Finding the highest points in Zambia and Malawi

September 10, 2014 Expedition dispatches africa, edita, inselbergs, mafinga hills, malawi, mulanje, peak bagging, robert gondek, sapitwa peak, trekking, wildlife, zambia 4 Comments

You would think in this age of satellite mapping and websites like Google Earth the highest point in every country has been calculated by a machine, and you can just look it up somewhere. This isn’t the case, as I discovered when I tried to find the highest peak in Zambia.

Why a highway to Everest is long overdue

August 20, 2014 Opinion and advice adventure travel, annapurna circuit, everest base camp, himalayan trust, himalayas, lukla, manaslu circuit, mountain flights, nepal, trekking

If you’re planning on visiting Everest’s Khumbu region on a prearranged itinerary these days then there’s a high probability of your plans going tits up. But things look about to change with plans to build a road all the way to Lukla, the Khumbu’s gateway village.

Exploring the Cordillera Blanca’s high altitude playground

August 6, 2014 Trip reports altitude junkies, andes, cordillera blanca, huaraz, huascaran, ishinca, palcaraju, pasang ongchu sherpa, peru, phil crampton, ranrapalca, tocllaraju, trekking, urus este 5 Comments

Peru’s Cordillera Blanca mountain range offers a veritable playground for the mountain lover, be they a trekker, alpinist or high altitude snow plodder, with glorious scenery and a range of different climbing. Here’s what happened when I went there last month.

A return to the Peruvian Andes, in very different circumstances

July 9, 2014 Expedition dispatches altitude junkies, altitude sickness, andes, annie smith peck, cordillera blanca, erwin schneider, first ascents, history of mountaineering, huascaran, huayhuash circuit, joe simpson, peru, siula grande, trekking 2 Comments

By the time you read this I will be in Peru, setting out in the hope of climbing its highest mountain, 6768m Huascaran. It’s been a long time coming. My one and only visit to Peru was when I walked the Huayhuash Circuit as a novice trekker in 2002.

The cod science of Everest hate

June 25, 2014 Opinion and advice climbing fatalities, commercial mountaineering, everest, media sensationalism, nepal, outside magazine, sherpas, tenzing norgay, trekking 10 Comments

One thing every Everest climber has to get used to is hate written about them in the media. Sometimes the hate becomes so pervasive that it starts to resemble propaganda, and one particularly corrosive piece of propaganda concerning Everest has been cited frequently recently and needs to be challenged.

Climbing big mountains isn’t everyone’s cup of tea

February 5, 2014 Opinion and advice aconcagua, andes, argentina, high altitude mountaineering, mera peak, seven summits, south america, travel writing, trekking 7 Comments

We’re all different; some of us enjoy walking all day up a steep hill and going to sleep in a tent, while others prefer lying on a beach or partying all night. Luckily the world is big enough to accommodate all of us, but there seems to be a surprisingly large number of people who climb big mountains when they’re really not enjoying themselves.

The Eighth Summit: the highest mountain in Central America

December 11, 2013 My books and writing central america, doug mantle, guatemala, peak bagging, seven summits, trekking, volcan tajumulco, volcanoes 1 Comment

I thought my ascent of the highest mountain in Central America, an extinct 4220m volcano in Guatemala called Volcán Tajumulco, was going to be little more than a tick in the box, but that was far from being the case. Its summit was a real surprise, with a view as fine as any mountain I’ve climbed.

Why I’m paying Nepal back for the good times

February 20, 2013 Good causes blogging, chance, digi comms, everest, hill walking, himalayas, john hunt, kathmandu, mark dickson, nepal, the responsible travellers, tina stacey, trekking, volunteering, web development, wordpress 9 Comments

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.

Why Nepal is the world’s best destination for solo trekking

August 22, 2012 Opinion and advice annapurna circuit, everest base camp, langtang, manaslu circuit, nepal, security, solo trekking, tamang heritage trail, teahouse trekking, trekking, trekking agencies association of nepal

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

My long and winding trail to Everest

April 4, 2012 Expedition dispatches 8000m peaks, achilles tendonitis, cho oyu, everest, gasherbrum, ian cartwright, kilimanjaro, manaslu, mark dickson, mera peak, muztag ata, nepal, phil crampton, puja, sherpas, tibet, trekking, work-life balance 14 Comments

I can’t quite believe it, but on Saturday I’ll be leaving for my fourth 8000 metre peak expedition in as many years, and this time it’s the big one. Two months of impossible jetstream winds meant my attempts on Gasherbrums