Why don’t we see yetis anymore? I may have found the answer

August 2, 2023 Humour bill tilman, himalayas, legends and folklore, mountain literature, nepal, sherpas, showell styles, steve berry, the ascent of rum doodle, travel writing, yetis 5 Comments

Himalayan travel writing is peppered with stories of yeti sightings or yeti footprints. But if yetis still exist why hasn’t someone filmed one by now? I may have stumbled upon the answer in a long-forgotten work of Himalayan travel writing.

Essential Skye reading: The Black Ridge by Simon Ingram

July 12, 2023 Reviews and tributes alexander nicolson, britain, cuillin ridge, history of mountaineering, isle of skye, john mackenzie, mountain literature, norman collie, scotland, simon ingram 6 Comments

I’m only just starting to delve into the literature of the Black Cuillin, but I’ll be surprised if I come across a better book than this one. Erudite and poetic, yet marvellously accessible in places, this is simply a great book by a great writer.

First British man to climb Manaslu then narrate an audiobook about it from a converted stable in the Cotswolds

June 14, 2023 My books and writing 8000m peaks, audiobooks, manaslu, mountain literature, nepal, the manaslu adventure, travel diaries, travel writing 1 Comment

Yes, that’s right. A sensational headline, I know, but it’s absolutely true. Not only did I climb an 8,000m peak, but over the last few months, I’ve been producing an audiobook about it, The Manaslu Adventure, from our little cottage in the Cotswolds.

Did Rudyard Kipling’s explorer see Hamish MacInnes looking behind the ranges?

February 8, 2023 History eiger, everest, exploration, hamish macinnes, himalayas, mountain films, mountain literature, new zealand, rudyard kipling 2 Comments

The title of Hamish MacInnes’s book Look Behind the Ranges is taken from Rudyard Kipling’s poem The Explorer about a man who is urged to cross the mountains behind his home by an inner voice. But what would Kipling’s explorer have made of Hamish MacInnes?

My favourite book of 2022: Snow in the Kingdom by Ed Webster

December 21, 2022 Reviews and tributes ed webster, everest, harriet tuckey, mountain literature, norbu tenzing, robert anderson, roger marshall, stephen venables, tibet 2 Comments

This is a poignantly belated book review, if ever there was one. Ed Webster died of a heart attack last month at the age of 66. His book Snow on the Kingdom had been sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read for more than seven years.

The strangest tale about Kangchenjunga ever told

November 9, 2022 Reviews and tributes buddhism, kangchenjunga, mountain literature, philip battley, sikkim, tibet 2 Comments

A book review of A Step Away from Paradise by Thomas K. Shor Hundreds of books have been written about the world’s highest mountain, Everest, and dozens about its second highest, K2. There have not been so many about the

Life and Death on Mt Everest: a rare window into Sherpa culture

August 10, 2022 Reviews and tributes book reviews, buddhism, himalayas, history of mountaineering, history of nepal, mountain literature, nepal, sherpas 1 Comment

A few months ago someone recommended to me a lesser known volume in the Everest canon, written by Sherry B Ortner, an American anthropologist who spent over 30 years studying Sherpa culture, including fieldwork in the Solu-Khumbu region of Nepal.

Is Peaks and Bandits the world’s funniest mountaineering book?

June 29, 2022 Reviews and tributes alf bonnevie bryn, corsica, france, george finch, mountain literature, travel writing, vertebrate publishing 4 Comments

Thanks to Vertebrate and their Norwegian translator Bibbi Lee, the meagre pot of mountaineering mirth has become a little merrier with the unearthing of a little known gem of Norwegian literature.

Sherpa Hospitality now available as an audiobook

May 28, 2022 My books and writing anthologies, audiobooks, mountain literature, sherpa hospitality as a cure for frostbite, sherpas 0 Comment

I have recently completed narrating my latest book Sherpa Hospitality as a Cure for Frostbite, and it’s now available as an audiobook on a number of platforms, including Amazon, Audible, iTunes, Nook, Scribd, Libro.fm, Audiobooks.com and many more.

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.