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The Haunting
Some winters ago Eric Langmuir, John Disley, John Cleare and I stayed at Ben Alder Cottage, en route for Fort William to Dalwhinnie. This is one of the finest bothies in the Highlands. And Eric,...
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The Edge of the World
Sandwood Bay: Photo JMT I was not interested in those cliffs until the trawler drove straight into them. I was above Patey's Buachaille, contemplating the channel that, in the absence of ladders, must...
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Clean Climbing
Any old Iron?:Pete Livesey circa mid seventies.Photo John Cleare There used to be so few climbers that it didn't matter where one drove a piton,there wasn't the worry about demolishing the rock. Now...
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Westward Ho! : Simon Armitage's 'Walking Away...reviewed
Poet Simon Armitage follows up his hugely successful ‘Walking Home’ –an account of his ‘back to front’ long distance trod down The Pennine Way to finish close to his Yorkshire home- with an account of...
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Alfred Wainwright-Northern Soul
Once there was a town hall official in Cumberland who was so enthralled by the mountains that he walked and walked them, penetrating every byway, surveying every vista. To amuse himself he drew them...
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Don Whillans.....Climbing like a ruptured duck!
Original Photo: Adrian Bailey Don Whillans took a firm grip on the undercut handholds, leaned out from the rock and sized the job up. The route was Dovedale Groove on Dove Crag, E1 5b. It is his route....
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Across Lakeland in a day: With a little help from my friends
RavenglassOne hears tales of the balmy days of the British presence in India, when walks in the Himalayas were done hands in pockets unencumbered by camping equipment, since the bulk of one's retinue...
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Hamish MacInnes: The Sage of Glencoe
Photo: John Cleare Collection I am not a pessimist, but I couldn’t help wondering if I was wasting my time as I packed crampons, ice-axe, head torch, gaiters, climbing helmet and other gear. For the...
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Braided Lives: The Vince Betts Story
“My brother was a climber back in the 50’s-quite good I think’. As the Communist Party meeting emptied into the damp Mersey night,the visiting national organiser from London chatted to local activists....
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For Rattus Novegicus: A brief history of the Shiant Isles
The Shiant Isles I never thought I would find myself writing warmly about a Scottish laird. Adam Nicolson owns the Shiant Islands, east of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. The Shiants are a compact cluster...
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Statement: The Ben Moon story......reviewed
Photo:Vertebrate Having recently read and reviewed Steve McClure’s Vertebrate published autobiography which I felt somewhat suffered in that it became rather repetitive due to the fact that the author...
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Your lovely hills are very dangerous
There cannot be more than half a dozen real hard men, perhaps youthful aspirants to the Alpine Climbing Group, who have made the journey, on foot and by road, from the beginnings of Llanberis Pass to...
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A Climber Extraordinaire
I was getting down to work when a voice came on the telephone, strongly Lancashire and alive with excitement. I won’t try to put it in dialect.“Tom, it’s Stan Bradshaw. I’ve been at the Munros on my...
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Seven days on the Eigerwand
We were becoming accustomed to being here on the wall. We didn't look towards the end of the climb or torture ourselves with thoughts of hot showers, beer and those soft warm beds where you don't wear...
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Slim Sorrell: Northern Grit
The Ox: Joe Brown and Pete Cargill get a lift from Slim Sorrell.Photo-G Kitchen Collection.There'll never be another Slim Sorrell. Powerful climber and instructor, Gritstone and Cloggy pioneer, founder...
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The Edge of the World
Sandwood Bay: Photo JMT I was not interested in those cliffs until the trawler drove straight into them. I was above Patey's Buachaille, contemplating the channel that, in the absence of ladders, must...
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The Children of the May Tides
Six year old Luke's first climb.The Coves,Knapdale,Scotland.The following essay was recently re-discovered literally in the bottom of a drawer amongst various unpublished essays,journal extracts and...
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The Climber's Voice: Festival Memories
Ed Drummond out on a limb at an early event:Photo Ian Smith When David Craig and I started planning the first festival on our 1987 journey to climb on the sea cliffs of Anglesey in North Wales, we...
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29/5/53........A Short Story
It is after midnight and I have been lying awake for an hour now. It’s not that I don’t want to sleep, but the cold is creeping into my bodyand I feel miserable. The eiderdown in my sleeping bag and...
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Extracts from George Sansom's Climbing Journal: 1909-10
Great Gable: Dalmar Harmood Banner 1941. (Lakeland Arts Trust)August 18th 1909: Wednesday:I walked up to the camp andBotterill said he would come up the Napes with me. Mr. Lloyd and I started up and...
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