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…
The last year seems to have passed by in a flash. Perhaps it’s because I’m getting older, or because there was a great deal going on..? Whatever the reason, it’s been one heck of a ride.
Read More »2023 – Moving on Up…
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…
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…
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..!
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…
The 21st anniversary of my fateful climb on Mt.McKinley has coincided with the COVID-19 Lockdown and Mental Health Week 2020. Here’s a few thoughts and… Read More »Mental Health Awareness Week 2020
21 Years have passed since my fateful expedition to Mt McKinley in Alaska. Besides the obvious surgery, I also experienced isolation, fear, mental fatigue, physical… Read More »Learning to Survive and Thrive…
Recently I was interviewed by Ian Skye on BBC Radio Derby about the present COVID Lockdown. I come in at 1:36:36…
I recently spoke to Dave Cornthwaite on his Self Propelled Podcast about life, mountaineering, frostbite and resilience. Dave is an accomplished traveller and creator of… Read More »The Self Propelled Podcast…
What a year 2019 was, or wasn’t. The first time I missed a Scottish winter for 20 years, a trip to Africa cancelled at the last minute, a climb in India scrapped because of lack of interest and a cycling trip to SE Asia cancelled because of injury. For some just that would be disastrous enough, but all those setbacks paled into insignificance on March 20th as, out of the blue, I lost my Dad. The literary world is strewn with poetry, prose and paragraph about death, but no words can describe the feelings of loss I had and still have. I’m happy that he left us peacefully, with his loving family around him. He felt no pain or suffering and I thank God for that. Only the night before, he’d been on top form, laughing and joking with me at a Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme Presentation. It was a striking lesson in living every day of your life to the fullest of your abilities.
Read More »2019 – Exemplo Ducemus
The run up to Kendal is always busy, so this year I decided to spend as much time as possible in Hospital to shield me from the chaos. Actually, I’d been knocked off my bike by a car and was nursing some rather stiff joints. Serious care, rest and drinking would be required over the festival weekend if I was to make it through…
Read More »The Kendal Mountain Festival 2019 – Friends will be Friends
Imagine a scene. A woman walks into a bar and orders a drink. A father and son are sat at a table and upon seeing the woman remark ‘ I wonder what she’s wearing underneath her skirt..?’ They quietly discuss who is going to find out. As the woman is receiving her drink, she feels her skirt being lifted and hears words of disappointment from the men as they realise they have been discovered. What’s going through your mind at this moment..? I would hope shock, horror and disgust. In my experience this would be seen as highly offensive, possible assault and deserving of immediate action.
Read More »You Lift Me Up…
Ok, ok, so it’s over a week since the Kendal Mountain Festival finished for another year and the web is already full of blogs..! Time hasn’t been on my side over this last week as I’ve been enthusing school pupils to get into the outdoors and do, rather than surf, however here we go…Read More »The Kendal Mountain Festival 2018 – Stories, Ghosts and Peace…
Winfields have launched ‘Walk & Talk‘ campaign to show how getting outdoors is one of the best antidotes for feeling down, overly stressed or generally anxious. For years, being outdoors has saved me more times than I can imagine. Here’s my story…Read More »Walk of Life…
An Article from the Daily Star from October 2014 “The family of one man feared dead in the Himalayan snowstorm disaster celebrated last night that… Read More »‘Mr Frostbite’ escapes Nepal disaster but many Brits remain missing