The Lithuanian conquest of the Apennines

June 28, 2017 Trip reports abruzzo, apennines, corno grande, edita, gran sasso, hill walking, italy, monte brancastello, monte prena, monte sirente, monte velino, sirente-velino 0 Comment

Recently I had a chance to return to Monte Sirente, a mountain Edita and I attempted in winter a couple of years ago. The occasion was a visit from two of Edita’s Lithuanian relatives, her sister Jolanta and niece Bernadeta. For them our visit to the Apennines was an unforgettable experience.

An evening with Kenton Cool … Aha!

June 21, 2017 Reviews and tributes annapurna, denali, eiger, everest, himalayan trust, ian parnell, kenton cool, mountain talks, rebecca stephens, sir ranulph fiennes 2 Comments

Kenton Cool is one of Britain’s best-known high-altitude mountaineers. He has a record number of British ascents of Everest, and has made a number of notable first ascents in the Himalayas and Alaska. But for some reason, he reminds me of Alan Partridge

Helambu, Langtang and Ganesh: the videos

June 14, 2017 Trip reports ganesh himal, helambu, himalayas, langtang, mountain films, nepal, trekking, yala peak 4 Comments

While I know some of you have read all 6,626 words of the Langtang trip report I posted in April, others of you prefer just to watch telly. Luckily for you people I also cobbled together some extremely professional video footage. Here’s a short selection of the best bits.

Keeping one’s shirt on up Monte Camicia

June 7, 2017 Trip reports abruzzo, apennines, corno grande, edita, gran sasso, hill walking, italy, monte camicia, monte prena 1 Comment

Monte Prena and Monte Camicia are the two highest peaks on a jagged 20km ridge, the Cresta Orientale, in Gran Sasso, the most dramatic mountain range in the Apennines. We climbed both peaks in mid-May, while they were still clad in winter white. It was one of our favourite trips in Italy so far.