Mark Horrell

"There will be a time when I stop climbing Everest, but it won’t be soon. It has given me everything." 🗻 Kenton Cool proves that growing up in Slough need not be a handicap to reaching the pinnacle of YOUR profession 🥇 www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

🌟 New blog post ✍️ In my last post I reported on the first part of our trek on the Mata Grande Route up Pico Duarte in the Dominican Republic 🇩🇴 In this post I cover our ascents of the DR's 3 highest peaks 🗻 🗻 🗻 www.markhorrell.com/blog/2026/la...

"In 1998 Karl Bushby set out to walk all the way back to his hometown of Hull without using any form of transport and without returning home until the journey was complete." Amazing achievement. He's been away from Hull for nearly as long as I have. theedgeofthemap.substack.com/p/karl-bushb...

🌟 New blog post ✍️ With Edita working in Haiti for a second year, we returned to the Dominican Republic to climb its highest peak, Pico Duarte 🇩🇴 Last year we chose the standard route from La Cienaga. This year, we opted for the remoter Mata Grande Route 👣 www.markhorrell.com/blog/2026/my...

"A massive avalanche struck the base camp at 7,126m Himlung... 2 Nepalese mountain guides and 14 kitchen staff were staying at the camp." Another manmade tragedy in Nepal. It seems astonishing that someone chose to set up base camp beneath an avalanche slope 😢 🇳🇵 abenteuer-berg.de/en/avalanche...

"Oh, yes... The monks get very excited." 😠 But not about what you might expect. (from "To a Mountain in Tibet", by Colin Thubron) 📚

The numbers on Manaslu this year are close to those of the record-breaking spring season on Everest. Meanwhile, a man from Samagaun will begin a hunger strike at base camp to draw attention to climate change in the Himalayas (via @springinsfeld.bsky.social) abenteuer-berg.de/en/record-ru...

🌟 New blog post ✍️ Situated at a confluence of the Bhote Khosi, Trisuli and Langtang rivers, Syaphru Besi was the gateway to Langtang and a major pilgrimage route. That was until last month. www.markhorrell.com/blog/2026/sy...

"What it doesn't show is how intimidating that ridge can be in cloud, rain or strong winds or how quickly a manageable situation can become a serious emergency." - 147 rescues in 2020 - 308 in 2023 - 359 in 2025 - 440 projected in 2026 Embarrassing really 😚 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

🌟 New blog post ✍️ I’ve made several visits to the Black Mountains over the years, but I had never climbed its highest peak, Waun Fach ⛰️ This year I decided to put this omission behind me by climbing it twice, once from the east and once from the west 🧭 www.markhorrell.com/blog/2026/wa...

"The outdoor industry has shown little appetite for publicly confronting the allegations, controversies or the behaviour of Purja’s supporters." What will Nims' legacy be now? A rare article looking at the other side by @ashrouten.com www.thegreatoutdoorsmag.com/opinion/nirm...

The source of the flood in Nepal is a collapsed glacier 🧪⚒️

🌟 New blog post ✍️ Deep in montane forest in the Dominican Republic, we heard a mournful sound like an orchestra tuning up 🎵 It was all around us, but we never saw the bird that made it. The locals had their own name for it, but what was it? 🐦 www.markhorrell.com/blog/2026/ho...

"A paper in a leading chemistry journal had to be retracted because the authors used an AI tool. The tool used the phrase “mass killing of an ethnic group” instead of “final solution”, though the paragraph in question was about a zinc nanogel." Oops 😳 www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

"I don't accept the idea that enormous experience automatically produces good judgment. Experience gives you information. Judgment determines what you do with it." Wise words by @alanarnette.bsky.social about the Broad Peak tragedy. www.alanarnette.com/2026/08/13/l...

If you want to know the exact timing of the solar eclipse in your location tomorrow evening, timeanddate.com had this useful tool where you can type in your nearest town and Bob's your uncle 🌞🌙 There is even a video showing exactly what it will look like 🌒 www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/@...

Terrible news. 10 climbers missing after an avalanche on Broad Peak, including Nirmal Purja.

This is one of the worst football matches I have ever seen, and I support SWINDON.

🌟 New blog post ✍️ I recently finished reading Mt Everest the Reconnaissance 1935 by Tony Astill 📚 The book was interesting to me for describing the first ascent of 7,045m Lhakpa Ri by Bill Tilman and Edmund Wigram, a peak that I climbed myself in 2007 🗻 www.markhorrell.com/blog/2026/ti...

And the burning question is, did the Princess join the back of the queue for her summit photo on Snowdon, or did she barge to the front? 🤔 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This made me laugh. Yes, me too. I remember getting thrashed by a team of Peruvian villagers while trekking the Huayhuash Circuit in 2002. ⚽ Not mentioned in this article: our football exploded while being carried up from a lower altitude. 💥 www.theguardian.com/football/202...

🌟 New blog post ✍️ With the Everest season over and the usual stories about traffic jams, it seems a good time to report on a far more heinous example of queuing on mountaintops that has emerged in recent years. 🙄 www.markhorrell.com/blog/2026/ho...

Speaking as a high-altitude mountaineer I advise Tuchel to slow the game down against Mexico 🗻 Azteca Stadium is at 2,200m. England have just 3 days to acclimatise 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 The difference in performance once you're acclimatised is HUGE. If the game is played at a frantic pace, Mexico will win easily 🇲🇽

I'm not sure this bit's been fact-checked by the Guardian. It sounds like training in the birds and the bees may also be needed... 😳

🌟 New blog post ✍️ People talk a lot about whether oxygen should be used for notable ascents at high altitude. They don’t talk so much about HOW MUCH oxygen is used, and this is crucial. 😮‍💨 Here’s my take based on my own experience of using different flow rates. www.markhorrell.com/blog/2026/fa...

"He described how he spent 2 days there waiting for someone to rescue him. Eventually, an avalanche fell into the crevasse and with fresh snow covering part of the hole, he managed to get out." A remarkable story. The words Joe and Simpson spring to mind. explorersweb.com/abandoned-on...

Artificial, yes. But Intelligence? Not until it understands irony... 🤦‍♂️

Tyler Andrews' fastest known time on Everest beats a 23-year-old record set by Lakpa Gelu Sherpa. The story of Sherpa rivalry to set that Everest speed record is one of the many interesting stories in @pdpbasyal.bsky.social's book Sherpa 📚 www.markhorrell.com/blog/2025/12...

This is an outstanding achievement by any criteria. But I can tell you from experience that oxygen at 4 litres/minute makes a HUGE difference to your performance, which matters if we're talking about records 🥇 explorersweb.com/tyler-andrew...

🌟 New blog post ✍️ Edita and I decided to start bagging the highest point in each of the UK’s counties 🪧 Last month, we finished the 13 historic county tops in Wales. Unlike the English tops, that include roadsides and junkyards, they are all good hills 🗻 www.markhorrell.com/blog/2026/ba...

"He had just touched the summit point and heard someone say 'you should be ashamed of yourself'." Handbags on Snowdon 👜 IMO, they need 2 summit cairns now: one for people happy to wait in line, and another for old-school folk like me who used to enjoy the scrum ⛰️⛰️ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

🌟 New blog post ✍️ A recent TV show on Channel 4 claimed that a well-known peak in South Wales resembled a set of trouser cushions, without producing photographic evidence 📸 Was it true? There was only one way to find out: to climb it and see 👀 www.markhorrell.com/blog/2026/do...

🌟 New blog post ✍️ Last year, a dog followed us for 3 days from the park entrance to the summit of Pico Duarte, the highest peak in the Caribbean, and back down again 🐶 Here’s the dog’s ascent video. You may just spot me in some of it too 📽️ www.markhorrell.com/blog/2026/my...

"Three Colombian alpinists have made an outstanding addition to the climbing history of Chimborazo." The Ecuador mountain guides won't be happy about this. It's *their* mountain 😲 At least they named the route after local legend Marco Cruz 💪 explorersweb.com/new-route-on...

"Since the boom of commercial expeditions, the route to Camp 1 on Everest has never been opened so late. Teams will barely have any time for one rotation before their summit push." explorersweb.com/everest-khum...

"Essentially, the snow slab was resting on a very fragile house of cards, always at risk of collapse." Death toll from avalanches in the Alps this season is 146, more than double that recorded in some years 🗻☠️ www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

🌟 New blog post ✍️ The Arenigs are a lesser known area of mountains in south-east Snowdonia. Most of the peaks are quite low, but one, Arenig Fawr, rises head and shoulders above the rest ⛰️ Its isolation makes it a nice hill walk with views for miles 🎨 www.markhorrell.com/blog/2026/fa...

This sentence construction ("It's not just this — it's that") has become so common in AI-generated writing that it's no longer just a clue that a piece of writing may be synthetic — it's almost a guarantee.

"I like to meander down my own primrose path... That’s why I am making a f*ck it list." Agree with the sentiment, but this list's going to be a bit too long. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

“Nothing beats the modest triumph of standing on top of a trig point in a brisk wind and we hope these two modern obelisks of concrete in the countryside will soon be recognised.” They should list all 6,000. It would be nice if some were more accessible too 📐 www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...

And in case you're wondering about the subtitle, the missing words are "line rescue"... 🤔

Sad to hear that Jim Whittaker, first American to climb Everest, has gone. I've just finished reading two classic books about the great American K2 expeditions of the 1970s, both led by him, which give good insights into his character 📚 www.markhorrell.com/blog/2026/th...

We were saddened to read of the passing of Jim Whittaker, an accomplished mountaineer, conservation advocate and businessman who in 1963 became the first American to reach the summit of Everest.

🌟 New blog post ✍️ The Rhinogs are not the loftiest peaks in Britain, but they make up for it in toughness. Paths are rough and the peaks feel wild and remote 💪 They had me staggering in exhaustion on my only previous trip. It was time for a return visit 😰 www.markhorrell.com/blog/2026/th...

www.alanarnette.com/blog/2026/04...

:The two great American kiss-and-tell K2 mountaineering books" -- @markhorrell.bsky.social #mountainit #climbingbooks www.markhorrell.com/blog/2026/th...