author, mountaineering writer – books, blog, opinion
About four years ago, Edita and I decided to start bagging the highest point in each of the UK’s counties. A couple of weeks ago, we finished the last of the thirteen historic county tops in Wales. They contain some enjoyable hills that we may not otherwise have explored.
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A recent TV show on Channel 4 claimed that a well-known peak in South Wales resembled a set of trouser cushions, without producing photographic evidence. Was it true? There was only one way to find out: to climb it and see.
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If you lived a comfy life at the park entrance, why would you follow a pair of strangers for three days up 2,000m of mountain and back down again? That’s precisely what a dog did when we climbed Pico Duarte last year. Here’s Karim the dog’s ascent video. If you look closely enough, you may just catch glimpses of Edita and myself in some of it too.
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The Arenigs are a lesser known area of mountains in south-east Snowdonia. Most of the peaks are quite low, but one, Arenig Fawr, rises head and shoulders above the rest. It was only a short drive west of our hike in the Rhinogs, so it felt like a good opportunity to climb it the following day.
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The Rhinogs are not the most lofty peaks in Britain, but what they lack in height, they make up for in toughness. Paths are faint, steep and rough, and the peaks feel wild and remote. They had me staggering in exhaustion on my only previous trip fifteen years ago. It was time for a return visit.
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In the early 1970s, the slopes of K2 were still relatively untouched. Although Italians had first set foot on the summit, American climbers considered it to be their mountain. Two expeditions in 1975 and 1978 produced a pair of expedition books that were oozing with drama and intrigue.
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The Aran Hills form a north-south ridge extending 14km from the shores of Bala Lake to the sleepy village of Dinas Mawddwy, nestling between hills at a confluence of the River Dovey in southern Snowdonia. The central part of the ridge remains above 800m for more than 2km and reaches up to 905m on Aran Fawddwy, one of the more interesting County Tops.
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After six years of heavy breathing, lolling tongues, hard swallowing and occasional salivation, I’ve finally finished narrating and publishing all my books as audiobooks. The very last one, The Baruntse Adventure, went live last month on all the main channels, including Audible, iTunes and Spotify.
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We saved the best walk for the best day. Edita and I had spied Ben Cruachan’s airy summit and hair-raising summit ridge from the top of Ben O’Cockle two days earlier. I could also see from the map that the walk across its top and that of its companion Munro Stob Daimh featured an enormous ridge.
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A short distance east of our previous day’s Munros lay Ben Lui, a mountain considered by many to be the finest peak in the Southern Highlands. I once took a photo of it from the north-east, rising majestically like a marble throne above arctic tundra. From that moment I wanted climb it. But would it live up to the promise?
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