Recorded live at Kendal Mountain Festival 2025, Cathy and Wayne catch up with global mountaineer and adventurer Nigel Vardy aka “Mr Frostbite” to chat about life after his fateful ascent of Mt McKinley/Denali in 1999.
Read More »Outdoor Gear Chat – KMF 2025…
Earlier this year, I was delighted to film with County Deer Stalking, where I spoke about not only my accident on Denali, but how my childhood in the outdoors and agriculture, has shaped my life. I have been a keen supporter of Field Sports since I was a boy, and even with no toes and amputated fingers, I continue to shoot, stalk and fish.
Read More »Wild Witness | Frostbite to Fieldcraft
2025 was my 15th year to be involved with the Kendal Mountain Festival. Over those years I’ve seen a great deal of change, as the festival continually expands and evolves.
Read More »The Kendal Mountain Festival 2025 – Here’s Where the Story Ends…
I’m delighted to announce that ‘Frostbitten’ has been accepted for the Kendal Mountain Festival 2025. More details coming up, but the journey continues…
Read More »Frostbitten at the Kendal Mountain Festival…
Sometimes you look back at life and wondered where all the time went. 2024, was one such year. At the start, I had no idea how many anniversaries were all meeting in the short twelve months.
Read More »2024 – A year of Anniversaries…
The warm autumn came to a dramatic halt with snow falling in Derbyshire. Personally I’d have feet of the stuff all winter, but the forecast was for a warming weekend, yet it still set me alight for the Kendal Mountain Festival. Snow and Ice are my favourite things, and to see the festival under a blanket of the white stuff would be wonderful. The Lake District escaped the dump however and though initially cold, there was nothing to kick underfoot.
Read More »Kendal Mountain Festival 2024 – A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall…
I should have written this blog long ago, but recent weeks have passed in a blur. After 38 years in professional engineering, I’ve retired and now wonder where I ever got the time to go to work..! Finally, I’m sat at my keyboard and catching up with this ever-spinning world. Here we go…
Read More »Kendal Mountain Festival 2023 – Life in a Northern Town…
I rarely go to the same place twice. Perhaps I want to keep my memories as they were and enjoy seeing new places, but as Heraclitus said – “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man”. The fjords of Greenland are no different. Their ever-moving ice bergs and glaciers are never the same from one moment to the next.
Read More »Through Silken Waters – Greenland 2023…
By the end of 2021 I was exhausted. COVID had caught me over the Christmas period as the loss of my Mum began to take its toll. I hoped 2022 would give me time to rest and reflect. I certainly reflected, but spent much of the year on the road, on the sea and on the mountain..!
Read More »2022 – On the Road Again…
I’m a planner – I like to plan and prepare for my expeditions, speaking gigs and even my shopping. The 2022 Kendal Mountain Festival was on its way, so I watched my films, prepared my weekend diary and trying my best to help the environment, I booked trains from Derbyshire to the Lakes.
Read More »The Kendal Mountain Festival 2022 – Good to be Back…My life isn’t all mountaineering, hair raising adventures and life changing accidents. Some of us care too… Though we work, it’s what goes on in… Read More »Its’ not all Mountaineering – Some of us Care too…
I’m delighted to be an Ambassador for the Martin Moran Foundation.
‘Nigel is an accomplished mountaineer, author and motivational speaker and a dear friend/climbing partner to Martin, here’s Nigel’s story in his own words:
Read More »Ambassador for the Martin Moran Foundation…
I’ve always believed in fresh air and exercise for both physical and mental health. The Peak District has always been on my doorstep and I’ve been a regular visitor for all of my 52 years. The picture above was taken about 1976 in the Winnats Pass with my big Sister Amanda and my Nannars Dog Sally..!
Read More »Peak District National Park 70th Birthday..!
I was recently contacted by Ben Baumann of the Roots of Reality Podcast. Ben is an historian from the United States of America and has always been fascinated by life’s greatest questions: Who are we? Where do we come from? Why are we here? And where are we going? As a result, he decided to become a historian with a focus on the history of existence in the big picture and how it connects to our modern world, with the goal of taking our complex history and making it easy to understand.
On Sunday 25th April, we were given unique opportunity to get behind the scenes of Buxton Mountain Rescue Team with their first Live Event. A… Read More »Buxton Mountain Rescue Team – Live and Online..!
Next Sunday I’ll be speaking online with the Young Explorers Trust about ‘The importance and value of expeditioning for young people’ The outdoors has… Read More »Speaking Online with the Young Explorers Trust…
2019 was a year of death, cancellations and accidents, so I hoped for a more relaxing and rewarding 2020. It certainly started with a bang as during the 2019 Kendal Mountain Festival, I was asked to don my best Edwardian Mountaineering Tweeds and marry two friends in the Lake District. Surely enough on January 18th, I stood before Tom and Emily in Sticklebarn and pronounced them Husband and Wife. I felt extremely honoured to be asked and we all enjoyed a wonderful weekend under sunny skies in Langdale. 2020 was off with a bang..!
Read More »2020 – A Good Year for the Roses…
I adore Mountaineering and I adore Writing. Inspired by a meeting at the Kendal Mountain Festival, I’ve written a number of Love Letters to some of the Mountains I’ve climbed over the past 30 years. They’re a varied selection of peaks spanning the Himalayas, Africa, Asia, The Arctic and Europe.
I hope you enjoy them…
Recently I recorded a podcast with Jane Booth MBA of the OPUS 29 Consultancy about Finding the Happiness in Being You. We covered a lot… Read More »Coffee and Conversation Podcast…