From snowy London to sunny Mendoza

December 19, 2010 Expedition dispatches aconcagua, andes, argentina, augusto ortega, aventuras patagonicas, everest, london heathrow airport, mendoza, old post, polish glacier, seven summits 0 Comment

It’s a small world indeed. Two days ago I was sitting on the tarmac at London’s Heathrow Airport, wondering if my flight was ever going to take off. The plane had already taxied down the runway in a howling blizzard

The Stone Sentinel: return to Aconcagua (as usual)

December 14, 2010 Expedition dispatches acclimatisation, aconcagua, andes, argentina, frostbite, himalayas, kilimanjaro, ojos del salado, polish glacier, seven summits, south america, trekking, weather 0 Comment

Five years ago when I turned back on Aconcagua, the highest mountain in South America, 500 metres from the summit, I told myself I would never go back. It’s a boring mountain, the guides are too cautious, there are plenty

8 reasons why false summit claims are made

December 10, 2010 Opinion and advice 8000m peaks, baruntse, bill tilman, edurne pasaban, eric shipton, everest, false summit claims, gasherbrum, gerlinde kaltenbrunner, kangchenjunga, nepal, oh eun-sun, rwenzori mountains, seven summits 2 Comments

The news that fresh doubts are being cast on the Korean Oh Eun-Sun’s claim to have summitted Kangchenjunga has raised again the spectre of false summit claims among the high altitude mountaineering community. Miss Oh had been engaged in a

Cho Oyu 2010: Climbing high on steak and kidney pie

November 28, 2010 Trip reports 8000m peaks, acclimatisation, altitude sickness, cho oyu, everest, expedition food, himalayas, jagged globe, kathmandu, lhasa, manaslu, nepal, potala palace, shegar, shigatse, tibet, tibetan mountaineering association 7 Comments

The story of Cho Oyu, autumn 2010 While we live in a society which offers us a huge amount of choice over what we do, for the bigger events the wheel of life more often than not turns in a

Baruntse post mortem: bad luck or bad decision-making?

November 14, 2010 Trip reports 8000m peaks, adventure peaks, baruntse, chewang nima sherpa, cho oyu, everest, false summit claims, frostbite, karakoram, kathmandu, lukla, mark dickson, nepal, sandy allan, summitclimb 4 Comments

Mountaineering can be a frustrating business and exceptional weather conditions across the Karakoram and Himalayas has made this year one of the most frustrating in recent times for high altitude climbers, with a hugely reduced number of summits on all

Reflections on Cho Oyu

October 6, 2010 Expedition dispatches baruntse, cho oyu, kathmandu, lhasa beer, nepal, robert anderson, serap jangbu sherpa, tibet, tibetan mountaineering association 0 Comment

There’s an old cliche in mountaineering, getting to the top is optional, but getting back down again is mandatory. There are climbers who ignore this simple axiom – and, indeed, there were some of them on Cho Oyu this year

Hope fading on Cho Oyu

September 28, 2010 Expedition dispatches baruntse, cho oyu, jagged globe, nepal, sherpas, tibet 0 Comment

It was all looking so good. We saw off half of our team after breakfast yesterday morning on their way up to Camp 1 on their summit push. The rest of us, who would be aiming for the summit from

Rest and relaxation at Base Camp

September 25, 2010 Expedition dispatches bottled oxygen, cho oyu, nepal, summit day, tibet 0 Comment

We’re now enjoying our third day of rest at Base Camp. The good news is the heavy snow which has blighted pretty much every afternoon since we’ve been here has now cleared, and we’re looking at a long summit window.

Up to Camp 2 on Cho Oyu

September 23, 2010 Expedition dispatches cho oyu, dehydration, expedition food, headache, richard parks, steve williams, tibet 0 Comment

Back at base camp again after three days on the mountain, including a night at Camp 2 (7100m), the highest I’ve ever slept. We started out for Camp 1 on Monday morning (20th). As usual the weather started clear, but

Avalanche above Camp 3

September 18, 2010 Expedition dispatches cho oyu, tibet 1 Comment

At 10.30 yesterday morning there was an avalanche above Camp 3 on Cho Oyu. Seven climbers from the China Tibet Mountaineering Association who were fixing ropes, fell 10 metres over the Yellow Band, a band of rock high on Cho

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