Mark Horrell's Blog, page 15

An interview and audio excerpt from Feet and Wheels to Chimborazo

Its possible to have too much excitement, and here on the Footsteps on the Mountain blog it certainly feels like weve been pushing at the boundaries of delirium recently. Last week I teamed up with fellow mountain writer and Amazon bestseller John D Burns to bring you a gripping excerpt from my first book Seven Steps from Snowdon to Everest.

How do we top that? It seems improbable but this week weve gone a step further. Not only has John recorded an excerpt from my second book Feet and Wheels...

An audio excerpt from my book Seven Steps from Snowdon to Everest

Well folks, I have something rather special this week to help stimulate the senses while you are in coronavirus lockdown.

Fellow mountain writer John D Burns has featured an audio excerpt from Seven Steps from Snowdon to Everest on his weekly podcast, and its well worth a listen a dramatic reading of the crux section of the book where I tackle the fearsome Second Step on Everests North-East Ridge. Johns narration really brings out the drama and humour; Ive had fun listening to it and I hope...

What I’m learning from Robert Macfarlane’s reading group about Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain

As coronavirus lockdown takes hold, the nature writer and reader in English literature at Cambridge University, Robert Macfarlane, has started running a reading group on Twitter about Nan Shepherds classic nature book The Living Mountain.

The Living Mountain appeared in a previous blog post of mine, of recommended mountain writing that isnt about climbing. Ever since I first read it I have known that its a book I want to read again and learn about more deeply. As soon as I spotted Roberts...

Why the outdoor community should not ignore coronavirus restrictions

Im posting early this week, because this is an important message that can no longer be delayed. There are no jokes in this weeks blog post. Normal service will be resumed next week with more light-hearted banter to see us through difficult times, but please bear with me for now and take this message on board.

You may have seen a lot of posts like this over the last few days. Im not going to tell you anything that hasnt already been said; and Im not going to provide medical advice thats not...

Kangchenjunga Base Camps Trek: the videos

We live in strange and surreal times, with countries across Europe going into lockdown because of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. For most of us, travel plans are on hold for the foreseeable future. We have a duty to keep ourselves more isolated during the outbreak, to avoid spreading the virus to those more vulnerable than ourselves.

But we also have a duty to keep optimistic, cheerful and entertained, so that were still relatively sane when the hard times come to an end. We never stop...

Keep safe from coronavirus with namaste, the ‘Nepali handshake’

There is no shortage of advice at the moment from politicians and health officials about how to protect yourself from COVID-19, a.k.a. the coronavirus. Since many readers of this blog are regular travellers, Im going to chip in with some simple advice of my own that will be familiar to those of you who have trekked a lot in Nepal.

Easy things we can all do to help in this time of crisis include washing our hands regularly, not touching our eyes, nose or mouth if our hands are dirty,...

Introducing Wilderness Prime: a superb introduction to the Great Himalaya Trail

Edita was in Africa last week, so last weekend I had a day to myself. What better way to spend it than pulling up YouTube on the Smart TV and spending the evening watching porn… Mountain porn, that is – and I found an absolute gem.

There is a YouTube channel called Wilderness Prime, run by a British chap called Dave Brophy which at the time of writing has just 326 subscribers, but deserves to have far more.

Over the course of five months last year, Dave walked the entire length of the Great...

Much ado about yetis: Nepal’s latest tourism blunder

Visit Nepal 2020 got off to a flying start when 20 yeti statues that were commissioned for $4,500 a shot were removed by tourism officials because they didn’t look anything like yetis and were provoking too much controversy. But was this fair and does anyone know what a yeti looks like anyway?

In this week’s post, I investigate this important story that has rocked Nepal.

Yeti, meditating Buddha or sumo wrestler? No one’s really sure (Photo: Kamal Pariyar / BBC)

Let’s start at the beginning –...

How the Duke of Cornwall stole a footpath and I rediscovered it

You may have heard recently that the Ramblers Association, the UK organisation for leisurely walking enthusiasts, has launched a campaign to reclaim some of Britain’s lost footpaths before legislation comes into effect that turns them permanently into private land. Citizens now have until 2026 to rediscover lost footpaths before they are gone for ever.

The campaign is accompanied by the launch of a clever app which I had some fun with last weekend. But before I come to that, some of you may...

BREAKING NEWS: False alarm as climber’s tracking device suggests he is trapped inside toilet tent

There were several hours of mayhem on Everest yesterday when the tracking device of German climber Jurgen Kobblers showed that he had strayed off route into dangerous territory. Rescue parties sprung into action and for a short period it looked like the climber might not survive, but in the end it turned out to be a false alarm.

Kobblers was attempting a new route solo on Everest’s East South Shoulder. He had reached a notorious section known as the Forward Quick Step when he got into a spot...