Mark Horrell's Blog, page 25
June 27, 2018
Monte Marsicano up the back side: 8 summits in one day
Since racing up Monte Marsicano from the southern Opi side on one of our very first visits to Abruzzo National Park in the Central Apennines, we’d had in mind to climb the mountain via a longer route from the more remote northern side.
Monte Marsicano has special significance. Not only is it one of the most attractive mountains in that part of Abruzzo, but it’s the mountain from which the critically endangered Marsican brown bear takes its name. Only about 50 of these bears are believed to ex...
June 20, 2018
Flashing on Everest: is it safe or sensible?
At a rough estimate, around 250 people reached the summit of Everest from the north side this year, climbing with a number of different operators. Of these operators, two seemed to get the lion’s share of the attention: Furtenbach Adventures and Alpenglow Expeditions.
Why? Firstly, slick marketing fronted by a pair of dynamic, media-savvy owners, Lukas Furtenbach and Adrian Ballinger. Secondly, both teams are pioneering a new approach to high-altitude mountaineering that involves shortening t...
June 13, 2018
The Ennerdale Horseshoe: a Lake District gem
A sunny bank holiday weekend in northern England was the signal for a visit to the Lake District. I couldn’t quite believe it, but it was five years since my last visit. Five years. That’s a whopping 1,825 days (or thereabouts) since my last tramp among England’s highest hills. Where on earth had the time gone?
My last trip was a in 2013. I needed to introduce Edita to the Lake District, and what better way to do it than a two-day...
June 6, 2018
Cotopaxi, a short climbing history: a teaser from my next book
Last Friday I reached the summit of another metaphorical mountain. After seven months of intensive scribbling (bar a couple of short holidays and a spot of paid work) I finished the first draft of my next major book.
The book describes my journey through Ecuador, culminating in our unique ascent of Chimborazo from sea to summit last year. It will be a follow up, and my first full-length book since I published Seven Steps from Snowdon to Everest in 2015.
Cheers! A wee glass of prosecco to cele...
May 30, 2018
Kangchenjunga base camp trek: Oktang and the south side
This is the second of two trip reports about our trek to the Nepalese side of Kangchenjunga last month, covering our visit to the south base camp. For the first half, covering north base camp, see my trip report Kangchenjunga base camp trek: Pangpema and the north side.
There is some wonderful valley trekking in Nepal. There are paths hewn into rock that cling to precipitous cliff faces, paths that climb so high above the valley floor that you can no longer see or hear the river, trails throu...
May 23, 2018
7 fish who climbed Everest
With the Everest season in full swing there is lots of news coming in about new summiteers reaching the top and new obscure records being broken.
Here at the Footsteps on the Mountain blog, we try to take a look at the quirkier side of mountaineering by highlighting stories that don’t get so much attention elsewhere. We also like to provide exposure to some of the ordinary folk who don’t get much publicity, either because they don’t like to blow their own trumpets, or because they can’t talk....
May 16, 2018
Kangchenjunga base camp trek: Pangpema and the north side
This is the first of two trip reports about our trek to the Nepalese side of Kangchenjunga last month, covering our visit to the north base camp. The second half, covering south base camp, is coming soon.
I was long overdue a visit to Kangchenjunga, one of the 8,000m peaks I have read most about, but seen least of. Straddling Nepal’s eastern border with India, the world’s third-highest mountain has a rich climbing history going back to the twilight days of the British Empire.
The north face o...
May 11, 2018
UK readers: Seven Steps from Snowdon to Everest available for less than a quid
A quick plug to UK readers of my blog and other writing. If you’ve not bought my book Seven Steps from Snowdon to Everest yet, then Amazon are currently running a promo and flogging it for the bargain price of £0.99. This super cheap price for 410 pages of entertainment is only available for a short period, so if you’re intending to go out for a beer tonight (roughly £5 per pint here in London) then it’s a no-brainer to click on this link to go to the book page, then click the Buy button to s...
May 9, 2018
In memory of Chongba Sherpa of Tate, a high-altitude superstar
When I call out Chongba’s name a cheerful older man steps forward, radiating warmth, and we shake hands. I’m pleased. All the Sherpas are strong, but I prefer the older guys … who are wise as well as tough – an essential quality on big mountains.
These were the words I wrote in The Manaslu Adventure about my first meeting with Chongba Sherpa.
Little did I know, as I re-edited the book last month, that Chongba passed away last year after a short battle with cancer. He left behind a wife and fi...
May 2, 2018
Revised edition of The Manaslu Adventure available from all good e-bookstores
Another quick book update.
Some of you may know that I am gradually re-editing the more popular volumes in my Footsteps on the Mountain Travel Diaries series and releasing revised editions in both ebook and paperback format. The latest diary to undergo such a transformation is The Manaslu Adventure, the story of my expedition to Manaslu in Nepal in 2011.
A revised digital edition of The Manaslu Adventure is available to download now The first thing you may notice is that I have renamed the di...
