A walk through the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine

March 4, 2022 Reviews and tributes carpathian mountains, crimean mountains, europe, hoverla, mountain literature, nicholas crane, travel writing, ukraine, walking 7 Comments

In these difficult times it feels uncaring to post about frivolous things like mountain climbing. While considering this, I realised that I didn’t know much about the mountains of Ukraine. I decided to find out all I could, and remembered something on my bookshelf.

7 countries with mountains on their flags

September 12, 2018 History andes, bolivia, central america, cerro rico, chimborazo, costa rica, ecuador, el salvador, europe, monte titano, nicaragua, san marino, slovenia, triglav 6 Comments

No fewer than seven countries have mountains on their national flags. To spare you from ruining your eyesight by squinting at a database of world flags to find out which ones, and to give you more time to read angry social media posts, here’s the full list.

Monte Marsicano up the back side: 8 summits in one day

June 27, 2018 Trip reports abruzzo, apennine 2000ers, apennines, cicerone guides, club alpino italiano, edita, europe, hill walking, italy, monte marsicano, peak bagging, wildlife 2 Comments

Since climbing Monte Marsicano from the south on one of our first visits to Abruzzo National Park, we’d had in mind to climb the mountain via a longer route from the more remote northern side. This route took in no fewer than 8 Apennine 2,000ers in a single day.

Vesuvius and the Path of the Gods

February 10, 2016 Trip reports amalfi coast, campania, coastal walks, cotopaxi, edita, europe, hill walking, italy, monte calabrice, monte santâ€™angelo a tre pizzi, monte tre calli, south west coast path, vesuvius, volcanoes 6 Comments

Our visit to Ecuador over Christmas gave us a taste for volcanoes, so a visit to Europe’s best known one, Vesuvius, was a must. It gave us the opportunity to explore the nearby Amalfi Coast, a place that’s been described to me as mountainous.

A stroll up Monte Terminillo and the Elephant Mountain

December 9, 2015 Trip reports apennines, edita, europe, hill walking, italy, lazio, monte elefante, monte terminillo, monti reatini, monti sibillini 1 Comment

There are signs of civilisation all over Monte Terminillo, but its accessibility is one of its attractions. An hour and a half’s drive from Rome and visible from the outer ring road, it’s a popular place for alpine climbing, and gave us a fantastic winter walk.

The Abruzzo Quartet: an autumn feast of mountains

November 4, 2015 Trip reports abruzzo, apennines, cicerone guides, edita, europe, hill walking, italy, la meta, monte greco, monte marsicano, monte petroso, wildlife 2 Comments

Over the last two weekends we visited Abruzzo National Park and climbed the big four peaks. Abruzzo has provided a feast of mountains for us throughout 2015, and although it’s a close call, I think these have been my favourite of all of them.

Monte Amaro, a mountain worth drinking to

September 16, 2015 Trip reports abruzzo, apennines, cicerone guides, edita, europe, hill walking, italy, maiella, monte amaro, peru, pisco 1 Comment

The ascent of Monte Amaro in the Italian Apennines is a magnificent skyline walk in a moonlike landscape over peaks and along ridges, but could it be that the mountain is named after an alcoholic beverage?

Trailblazing up Monte Sirente

April 15, 2015 Trip reports abruzzo, apennines, avalanche safety, edita, europe, hill walking, italy, monte sirente, sirente-velino 2 Comments

Our third trip to the Apennine Mountains took us to an area we hadn’t visited before. Our ascent of Monte Sirente was a good day out in the mountains, with some tough trail breaking through deep snow and an exhilarating climb.

The Corno Grande Saga, Part 2

February 21, 2015 Trip reports abruzzo, apennines, avalanche safety, corno grande, edita, europe, gran sasso, hill walking, italy, monte aquila 4 Comments

This is a short sequel to a post I wrote last month about a reconnaissance trip to the Gran Sasso massif in Central Italy, when we made an abortive attempt on 2912m Corno Grande from the north. Last weekend we had another go from the south.

Learning the alpine skills: another update about my book

February 18, 2015 My books and writing alex roddie, alpine mountaineering, alps, book extract, climbing skills, europe, everest, gran paradiso, mont blanc, seven steps from snowdon to everest, training, travel writing, trekking 6 Comments

It’s been a while since I updated you on where I am with the book I’ve been promising to write about my journey from simple hill walker to Everest summiteer, so here’s some more news along with a teaser from the book.

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