The most shocking first page in mountaineering literature

The most shocking first page in mountaineering literature

I’ve lost count of the expedition accounts where the hardest route to the top is the only one worth considering, or where stronger climbers are cast as heroes and weaker ones clowns. All of these accounts were written by men, so it’s always refreshing to read a woman’s perspective.

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Bookman Plaster Award announces new rules for mountaineering books following recent controversies

Bookman Plaster Award announces new rules for mountaineering books following recent controversies

The trustees of the world’s most prestigious mountain book award have announced updated rules for entries following new research alleging that hundreds of historical mountaineering books have been published without reaching the true end of the story.

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Why don’t we see yetis anymore? I may have found the answer

Why don’t we see yetis anymore? I may have found the answer

Himalayan travel writing is peppered with stories of yeti sightings or yeti footprints. But if yetis still exist why hasn’t someone filmed one by now? I may have stumbled upon the answer in a long-forgotten work of Himalayan travel writing.

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Essential Skye reading: The Black Ridge by Simon Ingram

Essential Skye reading: The Black Ridge by Simon Ingram

I’m only just starting to delve into the literature of the Black Cuillin, but I’ll be surprised if I come across a better book than this one. Erudite and poetic, yet marvellously accessible in places, this is simply a great book by a great writer.

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First British man to climb Manaslu then narrate an audiobook about it from a converted stable in the Cotswolds

First British man to climb Manaslu then narrate an audiobook about it from a converted stable in the Cotswolds

Yes, that’s right. A sensational headline, I know, but it’s absolutely true. Not only did I climb an 8,000m peak, but over the last few months, I’ve been producing an audiobook about it, The Manaslu Adventure, from our little cottage in the Cotswolds.

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Did Rudyard Kipling’s explorer see Hamish MacInnes looking behind the ranges?

Did Rudyard Kipling’s explorer see Hamish MacInnes looking behind the ranges?

The title of Hamish MacInnes’s book Look Behind the Ranges is taken from Rudyard Kipling’s poem The Explorer about a man who is urged to cross the mountains behind his home by an inner voice. But what would Kipling’s explorer have made of Hamish MacInnes?

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