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?
Read moreMountain Literature
My favourite book of 2022: Snow in the Kingdom by Ed Webster
This is a poignantly belated book review, if ever there was one. Ed Webster died of a heart attack last month at the age of 66. His book Snow on the Kingdom had been sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read for more than seven years.
Read moreThe strangest tale about Kangchenjunga ever told
A book review of A Step Away from Paradise by Thomas K. Shor Hundreds of books have been written about the world’s highest mountain, Everest, and dozens about its second highest, K2. There have not been so many about the
Read moreLife and Death on Mt Everest: a rare window into Sherpa culture
A few months ago someone recommended to me a lesser known volume in the Everest canon, written by Sherry B Ortner, an American anthropologist who spent over 30 years studying Sherpa culture, including fieldwork in the Solu-Khumbu region of Nepal.
Read moreIs Peaks and Bandits the world’s funniest mountaineering book?
Thanks to Vertebrate and their Norwegian translator Bibbi Lee, the meagre pot of mountaineering mirth has become a little merrier with the unearthing of a little known gem of Norwegian literature.
Read moreSherpa Hospitality now available as an audiobook
I have recently completed narrating my latest book Sherpa Hospitality as a Cure for Frostbite, and it’s now available as an audiobook on a number of platforms, including Amazon, Audible, iTunes, Nook, Scribd, Libro.fm, Audiobooks.com and many more.
Read moreA walk through the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine
In these difficult times it feels uncaring to post about frivolous things like mountain climbing. While considering this, I realised that I didn’t know much about the mountains of Ukraine. I decided to find out all I could, and remembered something on my bookshelf.
Read more7 great books with Sherpa mountaineers at their heart
With Nirmal Purja’s book and film riding high, the profile of Nepali mountaineers is at an all-time high. But where do you go if you want to find out more? Here are seven insightful and entertaining books that have Sherpas at their heart.
Read moreSpecial offer: Sherpa Hospitality at a super low price
Yes, that’s right I’ve made the ebook version of my new book Sherpa Hospitality as a Cure for Frostbite available for less than a pound/dollar/euro on all the main online bookstores. This offer will only be available for a few days, so hurry and panic buy it!
Read moreMy new book is out! Sherpa Hospitality as a Cure for Frostbite
It’s ages since I last published a book, and I’m very excited about my latest one. Sherpa Hospitality as a cure for frostbite takes us from the early years of Himalayan mountaineering to the present day when Sherpas have become superstar climbers in their own right.
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