Do we really need more 8000m peaks?

The International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) is considering a request from Nepal to reclassify five peaks within the country, and another in Pakistan, as 8000m peaks. But are they worthy of the name, and is there any point? Let’s have a look at the peaks in question.

Sir Chris Bonington’s life in 90 minutes

October 16, 2013 Reviews and tributes aiguille du dru, alps, andes, annapurna, chris bonington, don whillans, doug scott, dougal haston, eiger, everest, grandes jorasses, hamish macinnes, himalayas, mick burke, mont blanc, mountain talks, nuptse, shivling, snowdon, the ogre, torres del paine 7 Comments

Britain’s greatest living mountaineer is currently touring the country with a series of lectures about his life, and I was lucky enough to see one of them. An important World Cup qualifier was taking place that evening, but if Chris Bonington’s life were a football match it would be a 22 goal thriller which ended 11 goals all and went into extra time.

5 ways to prove a summit claim

October 9, 2013 Humour baruntse, denali, edmund hillary, everest, false summit claims, first ascents, frederick cook, gasherbrum, gps, hudson stuck, jacques balmat, manaslu, mark dickson, michel paccard, mont blanc, phil crampton, route descriptions, scotland, tenzing norgay 10 Comments

If a climber reaches the top of a mountain and no one is around to see them, have they reached the summit? Lots of people make false summit claims, for all sorts of reasons, so how can you be sure? Here are some of the ways of proving a summit claim.

Book review: Everest The First Ascent by Harriet Tuckey

October 2, 2013 Reviews and tributes acclimatisation, book reviews, bottled oxygen, edmund hillary, eric shipton, everest, griffith pugh, history of mountaineering, john hunt, makalu, medicine, mountain literature, nepal, olympics 8 Comments

There has been a flurry of books about Everest published this year to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the first ascent. This one stands out because it challenges many widely held beliefs and provides a very different perspective of the 1953 expedition than most other accounts.

Summit day on Manaslu: what’s it really like?

September 25, 2013 Opinion and advice 8000m peaks, alan arnette, altitude junkies, commercial mountaineering, first ascents, gyalzen norbu sherpa, himalayas, jagged globe, manaslu, nepal, reinhold messner, toshio imanishi

Variable snow conditions mean summits of mountains can differ from year to year. One mountain whose summit is unrecognisable from when it was first climbed in 1956 is Manaslu in Nepal. Its summit has changed so much that modern mountaineers could almost be climbing a different mountain.

World firsts are meaningless, personal firsts are profound

September 18, 2013 Opinion and advice adventure travel, alastair humphreys, everest, exploration, media sensationalism, microadventures, sir ranulph fiennes, travel diaries, travel writing 6 Comments

Some people think adventure is dead because most of the world has now been explored, and there aren’t many genuine firsts in exploration still remaining. But is this true, or is it just the meaning of adventure that needs to be redefined?

Where on earth are Tenzing Peak and Hillary Peak anyway?

September 11, 2013 Opinion and advice annapurna, cho oyu, denali, edmund hillary, everest, hillary peak, himalayas, k2, lhotse, maurice herzog, nepal, sir george everest, tenzing norgay, tenzing peak 8 Comments

Two mountains in Nepal are to be named after Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary, according to a number of baffling media reports last week. Is this really true, and what mountains are they? Once again I will rummage through the detritus of mainstream media waffle, and try to shed some light on the story.

Snowdon via the Llanberis Path

September 4, 2013 Trip reports britain, chris bonington, hill walking, llanberis path, media sensationalism, microadventures, moel eilio, snowdon, snowdon mountain railway, snowdon ranger path, wales 0 Comment

Good weather was forecast in the Welsh hills last weekend, so I headed up to Snowdonia, where I completed a fine circular walk of Snowdon via the Llanberis Path and the long whale-backed ridge of Moel Eilio. I expected it to be busy, but not as busy as the media would have you believe.

What’s next? The mountaineer’s most frequently asked question

August 28, 2013 Opinion and advice adventure travel, buddhism, denali, everest, quotations, seven summits, travel writing 1 Comment

Our lives are such a constant quest to get somewhere that sometimes we fail to appreciate where we are. By far the most common question I get asked is ‘what’s next?’, but isn’t where we are and where we’ve been much more meaningful?

What’s the world’s best mountain for cheating?

August 21, 2013 Humour aconcagua, bottled oxygen, denali, douglas freshfield, elbrus, everest, kilimanjaro, machapuchare, mont blanc, mountaineering ethics, pico de orizaba, snowdon, vinson massif, wilfrid noyce 17 Comments

Climbing purists should look away now. This post is for those with a more laid back approach to getting up mountains. I thought it might be interesting to compare some of the world’s high mountains to see how far you can get up them using mechanical transport, and so I give you the Mountains for Cheating infographic.