It wasn’t until the final years of her life that Neville and Patsie became almost reunited.Neville now lived a few hundred yards from the house that I grew up in as a teenager on the Isle of Wight, an...
If people ask me today what I love about climbing mountains, the real answer isn’t adrenaline or personal achievement. Mountains are all about experiencing a shared bond that is hard to find in normal...
And if you give your heart to a goal, it will repay you. It's the law of the universe.
There are always crunch times on a mountain when you have to weigh up the odds for success against the risks of cold, bad weather or avalanche. But in essence the choice is simple - If you risk nothin...
You see, we are all a bit like grapes: when you squeeze us, you see what we are made of. And I believe that most people are far stronger than they ever imagine. It is refined within us from thousands...
We were on a family holiday to Cyprus to visit my aunt and uncle. My uncle Andrew was then the brigadier to all the British forces on the island, and as such a senior military figure I am sure he must...
We then reached a fork in the valley. Should we go left or right? Dad called it left. I had a very powerful intuition that right was the choice we should make. Dad insisted left. I insisted right.It w...
We soon reached a dam and had to make a decision.We knew it was forbidden to cross a dam, in the same way that it was forbidden ever to use a footpath or forestry track. (Unless it was part of the dre...
We opened the door and looked at each other. Surprised.It was literally like stepping into a deep freeze. Old iron boats are like that in winter. The cold water around them means that, without heating...
We can’t always choose our circumstances but we can choose how we respond to what life throws at us, and there is power when we realize our ability to alter our destiny.A life in the wild has taught m...
VW Valley is one of the final mountains one climbs on Selection--but it’s among the worst.VW stands for Voluntary Withdrawal, and when you see the mountain you can understand why people have often qui...
This quote from T.E. Lawrence means a lot to me: Our job is to be the dangerous type. The one who dreams by day and acts to make those dreams come alive and actually happen.So take some time to get th...
The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible – and achieve it, generation after generation.’ Pearl S. Buck
The infamous South Col awaited me over the top.I longed to see this place I had heard and read so much about. The highest camp in the world at twenty-six thousand feet--deep in Everest’s Death Zone.I...
The final examination came and my mother came down to watch it. She hated watching me fight. (Unlike my school friends, who took a weird pleasure in the fights--and more and more so as I got better.)B...
Success almost always follows great attitude. The two attract each other.
So there we were.No money, and freezing cold--but happy and together.That night, all wrapped up in blankets, I made a simple promise to Shara: I would love her and look after her, every day of our lif...
Sir Edmund Hillary, Everest’s first conqueror, once said that the mountains gave him strength. I’d never really understood this until now. But it was intoxicating.Something deep inside me knew that I...
Never underestimate the human spirit.And it only takes a tiny ember to start a great fire.
Mum was always so generous to Lara and me growing up, and it helped me develop a very healthy attitude to money. You could never accuse my mum of being tight: she was free, fun, mad, and endlessly giv...