Mark Horrell's Blog, page 14

The volcanoes of Colombia’s Los Nevados: the videos

I’ve finally finished editing all the video footage from my trips going back more than two years, and it’s time for my latest – and I’m sorry to say, very last – set of videos. Those of you who like listening to the wind drowning out the sound of my voice are in for one final treat.

Last Christmas and New Year, I journeyed to Colombia for a short trek in Los Nevados National Park. It was a more innocent time, when we all thought nothing of hopping on a plane crowded with a few hundred other pass...

What mountain summit has the world’s longest view?

I’ve recently been reading The Walker’s Guide to Outdoor Clues & Signs by the unusually named Tristan Gooley. It’s an excellent book that will cause you to look at nature in a different light (to paraphrase climbing writer Jim Perrin on the back cover, every outdoor lover should hold at least one Gooley in their library).

For example, if you’ve ever wondered why rainbows always seem to precede rain showers in the morning but follow them in the afternoon, there’s a simple explanation (if you live...

My second audiobook – Feet and Wheels to Chimborazo, narrated by Philip Battley

It’s been a busy last few months for me on the publishing front, which reached it’s summit last week with the release of my second audiobook, Feet and Wheels to Chimborazo.

I sneaked my second big travelogue Feet and Wheels to Chimborazo out at the end of last year, and if you were looking the other way you might have missed it. As someone who writes mostly in their spare time, I don’t really do big book launches and prefer to let my writing filter through the airwaves and speak for itself (if y...

What does Mount Everest look like from space?

If you follow the Everest Today (@EverestToday) account on Twitter, which posts topical daily messages about Himalayan mountaineering, you may be used to seeing the occasional photo of mountains taken from the International Space Station. This is because the account is run by Chhabi Pokhrel, a Nepali who, alongside his interest in mountaineering, also happens to be something of a space enthusiast.

As you might expect, all things, including mountains, look very different from above. I know this b...

Is Kate Harris the new Dervla Murphy?

Kate Harris arrives among us like a meteor.

Barry Lopez

In a post last September I mentioned how frustrating it was that the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature is essentially an award for climbing literature only. This makes its winners’ list a little uninspiring if your reading tastes are broader than that. I pointed out that only one winner in the last 20 years wasn’t about climbing, and to show how inclusive the subject of mountain literature really is, I provided a list of ten gre...

The sorrowful tale of Little Mo the moorhen chick

This post doesn’t have anything to do with mountains, so please forgive the indulgence (lockdown does strange things to your travelling instincts). It’s a salutary tale about interaction with nature that may interest you though. It contains some useful lessons (for me, at least) and a few schoolboy errors that I expect will have some of you shaking your heads in disbelief.

Right outside the main front porch of our house, a pair of moorhens have built a nest among sprawling ivy on a pergola. The ...

Win a signed copy of The Baruntse Adventure

The latest revised edition in my acclaimed Footsteps on the Mountain Diaries series, The Baruntse Adventure, is out now in paperback. To celebrate this milestone I am offering a unique opportunity to win one of 3 signed copies.

I don’t sign many copies of my books, which makes this prize a collector’s item. I can say with confidence that a signed Horrell is rarer than a signed Messner, so get in quick while you have the chance!

The Baruntse Adventure is out now in paperback

The Footsteps on the ...

Llanganates, Tungurahua and unexplored Ecuador – the videos

It’s been a fruitful lockdown for me. I’ve published the latest revised edition in my Footsteps on the Mountain Diaries series, released my first audiobook and am in the processed of recording another. I’ve also had the chance to edit video footage from my trips going back more than two years, which has been sitting on my hard drive gathering virtual dust. These have included the Kangchenjunga region of Nepal and Puna de Atacama in northern Chile.

It’s time for my latest set of videos: Unexplore...

My very first audiobook – Seven Steps from Snowdon to Everest, narrated by Philip Battley

Exciting news! You may recall that after appearing on fellow mountain writer John D Burns’s podcast in April, I announced that I had finally got to grips with the task of recording my own books as audiobooks, opening them up to those of you who prefer the spoken word to the written one.

I’m delighted to say that barely two months later, my very first audiobook Seven Steps from Snowdon to Everest, is now available in major audiobook stores Amazon and Audible, with iTunes and other stores to follo...

Why did a Chinese team climb Everest during the coronavirus pandemic?

Note: This post touches on sensitive issues. It is not intended to be divisive, but merely raise questions that need to be asked and promote discussion. Please read the commenting guidelines and think carefully before posting a comment. Any comments that I consider to be inflammatory will be quickly deleted.

Some obscure records have been claimed on Everest over the years, from the first person to sing the Nepalese national anthem to the first person to urinate on the summit, but the record anno...