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.

Getting married is the peak of hubris

June 18, 2014 Humour everest, media sensationalism, mountaineering ethics, the guardian 0 Comment

With vicars treated like lapdogs by cretinous narcissists, a crisis in church matrimony was inevitable. This week on the Footsteps of the Mountain blog we welcome Tony Gould as our special guest blogger, who will be talking knowledgeably about one of his favourite topics, marriage and road traffic accidents.

Leo Houlding does his bit for the Sherpas

June 11, 2014 Reviews and tributes antarctica, chance, climbing fatalities, conrad anker, edmund hillary, everest, first ascents, george lowe, george mallory, himalayan trust, leo houlding, mountain films, mountain talks, nepal, rebecca stephens, rock climbing, sandy irvine, sherpas, ulvetanna 6 Comments

Last week one of Britain’s top rock climbers did a lecture at the RGS in London. Rock climbing isn’t generally my thing, but this talk had an Everest theme, and one of its aims was to raise money for the families of the Sherpas who died in the 18 April avalanche.

A funny name for a mountain

June 4, 2014 Humour 8000m peaks, denali, edmund hillary, everest, hillary peak, kangchenjunga, kangchung peak, kosciuszko, lhotse, nepal, nepal mountaineering association, sir george everest, tenzing norgay, tenzing peak, topographic prominence, trekking peaks 4 Comments

There have been some strange names given to mountains over the years, often for very obscure reasons. Recently the Nepal Mountaineering Association has been applying more modern names, and has just given two peaks onomatopoeic titles that resemble the sound of somebody throwing up.