Mark Horrell's Blog, page 28

Sea to summit on Chimborazo, part 2: Carihuairazo and the circumnavigation

This is part 2 in a series of trip reports about our Chimborazo sea to summit adventure. For part 1 see here.

Note: If you’re expecting this to be a deeply personal post about an operation to a tender part of my anatomy then please read the title more carefully.*

(*) Circumnavigation, not circumcision.

When I left you a couple of weeks ago, we had just finished the bike ride, from Guayaquil on the coast to Urbina on the western side of 6310m Chimborazo, Ecuador’s highest mountain. I still had...

Adventure-loving Guardian readers hit back at couch-potato Guardian writers

The Guardian has a past history of publishing smug opinion pieces taking a swipe at adventurous people for experiencing the occasional piece of misfortune in the course of their interesting lives.

For example, after the 2014 Everest tragedy, when 16 Sherpas lost their lives in a catastrophic avalanche, the Guardian reacted by publishing an article by a journalist called Tanya Gold who, as far as I could tell, had never been near a mountain in her life, but had read Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Ai...

Sea to summit on Chimborazo, part 1: the bike ride

Cycling is so much easier when you are carrying no weight and there are no hills.

That was the thought going through my mind at 10.30 on the first morning of our Chimborazo sea to summit challenge. It was a challenge that terrified me, particularly after my total exhaustion on the North Coast 500 a month earlier. If I was that tired pedalling around the coast of Scotland, how on earth was I going to cope cycling up to 4,000m in the Andes?

Preparing to depart from Quito with our bikes and bags...

North Coast 500 bike ride: the videos

Once again, it’s time to give a bit more space in this blog to those of you who prefer to watch telly than read books.

In true travel bloggers’ tradition I carried a video camera on my recent cycle ride of the North Coast 500, around the north-west coast of Scotland, to showcase my award-winning film-making skills when I got back. That’s the theory, and if they ever have an award for best film that looks like it’s been shot by a drunk at a party, then I will surely enter.

Here are four short...

Sore bums and saddlebags: cycling the North Coast 500

Another monster blog post, so make yourselves a nice cup of tea and strap yourselves in.

It was four years since my last visit to Scotland, and I ended up returning in a most unexpected way. A few months ago I’d never even heard of the North Coast 500; now I’ve only gone and cycled it.

I made a point of going to Scotland every year to bag a few Munros, but recently Italy’s Apennines have replaced the Scottish Highlands as my favoured peak-bagging destination.

Apart from a bumble along the Cam...

The best guidebook to Nepal is now available as a paperback

I have no doubt whatsoever my guidebooks to Nepal are the best in the world today. David Ways

This is a bold statement for a writer to make. Although I’m not quite so unequivocal, overall I’m inclined to agree, and he has every right to be proud of his achievement.

Back in May I reviewed a new guidebook to Nepal, written by David Ways, the man behind The Longest Way Home website. Dave has been travelling around the world for the last 12 years, but recently he’s been spending more of his time...

The kindness of strangers is helping a young Sherpa recover from frostbite

Earlier this week a fundraising appeal for Sange, a 19-year-old Sherpa who suffered severe frostbite on Everest this year, reached its ambitious target of $42,000. Thanks to the generosity of climbers, trekkers and friends of Nepal, a young man who would have been crippled for life, is now able to pay for advanced surgery to save his hands.

This is a story of good and bad, where mistakes were made that could easily have been avoided, but help was provided that prevented a bad situation becomi...

A short walk in the Sesto Dolomites

The Cima Grande … would not be so beautiful or so striking if it were not a part of the trinity of the Tre Cime. Gaston Rebuffat, Starlight and Storm

Back in July, Edita and I did a brief hike in the Dolomites, a range of dramatic rock peaks in north-east Italy. I didn’t have time to write a full report then, and scribbled down a few notes instead. Here is the report now. I hope it was worth waiting for.

The Apennines were our home from home while we lived in Italy, but I always wanted to vis...

5 beginner’s tips for cycling up mountains

The learning curve for beginners is always much steeper. Now that I’m safely back from my first ever cycling trips, I thought it would be a good moment to share some tips.

In August I cycled the North Coast 500, a bike route around Scotland’s northern coastline. There were lots of very small hills and I found it hard. I lost count of the number of times I had to get off and push.

Last month I climbed 6310m Chimborazo from sea to summit. This involved starting at Guayaquil on the coast, and cy...

Is Cotopaxi now safe to climb?

We returned from a few days relaxation in the Amazon jungle earlier this week to learn that the Ecuadorian government was about to reopen Cotopaxi for climbing. This was exciting news for Edita, who is yet to climb it and keen to do so, but we had some strong reservations.

Cotopaxi (5897m), an active volcano that is Ecuador’s second highest mountain, has been closed for climbing since a major eruption in 2015. Now it seems certain that the first commercial clients in two years will be allowed...