author, mountaineering writer – books, blog, opinion
The Korean Kim Chang-bo is one of only a handful of climbers to have climbed all of the world’s 8,000m peaks. His ascent of Everest is one of the more unusual ones. But his extraordinary life has been overshadowed by the mystery of his death earlier this month.
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While I know some of you have read all 6,626 words of the Langtang trip report I posted in April, others of you prefer just to watch telly. Luckily for you people I also cobbled together some extremely professional video footage. Here’s a short selection of the best bits.
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Monti della Laga is one of the forgotten mountain ranges of Italy’s Central Apennines. It was our third visit there, so we knew what to expect from the mountains, but another factor gave us cause for uncertainty. Last August, it was the site of a tragic earthquake.
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One of the most jaw-dropping experiences of my recent visit to Langtang was passing through Langtang village, the site of a devastating landslide during the 2015 earthquake. Yesterday was the second anniversary, so it seems like the right moment to remember what happened.
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I’ve been meaning to go to Langtang for a long time. It was Nepal’s third most popular trekking destination, but this changed suddenly after the Nepal earthquake. The region is getting back to normal again and I was long overdue a visit. Here’s the story of my trek.
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When I was a small child I used to love fresh snow. If you’re trekking and mountaineering in the Himalayas, however, fresh snow isn’t such good news. It improves your photographs, but it also plays havoc with your plans. Here are three reasons why.
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Last time I was in the Langtang region, my Nepalese friend Siling told me about the origin of Gosainkund, the sacred lake that I will be passing as I cross over the Laurebinayak La, a high pass dividing the Langtang and Helambu regions of Nepal.
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By the time you read this Edita and I will be somewhere in the Helambu region of Nepal, an area of low-lying hills and terraced fields north of Kathmandu. Our destination is the Langtang Valley, which in 2015 was the scene of a great tragedy.
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The great mountain explorer Bill Tilman made three treks in Nepal in 1949 and 1950. His first to Langtang was not successful in mountaineering terms, but as an exploratory journey it must have been as enjoyable as any he undertook.
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So the government of Nepal has u-turned on a decision made earlier this year to ban solo trekking in the country. It’s a victory for common sense. Nepal is currently the best place in the world for solo trekking, and
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