice view before going back down again, then it could work.
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I’ve recently been reading The Walker’s Guide to Outdoor Clues & Signs by the unusually named Tristan Gooley. It’s an excellent book that will cause you to look at nature in a different light (to paraphrase climbing writer Jim Perrin
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Are you keen to branch out and develop the skills to climb higher peaks? Here is a series of mountains further afield that more experienced hikers should visit if you are interested in reaching a challenging altitude.
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I’ve talked a bit about the glaciers on Kilimanjaro, and how they are shrinking at an alarming rate, but what about the climate on the rest of the mountain? This aerial photo by the NASA Earth Observatory illustrates them as clearly as any map.
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I know I sometimes write a lot of waffle on this blog that many of you can’t be bothered to read, so this post is for you. I’ve recently finished editing the footage of our Kilimanjaro climb, which included a night on the crater. Here are three short videos to provide a flavour of the trek.
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If you write about a subject that appeals to people of all political beliefs, then you should avoid talking about politics. But what if politics touches on the things you care about deeply enough to write about – do you say nothing? The answer to this is surprisingly simple.
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The Himalayan explorer Bill Tilman spent fourteen years of his life as a coffee planter in Kenya. During that time he and Eric Shipton made a number of exploratory treks and climbs on Mount Kenya and Kilimanjaro, and in the Rwenzori Mountains of Uganda.
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Last week I enthused about Kilimanjaro’s inner crater, and said that I considered it to be the jewel in Kilimanjaro’s crown. Yet the overwhelming majority of people who climb mountain don’t see it. This week I will talk in more detail about what they’re missing out on.
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I’m convinced that for adventurous people who are experienced at high altitude, to camp at 5800m and look into the inner crater is the only way to experience Kilimanjaro, for the inner crater is Kilimanjaro’s secret jewel. Here’s the story of how we did it.
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Thanks to a hardcore climbing movie, an obscure peak in the Indian Himalaya is now the most famous Mount Meru in the world. But for many years a far more accessible and attainable peak in northern Tanzania was much more widely known.
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