The great balcony in the clouds: the Tour du Mont Blanc to Chamonix

December 11, 2024 Trip reports alps, chamonix, france, french alps, long-distance trails, mont blanc, self-guided walking, tour du mont blanc 1 Comment

This is the last of four posts describing our trek around the Tour du Mont Blanc in September, a classic 170km circuit of Western Europe’s highest mountain. After starting out from Chamonix and walking the western section through France, we crossed Italy and Switzerland, and arrived back on the French border at Col de Balme. The story continues from there.

A window into the past: the Tour du Mont Blanc from Switzerland to France

November 27, 2024 Trip reports alps, france, italy, long-distance trails, mont blanc, self-guided walking, swiss alps, switzerland, tour du mont blanc 0 Comment

This is the third of four posts describing our trek around the Tour du Mont Blanc in September, a classic 170km circuit of Western Europe’s highest mountain. After starting out from Chamonix and walking the western section through France, we crossed Italy and arrived on the Swiss border at Grand Col Ferret. The story continues from there.

Walter Bonatti’s ferret: the Tour du Mont Blanc from Italy to Switzerland

November 13, 2024 Trip reports alps, france, italian alps, italy, long-distance trails, mont blanc, self-guided walking, switzerland, tour du mont blanc, walter bonatti 2 Comments

This is the second of four posts describing our trek around the Tour du Mont Blanc in September, a classic 170km circuit of Western Europe’s highest mountain. After starting out from Chamonix and walking the western section through France, we arrived on the Italian border at Col de la Seigne and looked down into a valley rich in history.

Valleys of mountain joy: the Tour du Mont Blanc from France to Italy

October 30, 2024 Trip reports alps, chamonix, cicerone guides, france, french alps, italy, long-distance trails, mont blanc, self-guided walking, the natural adventure, tour du mont blanc 1 Comment

Last year Edita and I hiked the famous GR20 long-distance trail along the spine of mountainous Corsica. It was our first experience of so-called ‘self-guided’ trips, where an operator books your accommodation and luggage transfers, but you make your own way from point to point. We were keen to do another, and there was an obvious one to try next.

His father, Frank Smythe — biography of a Himalayan legend

August 12, 2020 Reviews and tributes bill tilman, eric shipton, everest, frank smythe, george mallory, harriet tuckey, himalayas, history of mountaineering, howard somervell, kamet, kangchenjunga, mont blanc, mountain literature, tenzing norgay, thomas graham brown, tony smythe 3 Comments

It’s been a while since I wrote at length about Frank Smythe, the legendary British mountain explorer who was something of a celebrity in the 1930s when he became one of the first people to make a career of climbing,

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.

Merry Christmas from Morocco

December 24, 2014 Expedition dispatches africa, atlas mountains, first ascents, jebel toubkal, mont blanc, morocco, old post, ouanoukrim, ras dashen 1 Comment

The title is not a line you expect to hear in a Muslim country, but I’ve made an exception. If all goes to plan by the time you read this I’ll be resting at Toubkal Refuge ready to make a Christmas Day ascent of the highest peak in North Africa.

Sir Chris Bonington’s life in 90 minutes

October 16, 2013 Reviews and tributes aiguille du dru, alps, andes, annapurna, chris bonington, don whillans, doug scott, dougal haston, eiger, everest, grandes jorasses, hamish macinnes, himalayas, mick burke, mont blanc, mountain talks, nuptse, shivling, snowdon, the ogre, torres del paine 7 Comments

Britain’s greatest living mountaineer is currently touring the country with a series of lectures about his life, and I was lucky enough to see one of them. An important World Cup qualifier was taking place that evening, but if Chris Bonington’s life were a football match it would be a 22 goal thriller which ended 11 goals all and went into extra time.

5 ways to prove a summit claim

October 9, 2013 Humour baruntse, denali, edmund hillary, everest, false summit claims, first ascents, frederick cook, gasherbrum, gps, hudson stuck, jacques balmat, manaslu, mark dickson, michel paccard, mont blanc, phil crampton, route descriptions, scotland, tenzing norgay 10 Comments

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.

What’s the world’s best mountain for cheating?

August 21, 2013 Humour aconcagua, bottled oxygen, denali, douglas freshfield, elbrus, everest, kilimanjaro, machapuchare, mont blanc, mountaineering ethics, pico de orizaba, snowdon, vinson massif, wilfrid noyce 17 Comments

Climbing purists should look away now. This post is for those with a more laid back approach to getting up mountains. I thought it might be interesting to compare some of the world’s high mountains to see how far you can get up them using mechanical transport, and so I give you the Mountains for Cheating infographic.

← Previous