Did George Mallory climb Everest in 1924? I asked ChatGPT for an answer

December 14, 2022 Humour chatgpt, china, chu yin-hua, everest, first ascents, george mallory, history of mountaineering, interviews, noel odell, sandy irvine, tibet, wang fu-chou 6 Comments

There’s been a lot of hype about the new chatbot ChatGPT. If it can impersonate a real person, then it occurred to me that I could interview George Mallory and find out if he actually reached the summit of Everest in 1924. So I did, and here’s what happened.

An interview with … Mark Horrell (and why not)

July 10, 2019 Opinion and advice business insider, commercial mountaineering, everest, interviews, media sensationalism, nepal 1 Comment

What to do when you spend an evening answering interview questions for a journalist, only for them not to be published? Of course, it’s obvious: publish them yourself on your own blog. So here is the world’s first ever interview with Mark Horrell.

A doctor’s advice on surviving the death zone

November 21, 2018 Good causes acclimatisation, ben nevis, blogging, caudwell xtreme everest, death zone, interviews, jeremy windsor 4 Comments

I was recently approached by Dr Jeremy Windsor, one of the doctors who climbed Everest as part of the Caudwell Xtreme Everest Expeditions. Jeremy has started up a new blog called Surviving the Death Zone to promote interest in high-altitude medicine.

An introduction to ExplorersWeb, the adventurers’ website on a new journey

October 17, 2018 Good causes exploration, explorersweb, gasherbrum, interviews, phil crampton, rowan white 1 Comment

ExplorersWeb has been one of the leading sources of news about adventurous expeditions for many years now. But as they say in the pub trade, it’s now under new management. This means that some important changes are taking place. There is a new team of editors and a new design, but this is just the start.

For busy executives: the world’s shortest 8,000m peak expedition

April 19, 2017 Humour bottled oxygen, commercial mountaineering, interviews, mountaineering ethics 12 Comments

It’s been a while since we did our last interview on the Footsteps on the Mountain blog, but I can promise you this one has been worth waiting for. Earlier this week we caught up with a man who raised a few eyebrows by announcing the shortest ever 8000m peak expedition.

Top rock climber accuses sunbathers of cheating

April 17, 2013 Humour bottled oxygen, interviews, mountaineering ethics, rock climbing 8 Comments

This week the Footsteps on the Mountain team caught up with champion rock climber Bill Scheidt, who has completed many first ascents on bold new routes. Bill is known for a very pure style of climbing, and over the years has become an outspoken critic of climbers who employ artificial aids to enable them to complete an ascent. But it’s not just use of pitons and supplementary oxygen that make his blood boil.