manaslu

We hear many stories of blame on Everest, but rarely stories of heroism. This isn’t because they don’t exist, but because the media prefer to focus on the negative. In this week’s post I do my bit to rectify this with the help of an old friend.

There are rumours that the iconic Hillary Step, Everest’s most feared obstacle on summit day, collapsed in last year’s earthquake, and has become little more than an easy snow slope. Can it be true? I examine the evidence.

I am giving away a pair of Scarpa Phantom 8000 mountaineering boots to one lucky person who signs up to my mailing list.

Have you ever been so exhausted on a mountain that you wish you could crawl back down? I’ve been there and written a book about it. But which mountains provided the hardest physical challenge? Here are my top five.

I expect most of us have experienced it at some time in our lives: escaping the office for a few weeks of sunshine, only to end up somewhere wetter than a haddock’s bathing costume. Nobody likes rain, but sometimes it just won’t stop.

The great mountain explorer Bill Tilman made three treks in Nepal in 1949 and 1950. His second to the Annapurna region made him one of the first to explore an area which now sees thousands of tourists completing one of the world’s best known treks.

As the Everest season approaches we will be hearing a lot about the successes of western climbers in the Himalayas over the next few months, but very little about the superstars of high altitude mountaineering. It’s time this was rectified, so here are ten of the greatest tigers of the snow.

The government of Nepal recently published figures about the revenue it earned from climbing permits in 2013, including a list of the five most valuable peaks for tourist income. There are few surprises, but the extent to which four mountains dominate is a bit of an eye opener.

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.

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.

A long overdue, heroic story of rescue high on Everest

Did Everest’s Hillary Step collapse in the Nepal earthquake?

Win a pair of Scarpa Phantom 8000 boots that have been to the summit of Manaslu

My 5 most epic mountain days

My 5 wettest mountain adventures

Tilman’s expedition to the Annapurnas

10 great Sherpa mountaineers

Nepal’s top 5 most valuable mountains

5 ways to prove a summit claim

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