Date: March 8th 2019 – International Women’s Day Location: Ojos del Salado, Chile. Depart 2am. Summit at 6,893m. Back at base camp 8pm. Sounds like a standard, well-prepped alpine ascent (‘alpine start’ = obscenely early, obvs). This 12-strong team of women were not your standard alpinists though. Only a year before, none of them had any … [Read more...]
Monday Motivation: ShAFF 22-24 March!
If you're one of our many facebook followers, you've no doubt seen the incredible amount of entries to the BMC TV/Womenclimb "Women In Adventure Film" competition we were sharing throughout February. The winner (yet to be announced) will have their film shown at the Sheffield Adventure Film Festival (ShAFF), which runs from 22-24th March … [Read more...]
How to Get into Mountaineering
Mountaineering can sometimes be seen as an expensive and inaccessible hobby that most people can only dream of trying out. The Jonathan Conville Course seeks to break those boundaries and ensure that young people aged 18-30 can take their first steps in this exhilarating sport at an affordable price in easily accessible locations. Mountaineering … [Read more...]
Fearless Fridays: Dreaming of Kilimanjaro
"You need to combat your fears of failing first and after that, simply take it step by step. Even if you don’t get to the very top, you’ll get an awful lot from the experience as a whole." Last September, travel writer Lindsay Hawdon achieved a lifelong dream of hers – to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak and the world's tallest … [Read more...]
Monday Motivation: “We show them with actions, not words”
Do you ever think it’s too late to take up a new activity, like mountaineering? Perhaps you’ll get criticism just from believing you can. Particularly if you’re a middle-aged woman working as a cook at the bottom of Bolivia’s highest peaks… A few years ago, 11 indigenous Bolivian women known as ‘Cholitas’ were working as porters and cooks for … [Read more...]
Celebrating our friends’ successes
Our mini-series this week is celebrating the climbing achievements of our friends - the friends who support, motivate or challenge us; the friends who have faced their climbing fears; the friends who have overcome obstacles through climbing; the friends who are just awesome to climb with. We'll also be sharing exclusive stories from Mina … [Read more...]
Busting Climbing Myths #3 – Everyone is looking at you…
“No one is thinking about you. They're thinking about themselves, just like you.” Unfortunately, this doesn’t always apply in the climbing world. Our third myth is slightly different, in that it isn’t a myth. To be truthful, people are watching you, but it doesn't mean it's a bad thing. Let’s have a look at reframing those thoughts and exploring … [Read more...]
My Best Adventures Part 1 // Emily Thompson
Emily Thompson is a Mountain Leader with a thirst for adventure, remoteness and fun. As part of our 'Best Adventures' series, Emily shares some of her best adventures. Here's part one of three: First Solo Wild Camp In the Moelwyns North Wales. I hiked up Cnicht and camped just below the Moelwyns in a very small tent. I love the feeling of … [Read more...]
My Best Adventures Part 3 // Emily Thompson
Emily Thompson gives us the last instalment of her Best Adventures. If you missed Part 1 and Part 2, you can go back and find out about her adventures. What other adventures does she have for us.... Let's find out: Completing GR20, Corsica People are always surprised when I say this is the hardest thing I've ever done. But 12 days of … [Read more...]
Too old to climb? Think again!
"He messaged me because one of my profile pictures showed me walking in the mountains... nothing to do with my looks, more to do with my rucksack!" Some people imagine that rock climbing is the preserve of the young, but this is far from the case. People of all ages climb rocks. Jan Coleyshaw tells us how she started rock climbing at age 61 and … [Read more...]