Longform
Mountain Classics – The Mountain Men by Alan Hankinson
The Mountain Men: A History of Early Rock Climbing in North Wales by Alan Hankinson This series of articles showcases gems of mountain literature, both established classics and more esoteric titles. Alan Hankinson was one of the UK’s foremost scholars of British mountaineering history. He published a number of
Defeated by Lochnagar but inspired by Balmoral
Wham! The gust of wind punched me in the chest, lifted me off my feet, and hurled me twenty feet back through the air to land, dazed, on a snowbank. I struggled to get up again but the force of the wind was relentless, pushing me back step by step,
The best Android apps for writers (part two)
In the first blog post in this series, I discussed some of the key apps I use on my Android devices to help make my job easier. I looked at Evernote, Google Drive, and Draft. These are no-nonsense, practical tools for creating content and storing information, and I commend them
19th century glacier travel – a brief analysis
Before the summits of the Alps could be reached, terrain arguably more hazardous than the upper slopes themselves – and certainly less predictable – had to be negotiated. A frozen raiment guards the greatest peaks of the world, and two centuries ago this mantle of ice extended deeper into the valleys than
Book Spotlight – The Summits of Modern Man by Peter Hansen
The Summits of Modern Man: Mountaineering After the Enlightenment by Peter H. Hansen I have a confession to make. The author of this book was kind enough to send me a review copy some time ago, but it has been a busy summer and I’ve only recently got round
The Atholl Expedition – introducing illustrations by Catherine Speakman
I drew my own illustrations for The Only Genuine Jones, but The Atholl Expedition is an entirely different project and I had a very specific look in mind for the artwork. Classic Alpine mountaineering books like Scrambles Amongst the Alps and The Playground of Europe are brought to life by
How to turn an Android phone into a dedicated GPS device
Please note: this article was published in 2013 and may now be out of date. This blog post is for my readers who enjoy the British mountains (that’s the bulk of you!) Over the past few years I have enjoyed many trips into the hills with an Android smartphone,
The magic of early winter in the Highlands
Exactly five years ago I was standing on a mountain ridge in Glencoe, spindrift blasting in my face and rejoicing in my first winter climb of the 2008/2009 Scottish winter season. It was an exciting time for me. I’d moved to the Clachaig Inn about a month earlier
A week of mist and magic in Glen Shiel
This time last week I was sitting in the public bar of the Cluanie Inn, nursing a pint of Red Cuillin and reflecting on yet another spectacular day in the mountains of Kintail. All of my trips to the mountains this year have coincided with pretty decent weather, all things
The quest for distraction-free writing
Beginnings I have been writing since about 1997. In those days my only point of interaction with the Web was at school, and the computer I used at home was a rickety old Macintosh SE/30 with a black and white screen (nine inches across!) and a 20MB hard disk.