Fans of Brian Blessed will know of his fascination with Mount Everest. Some will know that he climbed high on the mountain without oxygen in 1990, 1993, and 1996. I climbed with Brian Blessed on Mount Everest as his film crew in 1990, and then as his mountain guide in 1993, and I will never … Read more
Mount Everest is unusual in having an Advanced Base Camp (ABC) in between Base Camp and Camp 1. It’s on the less-visited northern, Tibetan side of the mountain. It’s also probably the world’s highest walk, as you don’t need ropes, axes or crampons to get there. In 2011 I trekked the 14 miles up to … Read more
Over three hundred climbers have died on Mount Everest, and in my nine expeditions to the mountain, I saw many dead bodies. What is surprising is the variety of ways in which they died. Analysing how they died is a valuable way of avoiding the same fate. 1. Avalanches and falling ice The most common … Read more
Perched on the summit of Mount Everest that morning in October 1993 I struggled to pull a glove off to take a photograph of the astounding view. A lenticular cloud bent over our heads, showing that we were standing in the jet stream. A huge flag of frozen spindrift tore downwind off the summit for … Read more
When I climbed Mount Everest in 1993 I saw five dead bodies in the snow along the route. And on my descent, a fellow climber fell to his death. Dead bodies on the mountain are sadly nothing new. But whose was the oldest body on Everest? Norbu Sherpa was the first climber to be killed … Read more
I was rescued by helicopter from Mount Everest in 2007 but only after I had downclimbed to Base Camp at an altitude of 5,364m on the South side. I asked the Russian pilot, Sergei later if a helicopter could take me to the summit. His answer was “Yes – in theory.” In theory? Let’s look … Read more
