A glance at a map of the North Island of New Zealand will reveal a bulge on the west coast perhaps a quarter of the way up from the bottom. This is balanced by a peninsular jutting out from the east coast a little to the north. This marks a line of volcanic activity. In the middle of the west Continue Reading
Australia’s Five Highest Summits
Australia is not known for its mountains, with one exception perhaps. The exception is Mount Kosciuszko which to some counts as part of the Seven Summits (the highest summit on each of the seven continents). I will not debate here whether or not it or Carstenz Pyramid on the island of New Guinea Continue Reading
Mount Sidley ascents
There is a dearth of information on the web on Mount Sidley ascents. So I have undertaken some further research since my return from Antarctica and put together what I believe to be a definitive list of all ascensionists. This is set out below. The one qualification that I would Continue Reading
Climbing Mount Elbrus – to Elbrus
We had just the one night in Cheget following our climb of Mukal. Again we had to sort out gear for the second part of the trip, the attempt on Elbrus. This time the packing was simpler – we could take everything except anything that we knew we would not need. We would be able to Continue Reading
Double disappointment on Llullaillaco
I wrote in a previous blog how various factors need to come together for an ascent to be successful. Our experience on Llullaillaco shows just how true this is. Perhaps I was tempting fate. Both Derek and I suffered our own disappointments. For me, I barely got onto the mountain. As I had Continue Reading