Mark Horrell's Blog, page 10
September 10, 2021
Move over Jim Dale, there’s a new audiobook narrator in town
A quick message to announce something that I know some of you will have been waiting for as eagerly as when you used to wonder what colour socks your gran was knitting you for Christmas.
A few months ago in this blog, I mentioned that I had downed my quill pen in favour of a microphone and was in the process of recording the audiobook version of The Chomolungma Diaries narrated entirely by myself.
That’s right, now that you’ve picked yourself back off the floor, you didn’t misread.
I’m proud to ...
August 20, 2021
The Glen Spean Nine: peak bagging and bet hedging in Central Scotland
Glen Spean is a good place “for those who want to hedge their bets with the weather on a trip to the Highlands” starts the relevant chapter of the Walkhighlands guidebook to the Munros. Given that the weather in the Highlands of Scotland is famous for being about as reliable as the latest government COVID-19 guidance, this sounded like a pretty good recommendation.
Glen Spean is a broad, open valley that cuts across Central Scotland from east to west, splitting the Grampian Mountains to the sout...
July 28, 2021
Nine Lives by Robert Anderson: Everest from all angles
I don’t often accept books for review – not because I’m not interested, but because life is short and there are too many books I want to read.
Sometimes, however, I make an exception, like when Robert Anderson offered me a copy of his latest book Nine Lives, released last year by Vertebrate Publishing.
Robert is something of a rarity in mountaineering circles: a hardcore alpinist turned commercial expedition leader. This makes him uniquely qualified to see Everest from all angles – as, indeed, h...
July 17, 2021
The best review so far of the 2021 Everest season
This Monday, 19 July, is “Freedom Day” here in the UK. Despite rocketing infection rates of the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant, and hospitalisations starting to rise exponentially, our government has decided that it’s time to start opening up again.
From Monday, almost all COVID-19 restrictions will end, including the wearing of masks, any form of social distancing, and most international travel restrictions. Public health will now be a matter of personal choice rather than government ...
What will happen on Freedom Day? Look no further than Everest 2021
This Monday, 19 July, is “Freedom Day” here in the UK. Despite rocketing infection rates of the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant, and hospitalisations starting to rise exponentially, our government has decided that it’s time to start opening up again.
From Monday, almost all COVID-19 restrictions will end, including the wearing of masks, any form of social distancing, and most international travel restrictions. Public health will now be a...
June 30, 2021
When reaching the summit is just a tick in the box
Two years ago, Edita and I enjoyed a glorious day out hiking the Ring of Steall, a circuit of Munros along a horseshoe ridge due south of Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest mountain.
From the summit of the first peak, An Gearanach, we looked east into the upper stretches of Glen Nevis. I observed a remote, verdant pasture walled by high hills that looked like an idyllic spot for a wild camp.
Binnein Beag from the Kinlochleven side at 5.30pm on a gloomy afternoon. Not invit...
May 16, 2021
Everest and COVID-19: Why don’t operators donate their oxygen to hospitals in Nepal?
This short post is partly speculative (as are a lot of things about the 2021 Everest season). It will raise more questions than it answers, but now is the time to ask.
First off, I have neither a medical nor an engineering background, so I would welcome thoughts from anyone who has.
First, some background. As you will know if you read my previous post, the 2021 Everest season has gone ahead despite the global pandemic. It has coincided with a major second wave of COVID-19 across India and Nepal....
May 4, 2021
Everest and COVID-19: climbers and operators need to come clean
If you watched Alan Arnette’s interview with the well-known British climber and mountain guide Kenton Cool on Sunday, you could be forgiven for thinking that it’s a good year to be climbing Everest.
These two legends of the contemporary Everest scene waxed lyrical about the history of Everest, Nepal and the Sherpa people, then went on to talk about the prospects for the current season, now in full swing. A more central route has been set through the Khumbu Icefall, it’s been a dry year without m...
April 14, 2021
When Prince Philip went tiger shooting in Nepal
Today’s post comes with apologies to the 110,994 people who wrote to the BBC last week (a national record, apparently), complaining about the dawn to dusk coverage of Prince Philip across all their TV channels, after the Queen’s consort and Duke of Edinburgh passed away at the age of 99.
You may not have identified me as the sort of person who rushes to post a tribute when a prominent member of our royal family passes away, but I’m going to add another story to the mix that may not have made it ...
March 24, 2021
The Chomolungma Varieties: struggles of an apprentice audiobook narrator
At the end of last year, I mentioned that I would be slowing down the blog to concentrate on other writing projects. In case you’d forgotten I exist or were wondering if I’d boarded the Mars probe for an attempt on Olympus Mons, I’m thinking that it’s time I updated you on the progress of at least one of those projects.
Podcaster, DJ or audiobook narrator?You will see from the photo above, of me sticking my face into a giant microphone, that I’ve been temporarily heading off in a new direction....
