Just as they did a hundred years ago, the Norwegians have shown their dominance in polar racing as Norwegian Team FRAMdrift have won the EWR Centenary Race to the South Pole, with a commanding lead over the rest of the field including Welsh and English teams. Norwegians Erlend Gray, 28, Harvard Svidal, 35, and Mathias Seim, 23, were able to …
The Long Hope lecture at RGS
Scottish climbing phenomenon Dave MacLeod and climbing partner Andy Turner are presenting a lecture on their first free ascent of the Long Hope route at London’s Royal Geographical Society on February 8th. During the lecture, sponsored by Gore, Cotswold Outdoor and Mountain Equipment, Dave and Andy will give an insight into the physical, psychological and logistic preparation required to capture …
Jordan Romero completes Seven Summits
At the end of December, 15-year old American Jordan Romero completed his Seven Summits by summiting Mount Vinson in the Antarctic. Jordan, who became the youngest person to have completed the Seven Summits, began his quest back in 2006 when he climbed Kilimanjaro at age 10. Controversy ensued when he attempted Everest in 2010 aged just 13, with criticism coming …
Venables on Shipton
Mountaineer, author and Trek & Mountain contributor Stephen Venables is giving a series of lectures on legendary adventurer Eric Shipton over the coming weeks. One of the greatest mountain explorers of the twentieth century, Shipton was a team-member on all four Everest expeditions during the 1930’s and found the route that Hillary and Tenzing would follow to the top of …
Base Camp: Nanga Parbat
Simone Moro and Denis Urubko of The North Face-sponsored expedition to attempt the first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat in Pakistan, have reached their basecamp. At 4230m above sea level, even at basecamp the temperatures drop to -15°C, and temperatures will drop further as the team begins climbing the world’s ninth highest peak (8126m), and Pakistan’s second highest (after K2). …
Your first Himalayan peak?
Gracing the cover of this month’s Trek & Mountain is Nepal’s popular trekking peak, Island Peak. Rising to 6,189m and located in the heart of the Khumbu region, Island Peak is popular for its spectacular views and the opportunity it presents for non-climbers to get the big mountain experience. Our writer, Jon Gupta, led two groups to the summit recently …
T&M duo summit Ama Dablam
Bonita Norris and Jon Gupta – both regular writers for Trek & Mountain – summited Nepalese peak Ama Dablam (6812m) on November 17, 2011. Climbing on separate expeditions, Norris reached the summit at 11.45am, five days after leaving base camp and was the first of her team to reach the top. Jon, meanwhile, was climbing alpine-style, and reached the summit …
MacLeod team triumphs in Norway
A team of four climbers led by Dave MacLeod has just returned from a successful trip to Kvaloya in northern Norway as part of the Gore-Tex Experience Tour. The team included competition winners Helena Robinson and Julia Snihur, as well as Donald King and filmmaker Paul Diffley. Inspired by a newly-produced guidebook to the area, the team set themselves an …
Adele aims for 8000ers
Leading high altitude mountaineer Adele Pennington has recently unveiled plans to become the first British woman to summit every 8,000m peak in the world, as well as taking in the Seven Summits, four of which she has already conquered, with just Aconcagua, Mt Elbrus and Indonesia’s Carstensz Pyramid left to go. Pennington already holds a world record for being the …