Read more about the article The dramatic scenery of the Karakorum
There is always time to plank - even at Concordia at 4,900m

The dramatic scenery of the Karakorum

This is just a quick update whilst in civilisation before I go off into the mountains again. I have just come back from trekking to Concordia and the K2 memorial site in Pakistan and even though I had rather climb mountains than just trek, this trip was…

Continue ReadingThe dramatic scenery of the Karakorum

Laptop provides refugee poet with voice for his prose

„I have written some poetry for you,“ Mohammad Zai Parishan proudly told me when I finally found him at the local hospital at Surkhab Refugee Village in Balochistan, where he had been for a regular check-up. “I knew you would be coming back.” About six weeks ago,…

Continue ReadingLaptop provides refugee poet with voice for his prose

Wheelchairs, laptops and mountaineering conferences

Quite a lot has happened since I posted my last newsletter, in which I wrote about my amazing encounter with Mohammad Zai, the wheelchair-bound man I met in Pishin near Quetta. Following the article I posted on the UNHCR website, I received an email from a university…

Continue ReadingWheelchairs, laptops and mountaineering conferences

Back in Kathmandu working for the Himalayan Database

I have arrived in Kathmandu and it is good to be back! I literally went straight from the plane to see Miss Hawley to discuss, who is interviewing which expedition this season. Despite the economic crunch this spring looks pretty busy, at least when it comes to…

Continue ReadingBack in Kathmandu working for the Himalayan Database

The Honeymoon

My amazing friend and Ironman World Champion Chrissie Wellington talked to a journalist about a bonkers bike trip we did in Argentina a year ago. It was actually the honeymoon of our close friend Tina, who got married to Seba in Mendoza in November 2008. Tina, Chrissie,…

Continue ReadingThe Honeymoon

Pakistan fails to mourn Lino Lacedelli’s death

Last Friday, another piece of mountaineering history died when Lino Lacedelli passed away in his Italian hometown of Cortina d’Ampezzo. Lacedelli, who died of a heart condition at the age of 83, was one of the first two men to conquer K2, Pakistan’s highest peak and the…

Continue ReadingPakistan fails to mourn Lino Lacedelli’s death

Islamabad Triathlon lacks Gender Equality

Last week I was writing about my amazing friend Chrissie Wellington, who has probably made the male triathlon world shiver with her latest performance at the Ironman Triathlon event in Kona. Well, this week I want to write about my own little triathlon experience in Islamabad, which…

Continue ReadingIslamabad Triathlon lacks Gender Equality

Bombs and records

I am back in Pakistan and the country seems to be falling to pieces. Last week, a suicide bomber blew up the United Nations World Food Programme offices killing five people, and on Thursday, 15 October, there were several bomb attacks across the country. Life in Islamabad…

Continue ReadingBombs and records