Outdoors
Inov-8 Roclite 295 trail shoes — first impressions
I don’t often review outdoor gear on this blog, but in light of the new ‘words – mountains – imagination’ tagline I am going to be broadening my horizons a little. I hope my readers who are into the great outdoors find these articles interesting. Since childhood, I’ve mainly worn
I forgot I was a backpacker
I started walking as a child in the Scouts, and on family holidays to the Yorkshire Dales, but I didn’t really think of myself as a walker until about 2002. I’ve written before about my years walking and backpacking in the Sandlings. In 2003 and 2004 I put
Illustrations from after the Alpine golden age
Today I’d like to share some beautiful illustrations with you. One of my most prized books is the Badminton Book of Mountaineering, a massive tome of 19th century climbing lore compiled by C.T. Dent and published in 1892. It features contributions from the greatest climbers of the post-golden
The camera of the Abraham brothers returns to the Lakeland crags
Readers of my historical novel The Only Genuine Jones will be familiar with the brothers George and Ashley Abraham: climbing photographers from Keswick in the Lake District who teamed up with O.G. Jones to document many of his pioneering first ascents in the late 19th century. In my short
Aosta to Evolene – an Alpine journey in the footsteps of Professor Forbes
In 1842, Professor James Forbes undertook an epic voyage throughout the Alps. In 2014, I replicated a 40-mile portion of that voyage: the segment between Aosta in Italy and Evolene in the Valais. In this blog post I’d like to tell you about my adventure and what I have
Returning to places of inspiration
This picture was taken exactly eleven years ago, on Saturday the 12th of April 2003. It’s one of my favourite images from my first few years living on the Suffolk coast and also part of my collection of early digital images. In this blog post I’d like to
A Scottish Winter Season Missed
“The mountains will still be there next time…” This is a phrase commonly used by climbers to console those who have missed an opportunity, failed on a climb, or retreated for safety reasons. It can be a great comfort. Unlike us, mountains do not wither or grow old, and they
Winter climbing conditions – how much information is too much?
British winter climbing is in a strange place at the moment. We like to get away to the hills as an escape from “real life,” and yet the world of climbing frequently mirrors the world around us even if we like to pretend that it doesn’t. Look around you.
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,
More webcams in the hills: an answer to the mountain safety question?
It seems that the bad news keeps coming this winter. Thirteen mountaineers have so far lost their lives during the course of the season, and many (if not most) of these incidents have attracted national press coverage. The most recent fatality occurred on Saturday when a 57 year old walker