Episodes
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> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk
âOnce you slow down you see it allâ
Interview recorded 24/01/24
On the latest episode of Mountain Air, Dan catches up with Patrick Davies, a writer, long-distance walker and charity fundraiser whose latest book âWhere Skylarks Singâ recounts a 2250km walk across the UK mainland in the summer of 2021. âSkylarksâ, which touches on Patrickâs experiences caring for his father as he succumbed to Alzheimerâs disease, issues of identity and belonging, and the healing power of walking, explores the âhope of finding escape and answersâ.
As you might expect, Patrickâs epic walks arenât limited to 73 days spent walking across Britain, and over the last three years heâs not only traversed 1280km across the Pyrenees (carrying on afterwards to reach Barcelona on foot), but also made a 1120km trek from Strasbourg to the Mediterranean coastline too. Whatâs perhaps less expected, and makes these achievements all the more unusual, is that Patrick hadnât done any serious walking until 2021.
Prior to the pandemic, you see, the focus of Patrickâs life was as a civil servant in the foreign office - through which he served from 2013-2018 as the UKâs Deputy Ambassador to the United States of America. His experiences working with the Obama and later Trump administrations led him to write his first book, âThe Great American Delusionâ. A speaker and commentator on American politics, there can be few people who have had more of a front-row seat over a uniquely turbulent decade for the worldâs largest democracy.
Hear about all of this and why, when it comes to long-distance walks of your own, you should âdo it, without questionâ in Mountain Air Series 3, Episode 6.
> patrickjdavies.com
> linktr.ee/patrickjdavies
> alzheimersresearchuk.org
00:00 - Introduction.
02:40 - Welcome. Introducing âWhere Skylarks Singâ, recounting 1400-mile walk from Lizard Point in Cornwall to Dunnet Head in Scotland. Reasons for eschewing LEJOG. Personal motivations for the walk and the book.
08:40 - â... about three or four weeks later I found myself in Lizard Point with a very heavy backpackâ. Discussing experiences of caring for a close relative with Alzheimerâs disease, fundraising in response.
12:25 - Choosing a more mountainous line: âit seemed a little unfair to miss out the whole of Wales if youâre trying to walk across the country⊠and it got me into the Lake District as wellâ. Paring back 2-3kg after three days of walking.
16:40 - âEverything doesnât have to be perfect at the beginningâ.
18:00 - The mentality of a long walk: âItâs a slow pace, itâs a slow rhythm, and itâs repeated⊠to me it feels a bit like meditation. You just calm down, and slow downâ. A revelation to notice things, to see things, where previously the mind would be too busy, âonce you slow down you see it allâ.
22:40 - Highlights, including: the South West Coast Path, the quiet, open spaces of Mid Wales, the Lake District and (of course) Scotland.
31:30 - Advice to those considering similar walks: âDo it, without question. Once you start itâs addictiveâ.
34:30 - Previous career as the UKâs Deputy Ambassador to the United States, from 2013 to 2018. Writing âThe Great American Delusionâ. Working amongst American politics, trying to explain Brexit, witnessing the polarisation of views across the country.
42:00 - âI hanker back to a time when politics was really boring⊠civil service is about delivering things for the general publicâ.
46:15 - Recalling two great treks following walking the length of Britain: Biarritz to Barcelona via the Pyrenees (partly following the GR10, partly the haute route between it and the GR11), and from âStrasbourg to the Seaâ (involving the GR5).
53:20 - Witnessing the result of serious drought in the Alps.
56:00 - Greatest Mountain Memory: Climbing Moroccoâs Mt Toubkal in the High Atlas mountains, without much opportunity for acclimatisation (with predictable results) âmy greatest mountain memory is that I donât really remember much about being on the top, other than swaying a lotâ.
56:15 - All the time, money, freedom⊠where would you go and what would you do? Latin America, to the Andes, and particular Chileâs Torres del Paine National Park.
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> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk
âItâs about being prepared for what nature throws at usâ
Interview recorded 27/09/23
Since 2009, Mark Diggins has been the coordinator of the Scottish Avalanche Information Service (SAIS). This valuable role means overseeing hazard forecasts for Lochaber, Glen Coe, Craigh Meagaidh, Torridon and the two halves of the Cairngorms⊠as well as being part of the team that inspects âthe most unstableâ slopes and snowpacks on a daily basis. In part thanks to this excellent service, Mark is keen to highlight that being avalanched in Scotland is actually âa very rare eventâ, and that one of the guiding principles of the SAIS is to inform and encourage people to make sound judgements about their own winter adventures, and to be more likely enjoy the icy peaks as a consequence. In his words: âthe mountains are a really important place where we can learn and develop as peopleâ.
If youâd like to learn more about how avalanche hazard is measured and judged - and how the formation of a snowpack can lead it to becoming unstable - youâll find plenty of fascinating insight in this episode. What youâll also find is a comprehensive picture of how a person finds themselves in the head of such an exciting and essential public service.
Markâs life has seen him inspired by early youth hosteling trips (where heâd load himself up with heavy tins of peas and beans and sleep on piles of bracken), to serving an apprenticeship with his local climbing club, to being mentored in âhow not to be blown overâ by climbing great John Cunningham. Having dedicated himself to qualifying as an IFMGA Mountain Guide, he spent 16 years living and working in the European alps, eventually taking up other projects working alongside film and TV crews on remote and challenging projects across the globe. His adventures have taken him: across âpoorly mappedâ Greenland; âcavingâ down Lowâs Gully on Malaysiaâs Mt Kinabulu (and climbing up vines when reaching the jungle terrain that followed); to volcanic acid pools in Ethiopiaâs Danakil Depression; and to the echoing sounds of the Bedouin call to prayer in tall desert canyons.
> sais.gov.uk
> markdiggins.com
> bmg.org.uk/guide/?mark-diggins
00:00 - Introduction
02:00 - Welcome. What is the Scottish Avalanche Information Service? Taking over as Co-ordinator in 2009, now âwe have forecasters going out into the field, every single day, in six mountain areasâ
06:40 - In praise of the SAIS winter conditions blogs
08:40 - âGetting avalanched is actually a very rare eventâ, why experience and confidence (and âignoring signsâ) might lead to risk
13:00 - âGo into those environments with an open mind, and being ready to change and be flexibleâ
15:10 - Reading avalanche charts, and understanding the complexity of avalanche hazard, heading to places that are âthe most unstableâ to find out the truth
18:10 - Technical chat: Explaining how the snow pack develops, and why it fails
23:50 - âRiskâ vs âhazardâ
26:00 - âWhat we donât want is for people to go out in the mountains in the winter and be scared out of their witsâ, the need to inform without frightening, and appreciating the value of spaces where hazards are real (âthe mountains are a really important place where we can learn and develop as peopleâ)
32:07 - A personal history in the outdoors: life as a forecaster and IFMGA Mountain Guide; youth hostelling trips; carrying tins of food and sleeping on bracken above the Lake Districtâs cold, hard ground; being supported and encouraged by older members of a local climbing club
40:28 - âJohn Cunningham was able to stand and not be blown over, and I couldnât quite work out how he did that! Iâve since learned, and it is a bit of a trickâŠâ, being inspired to become a Mountain Guide
44:00 - âI would recommend that if people are going into the outdoors as an instructor or mountain guide, that you have something else as well. Itâs really importantâ. Working for the film and TV industry and guiding crews, guiding and expedition travel across the world, the attraction of judging hazards in the wild
46:58 - âGreenland was especially good because the maps arenât very good, the magnetic rocks arenât great for using compasses⊠it sounds terrible but it really went back to my roots of travelling in the mountain and making judgements in a wild place where if anything went wrong, youâre on your ownâ
50:20 - âIf there was a rainfall, all the rain would pour into this gorge and the water would rise 50ft in half an hour. So you had to be careful of where you camped overnightâ
53:30 - âBeing prepared for what nature throws at usâ
54:25 - Greatest Mountain Memory: summitting the Matterhorn with a client for whom it was a lifetime ambition
56:15 - All the time, money, freedom⊠where would you go and what would you do? Travel to central Asia (Mongolia, Tajikistan) for the mountains, the people and the culture
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Episodes manquant?
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> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk
âIt sounds a strange thing to say about a 400 million year-old mountain like An Teallach⊠but itâs fragileâ
Interview recorded 06/07/23
Dougie Baird has spent his working life building and repairing mountain paths. That makes him the the perfect person to help protect one of Scotlandâs greatest mountains.
That mountain is the ever-popular sandstone group of peaks we call An Teallach - a mountain area eroding quicker than you might expect not just due to ârainfall, footfall, scars, and cycles of erosionâ but also under the twin pressures of climate change and funding cuts. This is why the environmental charity Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland, of which Dougie is CEO, has teamed up with Mountaineering Scotland and other partners to raise a much needed ÂŁ300,000 path repair fund for An Teallach, as well as awareness of the peril facing so many peaks across Scotland and beyond.
In this hour-long interview, Dougie discusses more about and why thereâs a need for this three-year campaign, but also goes into great depth and detail about how paths help protect mountains, how anyone with the time and inclination can help volunteer to build and repair them, and what the joys and challenges are of a life dedicated to just this cause.
Heâll also explain what 10 consecutive 10hr days working in the high mountains look and feel like: how âyouâll get most of your best work done in the morningâ, how powerful a thing it can be to close your eyes âfor just five minutesâ, why the worst thing about it is the chilblains, how working in conservation can feel like a form of ânational serviceâ, how rare and precious it is to see the mountains as the sun goes down and all the walkers have left, and how fulfilling it is to work on a project thatâs âgoing to outlive usâ.
Hear all of this and more in Mountain Air Series 3, Episode 4.
> https://savemountainpaths.scot/
> https://www.outdooraccesstrustforscotland.org.uk/
00:00 - Introduction
02:22 - Welcome, all about âItâs Up to Usâ (https://savemountainpaths.scot/), âthereâs not really any organisation or government body thatâs there to care about this problemâ, complex funding models and the loss of European money
09:30 - â... itâs physically very hard, the conditions are often unpleasant to say the leastâŠâ
10:34 - Why is it important to repair and maintain the paths on An Teallach? Rainfall, footfall, scars, and cycles of erosion⊠âsome of it looks like itâs been shelledâ
13:50 - âIt sounds a strange thing to say about a 400 million year-old mountain like An Teallach⊠but itâs fragileâ
18:50 - Is it possible to repair every path on every hill? And how to volunteer
21:55 - A day in the life of a path repair team
30:10 - âThereâs nothing worse than having a bag of helicopter stones even fifty metres away from where you want them. Itâs a nightmareâ
33:13 - âThe few days where itâs nice to just lie back and enjoy the scenery and soak up the sun are so rare that youâll take a bit of time off for them, you really will. More often than not itâll be quite cold. Possibly raining. Possibly snowing. Possibly hailingâ
37:45 - âDay eight was a killer. You felt like you were working three times as hard, but your productivity definitely dipped. Your effort didnât, but your productivity didâ
38:25 - Women in path work
40:20 - Getting started in path repair, being an âunemployed youth in 1980s central Scotlandâ, working with redundant miners, discovering conservation âIâd just seen land as a thing I grew up in that you used to be able to work in and couldnât anymoreâ46:59 - âMy gear was⊠so badâ
49:00 - âIâll never forget watching the sun go down at 11 at night in late May, with the eagles circling⊠the mountain you see after all the visitors and hillwalkers have left⊠I thought it was absolutely fascinatingâ
51:10 - Finding funding for conservation âI never knew if I had a job next year until New Yearâs Eveâ
56:35 - Taking part in work âthatâs going to outlive usâ
57:30 - Greatest Mountain Memory: climbing Kebnekaise in Sweden in a âhostile, extreme physical environmentâ with 24hr sun, âIâll never forget having the entire mountain to ourselves as we walked out at two, three in the morning in that glaciated, arctic landscape. Thatâll stay with me foreverâ
59:44 - All the time, money, freedom⊠where would you go and what would you do? Walking the Pyrenees from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, âthereâs something about it⊠itâs got culture and history that I find really compellingâ
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> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk
âUnderpinning it all was this ridiculously amazing team behind me⊠two years of planning was spent gathering an army of friends and strangers.â
Episode 3#03 meets Jamie Aarons, who on 26 June 2023 became the fastest person ever to have completed a self-propelled round of the Munros. In doing so, she covered more than 2,576km of ground by foot, bike and kayak and recorded more than 135,000m of ascent. The entire round of Scotlandâs 282 highest peaks took her just 31 days, 10 hours and 27 minutes.
⊠but all of this you may already know from reading about it in the outdoor press and even the national media.
What you wonât know, however, is the story direct from Jamie herself. And here she is to do so - during a lunch break from her day job in social care, no less - for the latest episode of Mountain Air. In this hour-long interview, Jamie explains how she feels after such a mammoth undertaking, her motivations for attempting it in the first place, and just what it took - both from her and from her extensive support team - to claim such an astonishing record.
So, if youâve ever wondered aboutâŠ
how powerful the âmicronapâ can be
whether itâs possible to fit a challenge like this into your annual leave
just how inspirational a force an army of friends and well-wishers can be
which Microsoft Office product is key to tackling a Munro speed challenge
what it is that draws outdoor people to the Highlands from across the globe
⊠or if âhating running with a bit of a passionâ precludes you from winning an ultra raceâŠ
⊠youâve come to the right place.
> Read all about Jamieâs record-breaking round here: jamiesmunrochallenge.run
> ⊠and here: ukhillwalking.com/news/2023/06/jamie_aarons_sets_new_munro_round_speed_record-73379
> Follow Jamie on Instagram, Facebook and YoutubeâŠ
instagram.com/jamieaaruns
facebook.com/people/Jamie-Aarons/100090560726414
youtube.com/channel/UCpjvRJ9lrOlPbTGSjgIUTdQ
> Donate to World Bicycle Relief here: justgiving.com/page/jamiesmunrochallenge
Listen, enjoy, tell your friends, subscribe to the podcast if you get and chance, and thank UKHillwalking.com for their kind support of this series!
[episode recorded on 05/07/23]
00:00 - Introduction.
03:14 - Welcome, fastest ever self-propelled Munro record, âitâs all still a bit surrealâ, feeling âquite lethargic, a little less narcolepticâ, falling asleep during meals, an overview of the challenge.
07:40 - Sleeping âconsiderably lessâ than four hour a night, the skill of âmicronapsâ for periods as little as 60 seconds.
11:24 - A 2,576km route⊠and other stats, âthe terrain isnât conveyed in those stats - not every kilometre is equal⊠the most efficient route was to connect many hills in ways that are not commonly done (or never done)â. An âincredibly specialâ challenge.
14:04 - What does it take to complete such a challenge? The âglimmer of maybeâ. A lifetime of building endurance. The enjoyment of the planning, spreadsheets, friends and logistics, âcoming to grips with new aspects of Excelâ.
17:20 - âUnderpinning it all was knowing that I had this ridiculously amazing team behind me⊠that two years of planning was gathering an army of friends and strangersâ.
18:12 - Gathering supporters. A hiking challenge, not a running one, a âcontinuously putting one foot in front of the other challengeâ. An overview of the support involved.
22:20 - âLots of chat⊠it was about sharing time on the hills with friends old and new⊠itâs a lot easier to take a 60 second nap when thereâs someone hovering over you, waiting to wake you upâ.
23:20 - âEven before we started weâd made what I knew were lifelong friendships through the planning. Even if we hadnât been successful, thereâs success in finding these kindred spirits of cyclists and hillwalkersâ.
26:40 - The sport of âdot watching Jamieâ... âa bit overwhelming, but incredibly motivatingâ.
28:28 - Growing up as a competitive swimmer, life in California, University in Chicago, living in New Zealandâs South Island, moving to Scotland in 2005. Starting a career in social work.
31:00 - Praising the âright to roamâ, being an âoutdoors person
35:30 - âI never ran growing up, I hated it with a bit of a passionâ, building up the tenacity and endurance to win ultra races. Running the West Highland Way in a day because it wasnât clear if it were possible or not.
38:43 - Comparing ultra-running and social work.
42:00 - Greatest Mountain Memory: on the challenge, in the Fannichs with friends, inspiring a daughterâs 13-year-old daughter to âstorm aheadâ, âit so reflected in that moment what Iâd hoped to create in the challenge⊠it brought tears to my eyes thenâ.
45:50 - All the time, money, freedom⊠where would you go and what would you do? Getting into bike-packing, using the bike to enable travel abroad. Raising money for World Bicycle Relief and seeing their work.
47:25 - How can someone break this record? âI donât doubt the record will be broken by someone that can move over ground more efficiently⊠but what weâve greatest otherwise is here to stayâ.
48:55 - Future plans: being a âdedicated support person for the short to medium-term⊠Iâm literally not allowed to say noâ.
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> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk
âThereâs no greater feeling than finding people alive in the mountains.â
Episode 3#02 meets a legendary figure in Search and Rescue circles. A member of RAF Mountain Rescue for 37 years, David âHeavyâ Whalley has attended more than a thousand call-outs, and saved the lives of so many people in the hills that heâs routinely been approached by rescuees during his lecture tours in the years afterwards. Heâs managed rescue teams across the UKâs mountain ranges, ice climbed in Canada, helped orchestrate a successful expedition (and incidentally saved multiple members of less fortunate teams) on Everestâs north ridge, and been awarded numerous honours from an MBE to a Distinguished Service Award.
But thereâs been a darker side to his career too. Amongst the impressive statistics of his time on the hill there are nearly 70 aircraft crashes which heâs attended in person. He was senior team leader during the recovery efforts following the Lockerbie bombing. Heâs been part of teams attending tragic mountain-related fatalities throughout the hills across multiple decades. Heâs no stranger to post-traumatic stress, a term which only came into common use once his career was underway.
And yet, hear Heavy speak about this lifetime of service in the mountains, and heâs as effusive now as he was as a âwee, skinny laddieâ who joined the RAF in 1971 (aged just 17 years old). Heâs close to completing his ninth circuit of the Munros, and though he may be retired from RAF Mountain Rescue, nothing gives him greater pleasure than seeing the young generations of rescuers find the same joy in the job that he did for all those years.
Hear all of this, and enjoy an inspirational hour of a life lived to its fullest, in Series 3, Episode 2.
> Find out more about Heavy here: http://www.heavywhalley.com/
> Read Heavyâs blog here: https://heavywhalley.wordpress.com/
> See Heavyâs recent award for âexcellent in mountain cultureâ here: https://mountainfestival.co.uk/culture-awards/david-heavy-whalley-2023
> Follow him on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/heavywhalley
Listen, enjoy, tell your friends, subscribe to the podcast if you get and chance, and thank UKHillwalking.com for their kind support of this series!
[episode recorded on 23/03/23]
00:00 - Introduction
02:50 - Welcome, Heavy: âI was told to go away and put some weight onâ, 5â4â but still able to handle himself.
05:35 - A lifetime in RAF search and rescue as an air crash expert. Losing aircraft crews training in the mountains. Handling nearly 70 aircraft crashes.
09:54 - âYou can have the best team in the world, but if youâre searching in the wrong place youâre wasting your timeâ.
10:20 - âWeâre working in conditions when other people donât go outâ... and avalanche warnings only started in the late 1980s. The benefits and challenges of technology.
14:20 - Working on the Lockerbie bombing, no knowledge of post-traumatic stress disorder and at the time, âIt took me 25 years⊠and Iâve never got over itâ.
18:37 - Mountain rescue âis an amazing system, that we should all be proud of. But itâs a dangerous gameâ.
19:03 - Plenty of individual awards, but âunfortunately I donât believe in these things. In the military you donât have an option. They should be team awardsâ. Losing friends.
21:15 - Why did you turn to this career? The son of a Scottish Minister, but âI was a wild child⊠and it was join the air force or get into troubleâ.
22:44 - âThereâs no greater feeling than finding people alive in the mountains. Itâs unique and itâs wonderful. The joy of it is phenomenalâ.
24:40 - Celebrating the rise of women in the outdoors.
26:10 - âSandals, shorts and t-shirts on the top of Goat Fellâ.
28:27 - Joining the RAF at 17: âI was a wee, skinny laddie, but I was very fitâ.
31:17 - âThrown in at the deep endâ with mountain rescues, three climbing deaths on Ben Nevis.
35:20 - âPeople would always ask me how Iâve stayed in the military so long, because I would always question everything⊠which a lot of people didnât likeâ.
36:15 - Mountain kit. Working with military issue, and slowly improving it, âwe were in plastic bivvies freezing all night⊠the Americans couldnât believe what we did⊠nothing fitted a wee boy, my trousers were huge!â.
40:37 - Using the Munros for training: âthe best way to get the guys fit is to blast them around these hillsâ
41:50 - Being one of the first groups to go ice-climbing in Canada, âit was phenomenal, youâve never seen ice like this⊠ice screws that worked!â.
44:07 - The 2001 Everest North Ridge expedition⊠with a garden shed. Put two on the summit and were involved in three rescuesâŠ. âYou can get yaks to 21,000ft, thatâs the height of McKinleyâ, âon any big mountain the objective dangers are huge, a serac can fallâ.
49:10 - Greatest Mountain Memory: advanced base camp on Everest, filling 50 bags of rubbish with the Sherpa team, and paying for it themselves. Plus, back in Fort William, seeing the younger generation find as much joy in rescue.
54:25 - âMountaineering is very selfish, so all we can do is make it as safe as we can⊠you canât explain it to people that donât do itâ. Recovering from trauma and the loss of friends in the hills. Plans for writing a book, and meeting rescued walkers and climbers at lectures.
58:05 - All the time, money, freedom⊠where do you go and what do you do? âIâd like to go and trek through the Himalays with my granddaughters, to show them the mountains Iâve been on. That would be wonderful. It would give me a big buzz. Weâre very lucky with what weâve got, weâve just got to fight to keep itâ. -
> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk
âI get excited about something and I say yes, and then I do it. And I enjoy doing it, so I keep doing it.â
Episode 3#01 of Mountain Air stars Steph McKenna, winner of the fabulously titled 2023 Fort William Festival âScottish Youth Award for Excellence in Mountain Cultureâ.
Steph was caught unawares by the award (mainly because she had not idea sheâd been nominated), but look into why she won and itâs hardly a surprise at all. Though only 22-years old, she has lent emotional support to those that need it volunteering and mentoring for her local charity Lochaber Hope, overseen positive changes for young people and helped them grow a sense of âcamaraderie, place and purposeâ in the Lochaber Youth Theatre, worked as a seasonal ranger for the John Muir Trust on the Nevis range, co-founded the Fort William Foxes (a mountain biking group focused on encouraging and empowering women riders), and even found time to gain a first-class degree in Psychology for which she wrote an award-winning final year dissertation entitled âAn Interpretation of wild swimming in the Scottish Highlands. The relationship between flow, the therapeutic landscape and wellbeingâ.
How does one achieve so many things by so young an age? Where does the energy to tirelessly help others come from? Which Lord of the Rings character did she pretend to be as a child? Can you ever run out of adventures in the Lochaber area? How does Utah compare to the West Highlands? Are you ever too young to be covered in mud or submerged in an icy river? What ties together carbon sequestration and the future of the highland water vole?
The answers to all these questions and more feature in this first episode of the third series of Mountain Air.
> Read more about Steph McKenna here: https://mountainfestival.co.uk/culture-awards/stephanie-mckenna-ya-2023/
[episode recorded on 10/03/23]
> Listen, enjoy, tell your friends, subscribe to the podcast if you get and chance, and thank UKHillwalking.com for their kind support of this series!
00:00 - Introduction
02:50 - Welcome, winning the Fort William Festival âScottish Youth Award for Excellent in Mountain Cultureâ award⊠but not having a Fort William accent. Also, Utah.
08:38 - Volunteering and mentoring for Lochaber Hope, âteaching people that they have it in them to heal themselvesâ. Building a âgarden of hopeâ. Using the landscape and green space.
14:37 - Lochaber Youth Theatre âa real sense of camaraderie, and place and purpose⊠and the positive changes in the kids involved⊠that made me want to study psychologyâ.
20:40 - Motivations for volunteer work: âI just get excited about something and I say yes, and then I do it. And I enjoy doing it, so I keep doing it ⊠I just enjoy the vibrancy of meeting different people and opening up the dialogue about wellnessâ.
21:43 - It was Benjamin Franklin!
22:20 - Seasonal Ranger(ing) for the John Muir Trust on the Ben Nevis range. Spending days âabsolutely covered in mudâ. Sequestration. Water voles. Raptors.
28:38 - Mountain Biking, working with bikes and riding for pleasure - Fort William Foxes, âopening up a space for those just getting into biking, maybe being a little nervous, and just wanting to ride with some other ladiesâ.
33:30 - âItâs a little bit easier to be silly and embarrassed about some of the girly stuff⊠or simply beings scared⊠womenâs spaces in the outdoors open up the conversation for women to be a bit goofier, or less formal, or just a bit gross!â.
35:00 - Pretending to be Frodo Baggins, with the dog.
36:20 - Discovering outdoor sports. Wild swimming (âI was always swimming in the river as a kidâ), falling through ice.
39:00 - Hillwalking and mountaineering, an epic sunrise around Steall Falls. Ice climbing. Scotland as a âhuge open space with limitless potentialâ.
43:10 - Greatest mountain memory: a childhood visit to the Steall Falls, remembered later in life.
45:35 - All the time, money, freedom⊠what do you do? Research into the effects of mountains on mental wellbeing.
47:25 - Gardening and putting the bumper back on the car.
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> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk
âI love being able to share what I experience⊠taking folk to places they wouldn't feel confident to get to by themselves.â
Episode 2#10 is thrilled to meet Kirsty Pallas, of Oban in the West Highlands. Kirsty is an outdoor instructor of more than a decadeâs experience who the 16,000 members of Mountaineering Scotland may also recognise as one of the groupâs Mountain Safety Advisors.
Kirstyâs progress in her outdoor career has been as swift as it has been successful: inspired by school-age work experience at her local outdoor centre, Kirsty leapt straight into outdoor instruction immediately upon turning 18. Since that point, sheâs gained her Summer Mountain Leader, Winter Mountain Leader and Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor Awards, and has even found time to be a serving member of Oban Mountain Rescue team for the past nine years. And all long before her 30th birthday.
When not finding time to climb on Buachaille Etive Mor and other classic Scottish peaks, Kirsty puts much of her spare energies into promoting inclusivity in the hills. A co-founder of advocacy group Our Shared Outdoors, and of mixed-race heritage herself, she has a driving passion for Britainâs mountains and believes everybody should feel equally free and welcome to enjoy their beauty and challenges.
> Discover more about Mountaineering Scotland: www.mountaineering.scot
> Learn about Our Shared Outdoors: www.oursharedoutdoors.org
Listen, enjoy, tell your friends, subscribe to the podcast if you get and chance, and thank UKHillwalking.com for their kind support of this series!
[episode recorded on 07/10/22]
00:00 - Introduction
02:11 - Welcome, all about Mountaineering Scotland (âthe Scottish equivalent of the British Mountaineering Councilâ) and life as a Mountain Safety Advisor
08:11 - The approach of winter, spreading the message of mountain safety (âitâs really hard to change the batteries in your head torch if you donât have a lightâ)
10:39 - A personal history in the mountains: inspired by work experience at an outdoor centre, registering for Mountain Training awards immediately on turning 18
14:56 - A guide to outdoor assessments: Summer Mountain Leader, Winter Mountain Leader, Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor (âthey give you as many chances as they can⊠and if youâre deferred on any element itâs because of a trend rather than a one-offâ)
21:51 - Nine years of experience in Oban Mountain Rescue, covering Ben Cruachan to the Black Mount, Ben Lui, and the Isle of Mull (âhave a bag packed, ready to goâ), use of drones
30:01 - âI love being able to share what I get to experience with so many different peopleâ
33:51 - Long-term goals and fulfilling ambitions in the outdoors (Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor by age 30), âwhat I enjoy is the varietyâ
37:21 - âFor me, inclusivity is that everyone feels welcomed into the hillsâ, the importance of feeling represented, the absence of generational experience
41:31 - Our Shared Outdoors, âa group of people that want to see things become more diverse within the outdoorsâ, film events that focus on under-represented groups
44:41 - Ways to make others feel welcome in the outdoors, supportive conversations and raised awareness
48:16 - Greatest mountain memory⊠climbing âThe Chasmâ on Buachaille Etive Mor, âwhat decisions did I take in my life that have led me to this moment, and why did I make those decisions?â
51:31 - All the time, money, freedom⊠what do you do? A climbing road trip across Canada and the US: Yosemite, Squamish and more.
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> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk
âYouâve got to acknowledge that youâre just a fragment in time.â
Episode 2#9 settles down with Doug Bartholomew, a man who has the dream job of managing one of Scotlandâs great landscapes. Seek him on a weekday, Saturday or Sunday and youâll find him and his team of fellow NatureScot employees on Beinn Eighe and Loch Maree Islands National Nature Reserve in Wester Ross. This 48 square kilometres of magnificent highland wilderness requires hard work to keep it running sustainably, and constant attention is required to replenish the native Caledonia pinewoods that still grow in these soils. As a consequence, Doug finds himself stalking deer, nurturing and planting up to 20,000 pine seedlings, and enduring vicious swarms of midges throughout his working year. Told you it was a dream job.
Doug reveals how he came to be in this âdead manâs shoesâ kind of role, why volunteers on the reserve are absolutely essential to its continued success, and how much joy can be found running and climbing in this exceptional landscape when you wake and work between its peaks.
> Want to volunteer at Beinn Eighe and Loch Maree Islands NNR yourself? Walk this way.
Listen, enjoy, tell your friends, subscribe to the podcast if you get and chance, and thank UKHillwalking.com for their kind support of this series!
[episode recorded on 30/08/22]
00:00 - Introduction
01:56 - Welcome, living on Beinn Eighe Nature Reserve (âitâs a short commute to workâ) amongst the âlargest remnantâ of ancient Caledonian pinewood
06:06 - A run-down of a Reserve Managerâs job, stalking deer and growing trees from seed
09:06 - A small team for a 5,000 hectare area
11:24 - Growing 20,000 trees per year, repairing deforestation by humans and herbivores
16:06 - âAs a manager, you want to see things happen in your time⊠but especially with woodland restoration like this youâve got to acknowledge that youâre just a fragment in time when you think of the hundreds of years itâll need to restore these landscapes.â
17:11 - More about deer management, âaiming for a about 1-2 deer per kilometre squaredâ, the absence of apex predators (âwe donât have an intact natural processâ)
20:06 - A ââdead manâs shoesâ kind of job
20:36 - Dougâs journey to becoming a Reserve Manager, the challenges of conservation, feeling a connection to the environment
29:36 - Getting out in the evenings and getting up high - âif you can run, you can pack a lot into a short time⊠to get up on the Beinn Eighe ridge while the lightâs flooding in from the westâ, the scrambly mountain running in the area
32:46 - Multi-pitch trad climbing on Beinn Eighe, and the appeals of winter when ice climbing is in. Being one step ahead of UKClimbingâs forums
36:26 - Welcoming the general public, the first waymarked route in Britain which rises to 500m with views of Loch Maree
38:16 - The hardest days on the job, being uplifted by the âvibrance and enthusiasmâ of volunteers on the Reserve, enjoying their varied backgrounds
41:40 - Midge chat: âthe weatherâs not always hot and sunny⊠and my house must be one of the midge-iest spots in Scotland. They never lose their biteâ... donât end up with a âlather of dead midges all over youâ... âgrimaceâ
45:36 - Greatest mountain memory⊠a winter traverse of the Cuillin in perfect weather and perfect snow conditions; a winter climb of the Fiddlerâs Nose (âIâm still buzzingâ)
48:16 - All the time, money, freedom⊠what would you do? Climbing in Alaska and the Himalayas, but âI love my job and Iâm pretty content, so I wouldnât ask for much moreâ
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> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk
Episode 2#08 sits down with the charming and disarming J.R. Harris. Since 1966, J. Robert Harris has undertaken more than 50 multi-week trips into the worldâs wild places: âall unsupported and most of them aloneâ. Heâs driven to where the US road systems end (or did in the late 60s), 120 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska, and heâs since been above the Arctic Circle 15 times (âthereâs a lot I want to see up thereâ, he says). Heâs tracked down caribou migrations in the Yukon, lived amongst Inuit people, and walked some of the finest hiking trails in the Dolomites, on New Zealandâs South Island, in Chilean Patagonia and in the North American Rockies. And, after a lifetime of making dramatic journeys an annual habit, in 2017 he published his first memoir: Way Out There: Adventures of a Wilderness Trekker.
Perhaps most impressively of all though is this: heâs just a regular guy from New York. Well, perhaps not so regular. He grew up poor in one of the cityâs many low-income housing projects with a lot of family love and support, but no money to make his ambitions happen⊠and the outdoors wasnât even a part of his thinking until the Boy Scouts introduced him to landscapes without pigeons, concrete and cockroaches. He got a job, earned himself a scholarship and put himself through university at Queenâs College. After graduation, he founded his own marketing company and settled into a life of work, family, and meticulous planning of audacious adventures all across the planet.
Since 1993 heâs been a member of the prestigious Explorerâs Club, and in recent years heâs dedicated himself to giving motivational talks to schools, clubs and social organisations. J.R.âs message is simple: if he can do it, then you can do it.
> Find out all about J.R. at https://www.jrinthewilderness.com/
Listen, enjoy, tell your friends, subscribe to the podcast if you get and chance, and thank UKHillwalking.com for their kind support of this series!
[episode recorded on 09/06/22]
00:00 - Introduction
02:35 - Welcome, a native New Yorker with a 50 or 60 Grateful Dead t-shirts
05:45 - Growing up in the projects, âlife was tough, but you get a certain knowledge that doesnât come through books or schoolâ
07:40 - A âkicking and screamingâ sign up for the Boy Scouts, âit was not compatible with growing up in the cityâ.
09:00 - âThe first time I ever saw grass I tried to smoke itâ
12:20 - Requisitioning food and heading out into the wild to be alone with nature: âI would spend most of my time in the summer off by myselfâ
14:00 - âThere were very few black kids there. It was probably a combination of parents who couldnât afford it, and a crazy notion that Boy Scouts wasnât really the kind of thing that a black kid from the street in New York city would want to be in. That was the mindset back thenâ.
15:05 - âI was a different guy when I came back⊠and I got a lot of respect somehowâ.
16:45 - âMy folks told me when I was young that they would give me everything they could that I would need to be successful. But they also told me that everything they gave me would not be enough, and that if I wanted to fulfil my dreams - whatever they may be - I was pretty much going to have to make that happenâ, working, being awarded a scholarship and attending Queenâs College to study Psychology.
20:40 - First travels: âa piece of crap Volkswagen Beetleâ and a 9,000 mile road trip as far north as roads go, 120 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska (âthere would be no vehicles between me and the North Poleâ).
23:50 - âI want to know whatâs behind those mountains. I want to know what rivers, valleys and wildlife⊠and what itâs like to be back there.â
26:00 - â... sitting on the back of my car holding two coins: a quarter and a dime. And that 35 cents was the last money I had.â
30:20 - A career in market research, starting a business âDonât convince yourself that itâs impossible. If you want to do it, just figure out how to do it and go do itâ. JRH Marketing Services is now âthe oldest African-American-owned marketing consulting firm in the United Statesâ.
33:40 - Mixing multi-week global trips with an adult life (âitâs funny how they add up to 50 so quicklyâ)
36:30 - What makes it special to travel alone? (âIâve never been lonely out there, and Iâve never come back early from a tripâ)
40:20 - âIâm a curious guy with a valid credit cardâ
44:00 - âThe smartest thing I ever did in all these trips was to keep a journal⊠now Iâm pushing 80 Iâm still doing trips, Iâm still writing journalsâ
46:18 - Contrasting the different environments around the world.
49:00 - âI plan very intricately, and I take the time to send away for topo mapsâ, researching long-distance trips in the pre-internet age.
51:10 - Gear chat, testing outdoor kit for Backpacker magazine (ânobody can tell me my pack is too heavy, because nobodyâs carrying it but meâ)
54:50 - âIâm using the same Thermarest mattress that I was using in 1980â
55:45 - Hand-rolled cigars and a pint of Cognac (âitâs going to last you 18 daysâ)
59:30 - Is there anyone thatâs inspired you? âTo be totally honest: no. And the reason is: there was nobody. I always wanted to be an explorer, but there was never any explorer I could look up to. I knew somebody like Matthew Henson who went to the North Pole in 1909 was a black man. But they never taught us about that in school. I heard about (Robert) Peary, but I never knew there was a guy with him that looked like me⊠I had to find my own motivation, I had to find my own inspirationâ
61:30 - Motivational talks to New York schools: âIf I can do it, you can do itâ
66:45 - Greatest mountain memory⊠10 March 1992, losing the trail, a backpack, a lot of body heat, and nearly everything in the mountains of south-west Tasmania (âthe hardest trip I ever did, by the wayâ).
71:15 - All the time, money, freedom⊠what would you do? Five places: the top of Everest, the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the North Pole, the South Pole, the moon.
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> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk
Episode 2#07 gets to know none other than multi-talented photojournalist David Lintern. Based in Kingussie in the Cairngorms National Park, David is an outdoor writer and photographer of high reputation. Youâve likely seen his images and read his words across many different magazines and websites that focus on Britainâs hills, mountains and rivers. So, who better to spend an hour with discussing the challenges and rewards of this environment we all love so much?
Having just released his latest book, âThunder Road: Voices from the Cape Wrath Trailâ, Davidâs keen to describe the landscapes and people discovered along the most famous hiking route in Scotlandâs epic north-west, as well as to discuss what heâs trying to achieve in documenting these unique subjects.
He also shares the fascinating story of how a person ends up living the life of an environmental journalist in the Scottish Highlands - a dream job, perhaps, but one which brings plenty of insecurity with its limitless freedoms. From London-based cinema projectionist, to âscruffy musicianâ, to founder of a childrenâs charity, Davidâs journey has taken him from a deeply urban life to one spent amongst the wildest of places. Thereâs even time to discuss a fateful two-month hike of the Pyrenees and a formative winter mountaineering trip across the Ben Alder range with some deeply eerie detailsâŠ
Visit www.davidlintern.com to find out more about Davidâs work, and make sure to catch up with him on Instagram too: @davidjlintern
Listen, enjoy, tell your friends, subscribe to the podcast if you get and chance, and thank UKHillwalking.com for their kind support of this series!
[episode recorded on 26/05/22]
00:00 - Introduction
03:23 - Welcome, âa photographer and writer focusing on human-powered travel, landscape and the environmentâ, discussing the book âThunder Road: Voices from the Cape Wrath Trailâ
06:53 - Most definitely not âstriding forth under self-imposed adversityâ, more details of the Cape Wrath experience
13:28 - War games off the Scottish coast
17:33 - âVanishing Pointâ photography project, the struggles of being a freelancer during the COVID pandemic, âlots of freedom, but lots of insecurityâ
20:13 - Enjoying âthe wrestleâ of writing, details of an outdoor media career, âesoteric ramblingsâ
27:38 - âWe were all feeling pretty experimental in COVID, werenât we?â
28:33 - Coming to the outdoors relatively late, discovering the mountains as an adult. A former life as a London-based cinema projectionist, youth music worker, sound engineer, and university lecturer⊠seeing âliterally thousands of films at the National Film Theatreâ
33:23 - Becoming a community music leader, setting up the Soundmix charity (http://www.soundmix.org.uk/who-we-are/), working with the refugee council and âunaccompanied minorsâ, âwhat can a scruffy musician do?â
35:23 - An âearly mid-life crisisâ expressed by walking across the Pyrenees in a two-month charity trip, starting to work with the John Muir Trust
38:10 - A passion for cinema, music and soundtracks, performing background music for TV programmes, an interest in analogue machinery
40:13 - Creating electronic music and dub via Projector Records: âto call it a record label would suggest that it actually functioned⊠it was basically a group of friends that lived in a house in the mid-90sâ
42:51 - Some heartfelt words about a love of the outdoors and life in Kingussie, âwhen you live here you realise that theyâre called the grey hills and the red hills for a reason⊠itâs a special placeâ
49:39 - âThe bit thatâs important to me is allowing other people to speak⊠really Iâm the least interesting bit of the equationâ.
53:03 - Enriching your life through experiences in the âheavensâ. How can we bring those transformative experiences back down to our everyday lives.
54:23 - Greatest mountain memory⊠a long winter mountaineering weekend in the Ben Alder range, the Lancet Edge, eerie sounds, unsettling footsteps, a golden eagle.
59:23 - All the time, money, freedom⊠what would you do? A simple answer⊠and a more complicated one: fixing the gap between recreational hill people, and those that live and work on the land, conservation and shooting estates (âwe have big environmental decisions to make as a society⊠and weâre not able to have those conversationsâ)
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> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk
Episode 2#06 welcomes a man that may be the most prolific hillwalker in history. Thatâs because Rob Woodall has spent the past 40 years systematically completing every list of peaks, tops, prominences and trig points in existence. Putting to one side the popular lifetime achievements of the Munros, the Corbetts, the Wainwrights and such; heâs summited all 1,556 âMarilynsâ (UK peaks with a relative prominence of 150m), touched at least 6,190 trig points, and even stood atop all 2,271 âTuMPsâ on the Welsh mainland (a deeply esoteric list of raised ground with Thirty and Upward Metre Prominences).
Since recently semi-retiring his ambitions have even turned to the list of global âUltraâ peaks, which are those with a topographic prominence of 1,500m. There are 119 in Europe (not including the Matterhorn or the Eiger whose high cols preclude them), none in Britain (poor Ben Nevis), and so far at least 1,515 have been identified across the world. Nobody has come close to completing this list, and Rob doesnât believe they are ârealistically completable by anybodyâ. But heâs still quietly ticking them off.
His achievements havenât gone unnoticed, and itâs likely that you will have read about him in the outdoor press⊠but so many questions remain:
How has he achieved such incredible hillbagging feats whilst being based in the lowland city of Peterborough?
Has his lifelong career in civil engineering given him the map-savvy skills to achieve his goals?
How does he endure so much driving?
What kit does he wear when heâs out in the hills?
Is there any moment of his spare time that isnât spent hunting down summits?
How do you access a sea stack?
Can microspikes keep you from slipping on guano?
Is he aware of quite how bonkers the whole thing seems to those outside the hobby?
Listen, enjoy, tell your friends, subscribe to the podcast if you get and chance, and thank UKHillwalking.com for their kind support of this series!
[episode recorded on 18/11/21]
Note: as there were a number of months in-between recording and publication, the ever-thorough Rob would like to point out thatâŠ
The newly created North Northants unitary authority's top is a new hill! See Mill Hill
There's not even a Hump in East Anglia (there are none east of Northampton's Arbury Hill)
He is now 62
Elbrus, for obvious reasons, is no longer in his current climbing plans
The Africa trip mentioned near the end of the interview was not feasible due to COVID restrictions
Time stampsâŠ
00:00 - Introduction
02:02 - Welcome, âmind-bending achievementsâ
03:57 - Defining the hill-bagging lists (Robâs done them all)
09:22 - âAnything which sticks out of the ground in Britain⊠youâve stood on top of?â
10:17 - *2021
14:17 - Starting a hill-bagging career in his early 20s, opening up further ticklists (birds, botany)
18:02 - A friendly rivalry with Ken Whyte (who sadly passed away after this interview was recorded, see his obituary here: https://www.peakbagger.com/climber/climber.aspx?cid=7239), the camaraderie of chartering boats with fellow baggers to reach isolated island peaks, cake, whiskey and parties on the tops
20:12 - âItâs not the sort of number that you can get to accidentallyâ
22:32 - The practicalities of bagging: sleeping in the car, keeping up fitness, mountain running the âBig Threeâ rounds
27:37 - Bagging the 6,200+ Trig Pillars (âthey keep disappearing, a few get re-found which is always excitingâ)
32:02 - ⊠nuclear sub base⊠critical assets that are ârather well defended⊠20 years ago the fences were very differentâ
34:02 - Coping with mammoth amounts of driving: âIâm a big fan of Radio 4â
36:32 - Favourite parts of the UK hills and âspectacularly wet daysâ
40:22 - Sea stacks, gannet colonies, the October âsweet spotâ and microspikes
47:32 - âIâm pretty obsessive, yeahâŠâ
48:32 - Praising the Buffalo Teclite and various phone apps
51:42 - The global âultrasâ (1,500m prominence)... which arenât ârealistically completable by anybodyâ
56:17 - Using local guides
60:32 - âTaking on something when you donât know if itâs possible or not⊠you get a real buzz when itâs complete.â
62:02 - Greatest mountain memory⊠Mount Odin in British Columbia âyou canât really see it from anywhere⊠itâs grizzly bear countryâ
64:32 - All the time, money, freedom⊠what do you do? Disappear into the Andes for a number of months
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Episode 2#05 cosies up with the irrepressible Sarah Jane Douglas. In 2019 Sarah published her first book: Just Another Mountain, an autobiographical story of loss and grief, but ultimately joy, love and empowerment found in the wild beauty of the Scottish Highlands. It was a huge success. So much so that it saw her lauded across the national press and invited onto ITVâs flagship breakfast show for a friendly âbaptism of fireâ (Sarahâs words) with Lorraine Kelly.
You may also recognise her from across the outdoor press (including this episodeâs sponsor UKHillwalking.com), where she contributes everything from gear reviews to in-depth walking features.
What you may not know is that sheâs also: a long-term member of the security team at Inverness Airport, a prolific artist and painter, a mother of two, a cancer survivor, a fanatical Corbett wildcamper, Munroist #5764 (âcompleatedâ in 2015), a habitual destroyer of electronics, a hardened instigator (and resolver) of hillwalking disasters, a shameless follower of many soaps, very much a native Highlander, and one of the most passionate, dedicated and candid mountaineers youâre likely to hear on this podcast or any other. She also has an axe.
> Read more about Sarah here: www.jennybrownassociates.com/sarah-jane-douglas.htm
> ⊠and here: smashingcancerintheface.wordpress.com/about
Listen, enjoy, tell your friends, subscribe to the podcast if you get and chance, and thank UKHillwalking.com for their kind support of this series!
[episode recorded on 09/12/21]
> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk
00:00 - Introduction
02:00 - Welcome, airport shifts and winter escapes to the hills, why Inverness is âthe absolute best place in the whole of Scotland to liveâ
06:50 - Itâs not about the bagging
07:50 - âBeing up on the mountains soothed me, and made my troubles seem to melt temporarilyâ
09:07 - Writing âJust Another Mountainâ: âObviously Iâm going to have to burn them before I die, because thereâs no way I could have anyone reading some of the content thatâs in there, let me tell youâŠâ
11:58 - A âbaptism of fireâ with Lorraine Kelly.
13:00 - What do people find in the book? âThey see a lot of themselves in the words that Iâve written⊠there is always hope as well, no matter how dark and grim life can become, there is a way forward through those troubles and difficultiesâ
14:40 - A family history, loss, tragedy and childhood climbing (âthears a bairn on thaâ ruf!â)
22:00 - Artwork: âI was always scribbling on my grannyâs walls. She would go mentalâ. A broken ankle and an opportunity to paint again.
29:10 - Celebrating disaster with âgonzoâ outdoor writing, lost tents, drenched electronics, milk-clogged Jetboils, crisps for breakfast, weeing all over yourself⊠âI canât have nice things, they just get trashedâ
42:51 - âThe important thing to me is that I am well and that I am restored by the activities I love to do, and I do love the mountainsâ
45:10 - Being alone in the outdoors, âhill hysteriaâ, people being âsubjected to my singingâ, the nightmare of the hillwalking earworm.
50:00 - Foreign trips to the hills, âI always have this yearning to be on the highest spot thatâs possible for my own abilityâ. A meaningful trip to Nepal.
58:00 - Greatest Mountain Memory: searching for a memorial cairn in remote Nepal
60:30 - All the time, money, freedom⊠what do you do? âI would just go away to the mountains and never come backâ, food drops from helicopter pilots, building bothies, âspend the rest of my days just wandering from mountain to mountain⊠Iâd be very happy doing thatâ
62:45 - An Eastenders-based revelation
65:30 - Household chores⊠with an axe(âCHOP CHOP CHOPâ)
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Episode 2#04 is thrilled to sit down with Colorado-based Renan Ozturk to discuss his latest film âThe Sanctity of Spaceâ. A climbing film at heart, it not only celebrates the stunning landscapes of Denali National Park, the Alaska Range and the film-makersâ carving of a new skyline route across the âMooseâs Toothâ peak (3,150m)⊠<deep breath> but also pays heartfelt tribute to Brad Washburn, the legendary aerial photographer whose lifeâs work provided inspiration for the entire project.
And thereâs time for more than that too. Renan - a sponsored expedition climber, landscape artist, and previous âNational Geographic Adventurer of the Yearâ - has had a busy career so far. You may recognise him from his previous film projects âMeruâ and âSherpaâ (both 2015), or perhaps from his back catalogue of arresting mountaineering photography. Possibly youâre one of his million-strong Instagram followers, or you met âdumpster divingâ at Trader Joeâs in southern California, or he offered you a lift in the âtechnobagoâ whilst you were both enjoying your dirtbag climber phase. But donât worry if not, this interview will provide the perfect introduction either way.
> Read more about Renan here: renanozturk.com, and find him on the âgram here: @renan_ozturk
> Find screenings and streaming links for âThe Sanctity of Spaceâ here: thesanctityofspace.com
Listen, enjoy, tell your friends, subscribe to the podcast if you get and chance, and thank UKHillwalking.com for their kind support of this series!
[episode recorded on 10/03/22]
> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk
00:00 - Introduction
03:05 - Welcome
04:14 - âThe Sanctity of Spaceâ - Brad Washburn, the sharing of exploration, finding an antique plane, âfeeling the magicâ in Washburnâs camera
11:20 - âI think what he created still stands up against the highest resolution digital camerasâ
11:59 - Gyro-stabilised gimbals
15:33 - The Mooseâs Tooth: â⊠itâs going to be hard to top that experience of drawing a line with our bodies across that beautiful skyline.â
18:40 - âThe factors are always stacked against you in the mountainsâ
19:11 - Top backcountry tip: â...just as long as you always save half your dinner, youâre never going to run out of foodâ
20:30 - The allure of Denali National Park: âthere arenât many places in the world that are as alive as the Alaska Rangeâ
26:13 - The challenges of film-making: needing âthe same optimism you have when youâre doing a climbâ
26:58 - âItâs impossible to answer the question of why you climb, and why you suffer, and why you put yourself in these crazy situations⊠as artists we always want to package it in different ways where the art itself answers the question, these images give people heart-palpitations or goosebumps in a way that you can never do in a conversation at the bar.â
28:48 - Growing up in Rhode Island, discovering mountaineering at College, âI wasnât one of these kids that grew up with ââYvon Chouinard as an uncleâ
32:30 - The âtechnobagoâ, a duffel bag, a backpack, an âendless summerâ of climbing for seven or eight years
34:00 - Painting, not âstruggling with technologyâ, dragging a 10ft long canvas around the landscape of Nepal
39:15 - âDumpster divingâ in Trader Joeâs in southern California, career thoughts
44:07 - Greatest mountain memory: the end of the Moothâs Tooth traverse âmoving for some 30-odd hours⊠hallucinating without drugs⊠the summertime in Alaska where it doesnât really get darkâ46:00 - All the time, money, freedom⊠what do you do? âIâd still be doing what Iâm doing now. Itâs such a random storm of luck and opportunity thatâs led me hereâ
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A very quick update about the next episode in the seriesâŠ
> visit thesanctityofspace.com
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Episode 2#03 hears all about a big decision. Exhausted by commuting, frustrated by inflexible work and desperate to spend more time pursuing her love of the outdoors, Keri Wallace stepped away from a 10-year career in science communication and moved with her husband and two young daughters to Glen Coe. Sheâs never regretted it for a second.
The result of this sizeable life-shift was the founding, in 2018, of âGirls on Hills: the UK's only guided trail, fell and skyrunning running company, designed specifically for womenâ. Over the past four years, Girls on Hills has expanded from an idea shared between friends, to a multi-faceted guiding company where women can pursue a love of mountain running aided by some of Britainâs most dedicated female runners. Itâs not just a business to Keri, but has become a positive force for empowering women in the outdoors and giving female runners the space to connect with nature, with each other, and to excel.
But thatâs not to say that Keri herself isnât a pretty inspiring figure (far from it). Keriâs outdoor CV includes a 10-day solo traverse of the âBig Threeâ hillwalking rounds of the Bob Graham, Paddy Buckley and Charlie Ramsay (she was recovering from a running injury at the time); posting a competitive time on the mammoth Gore-Tex Transalpine Run; and - perhaps most impressively of all - managing to take her two young daughters wild camping atop Glen CoeâŠ
> Read more about Keri Wallace and Girls on Hills here: girlsonhills.com, and find them on Instagram here: @girlsonhillsuk
Listen, enjoy, tell your friends, subscribe to the podcast if you get and chance, and thank UKHillwalking.com for their kind support of this series!
> www.mountainairpodcast.uk
[episode recorded on 17/11/21]
00:00 - Introduction
02:15 -âKidsâ shenanigansâ
05:10 - All about Girls on Hills, transitioning from science communicator to business owner: âa bit of a leap, and a massive financial step backwards⊠but suddenly life got much simplerâ
07:50 - âWe saw that lots of women wanted to runâ, opening up to each other in the outdoors
10:00 - âThe things that you learn in the mountains, in terms of self-sufficiency and confidence, can be applied in your wider lifeâ, running as an accessible, âlow skillâ sport, the appeal of a âwomen-specificâ running experience
14:15 - Banter, the strengthening of mixed groups, bothies and camping, concerns about physical safety
22:40 - Leading runners in the Glen Coe environment, â⊠it just looks impenetrable!â
29:35 - A quick look at Keriâs running CV⊠âI think Iâll do a mountain marathon⊠how hard can it be?â ⊠it turns out âreally, really hardâ.
37:02 - A solo, 10-day hillwalking trio of the Bob Graham Round, the Paddy Buckley Round and the Charlie Ramsay Round, raising money for the John Muir Trust and Water Aid (âit made me scared to do these things by myself, and that made me think that I ought to go and do itâ)
40:46 - FACT CHECK: Keri is (of course) absolutely correct and the Bob Graham Round comprises the summits of 42 fells.
44:00 - Reaching personal limits on the Gore-Tex Transalpine Run ⊠âwhen you find it you always think itâs not your limit, and thereâs some reason itâs not your limitâ
48:55 - Parenting tips: taking kids wild camping (build up to it, be prepared to carry them out, take sweets and give them one on each zig-zag, âwe try really hard not to bribe them constantlyâ)
53:03 - Greatest Mountain Memory: a formative tragedy on âmy first ever mountain, which was Ben Nevisâ
55:25 - All the time, money, freedom⊠where do you go? âTo apply myself to something, whether it be a race or a challenge⊠to throw myself into something and give it my best effortsâ
58:08 - A final thought on safety in the outdoors. What can the world - and men in particular - do to help others feel safe?
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Episode 2#02 is in awe of Zac Poulton. Zac is one of the Lake Districtâs three âFell Top Assessorsâ, which means that today, yesterday, tomorrow and every day of the winter season, thereâs a 33 per cent chance that heâs walking to the summit of one of Englandâs highest peaks. The resulting pictures and written reports provide an invaluable resource for hillwalkers, climbers and anyone else venturing out onto the wintery fells. Winning this kind of role means youâre about as dependable on the hill as human beings get.
But thatâs only a fraction of the story. Because the more you ask Zac about his career in the outdoors, the more amazing the tales become. He spent a month in Greenland helping to film base jumping barnacle geese chicks. Heâs dangled down Alum Pot testing 5G broadcast equipment, heâs lived in vans in Scotland, ditches in the Alps, safety managed Kilian Jornet in Glen Coe, solo climbed Ama Dablam, guided tens of people to the summit of Everest, explored parts of Antarctica, lectured University students, and hallucinated on Wainwrightâs Coast-to-Coast.
⊠and all of this whilst overcoming a fear of heights. If youâve ever considered a career in the outdoors and are wondering where such a move could take you, Zacâs story could be exactly what you need to hear.
> Read more about Zac Poulton here: www.mtnsafety.co.uk, and follow him on Twitter here: @MTN_Safety
Listen, enjoy, tell your friends, subscribe to the podcast if you get and chance, and thank the excellent UKHillwalking.com for their kind support of this series!
www.mountainairpodcast.uk
[episode recorded on 25/11/21]
00:00 â Introduction
02:58 â Welcome, fell top assessing, safety work, high altitude guiding
04:52 â Recent activities: film safety, 5G testing and live broadcasts, Alum Pot
10:47 â Base jumping barnacle geese chicks in Greenland
16:20 â â⊠they get focused on whatâs going on through the camera and forget about the polar bear thatâs stalking them from behindâŠâ
18:26 â The last 10 years: commercial guiding on big peaks, Scotland, life in a van, lecturing, training film crews
22:46 â âKeep saying yes, and keep doing a good job, and the doors will keep openingâ
24:24 - Alpine memories: âliving in a ditch in a field until the money ran out then hitching home againâ, inspired by a being a Scout and reading mountaineering literature âeven before I could readâ
27:38 â Overcoming a fear of heights, and why itâs key to being an effective guide
36:50 â The pressure of expedition guiding, and learning to decompress afterwards, âI like to think that if theyâre complaining about the food, then things are going wellâ
40:00 â Safety for mountain running events, Glen Coe Skyline with Kilian Jornet, personal running experience
45:40 â âI maybe slept for four hours or so⊠the hallucinations were quite goodâ
47:12 â Guiding on Everest, âItâs hurting, but Iâve got a job to do, and these people are probably hurting more. I need to support themâ, 45-minutes alone on the summit ânot a soul in sight, and looking at the viewâ
56:20 â Life as a Fell Top Assessor⊠and âinformal, 20-minute crampon sessionsâ
62:00 â âParenthood is another of those amazing experiences, so so âyesâ to that as well!â
63:00 â Greatest Mountain Memory: solo climb of Ama Dablam âso much of my work is with clients, which I love, but just to be out there by myself, able to move at my own pace and enjoy that environmentâŠâ
67:20 â All the time, money, freedom, where do you go? The Antarctic coastline, or explorations of Baffin Island and the Arctic territories
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Hello! And welcome to series two of Mountain Air! Itâs an absolute pleasure for this episode to be supported by UKHillwalking.com, and an equal pleasure to be bringing you 87-minutes of conversation with Sibusiso Vilane - an inspirational man with an inspirational story to tell.
In 2003, Sibusiso he became the first black African to summit Mt Everest, a phenomenal achievement given his impoverished roots and lack of mountaineering background, and one that earned him the attention and praise of Nelson Mandela and the wider world. But his story runs far deeper than that. His childhood was one of extreme poverty in apartheid Johannesburg, and later in Swaziland (now Eswatini). Hard work, dedication and the privilege of being able to attend school from age 10 eventually brought him a job as a tourist officer in a nature reserve, a position which made possible a chance meeting that would change the path of his life forever.
Consumed by a passion for mountains and physical challenges, his life story is one that involves continental summits, ultra running, humility, the responsibilities of being a role model, laughter, charity work, motivational speaking, multiple summits of Everest and historical partnerships with... Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
> Read more about Sibusiso Vilane at www.sibusisovilane.co.za
> Visit the podcast at www.mountainairpodcast.uk
Listen, enjoy, tell your friends, subscribe to the podcast if you get and chance, and thank UKHillwalking for their kind support!
[episode recorded on 11/11/21]
00:00 â Introduction
02:16 â Welcome, responding to the pandemic by running (âI ran a full marathon last weekend⊠it was just dreadful!â
08:30 â The rarest of all mountaineering backgrounds: growing up poor and black in apartheid Johannesburg, then Swaziland (âwe never had clothes or three square meals a dayâ)
12:50 â Life as a âHeadboyâ in rural Swaziland (âI was 10 years old when I started schoolâ), a multilingual upbringing
19:05 â First steps into the world of work: manual labour, writing letters, a nature reserve, natural knowledge, life as a tourist officer, and a fateful meeting
23:00 â Discovering the Drakensberg (âa vast mountain range, and a beautiful mountain grasslandâ), John Doble, waterfall scrambling, the start of mountaineering plans, why canât black Africans do the same?
30:40 - âIt will not make sense to my grandmother or my mother who are trying to fend through hardship to bring food on the table⊠why would I want to go overseas to climb a mountain?â
32:20 â Kilimanjaro: âI got as sick as a dog on day two, all the high altitude symptoms that you can get, I got all of them! But I summited on the most beautiful day, and I looked at that and thought that one day I would want to see the sunrise from the summit of Mt Everestâ.
36:50 â âI want to do it for Africa. I want to show the world and Africans themselves that they can do these things.â
40:54 â Climbing Everest (âI can never deceive people that it was easy. It was physically tough. Mentally tough⊠it can never be explained in words how physically tough it is.â)
50:34 â Reaching the summit (âYou are about to be proof that it can be done⊠you become overcome by your emotions and you donât believe what is happening.â)
56:30 - âIt took me a long time to realise how relevant it was going to be to any other young kid who grows up in Africa without a homeâ, meeting Nelson Mandela
58:50 â The first black African to climb the Seven Summits (âwhen you set a standard, how do you keep it as consistent? Thereâs no way I could be consistent as a role model by climbing just one mountain. I will keep on climbing as long as I live to be looked upon as an example.â)
68:50 â Being changed by mountain experiences (âI still regard mountains as the best âuniversityâ Iâve ever attended.â), summiting Everest for a second time⊠with Ranulph Fiennes.
75:20 â Sitting in a tent with Ranulph Fiennes: âWell if thereâs anything else you want to do itâs one of the polar walksâ (âWhen I looked at his hands, which were frostbitten, I thought âwell, not a good ideaâŠââ)
76:38 - Greatest Mountain Memory: âI looked at this mountain and I just fell in love with it. I was disappointed to learn that it wasnât Everest, it was Ama Dablam. This is the mountain that calls me to go back to mountains.â, similar experiences with the Matterhorn.
79:32 - *HONK HONK*
80:20 - All the time, money, freedom, where do you go?: âIt depends on the season⊠on the slopes of an 8,000m mountain waiting to summit⊠sweating profusely running a desert marathon⊠on a safari in the bush with the familyâŠâ
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Series 2 is here! And it requires a small amount of introduction. All of which youâll find in the audio file you're currently browsing. However, for those of us that prefer the written word, hereâs a prĂ©cis:
- there will be another 10 fantastic interviewees to look forward to.
- itâs proudly sponsored by www.ukhillwalking.com (âthe fastest growing hillwalking website in the worldâ).
- the first episode is available via your browser on UKH right now, so you can listen to it straight away if you so desire.
- it will then be released on mountainairpodcast.uk and this podcast feed in two weeksâ time, on Wednesday 15 December.
- the same two week arrangement will be true for future episodes
- episode 1 features the truly inspirational Sibusiso Vilane!
Thatâs it. What are you waiting for? Get your sweet self over to www.ukhillwalking.com pronto.
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Episode #10 stars guidebook writer, website editor, mountaineering journalist and all round outdoor adept Dan Bailey.
When not researching and writing up gleaming new guidebooks to his adopted homeland of Scotland, London-born Dan lives the life of a professional outdoor scribe, managing a popular hillwalking website, publishing intricate route descriptions of the UKâs most inspiring mountain adventures, and tirelessly reviewing reams of expensive kit so that you donât have to. Itâs a tough life, I tells ya.
Beyond this insight into one of planet Earthâs true âdream jobsâ, Dan has enjoyed mountaineering epics from the Pyrenees to the Rwenzori (though he seems to enjoy an ice-clad Scotland best) and was once struck by lightning on the Cobbler. Itâs every bit the anecdote that you would hope it to be.
You can see Danâs Cicerone author page here: cicerone.co.uk/authors/dan-bailey and make sure to visit UKHillwalking.com to see the fruits of his daily labours too.
[episode recorded on 02/09/21]
00:00 - Introduction
01:44 - Welcome, guidebook writing
11:22 - Precious feedback, and being recognised on the hill
15:06 - âOver 10-15 years each book may have earned me a reasonable yearâs salaryâ
16:50 - Struck by lightning on the Cobbler: (holes in boots, exploding mugs and âmy whole body was buzzing, like when you bang your funny bone and you get that nerve tingle. I had that from head to toeâ). Eventually being poked and prodded by doctors
26:43 - Outdoor journalism, editing ukhillwalking.com, âIâve always understood how lucky I am to do that and call it work.â
35:42 - Exploring every part of the UK mountains, âthere are hills and even whole ranges that I havenât even visited yet, so thereâs always more to doâ
39:58 - Living remotely, ânine miles down a single track road from Gairloch⊠so a good 140 mile round trip on mountain roads in the winter to get the groceries in. We were menu planning quite closely.â
43:30 - Reviewing outdoor gear for a living âItâs a real perk to have all this free gear showered on us, but itâs a real job as well.â
47:06 - Calling all EU47 / UK12 boot-wearing hillwalkers
48:35 - A âpower imbalanceâ between outdoor brands and outdoor media?
51:38 - An epic tale⊠climbing the three highest peaks in Africa, connected by public transport, âthree weeks of manic bus travelâ
57:00 - (from https://www.britannica.com/place/Margherita-Peak... âIt was first climbed in 1906 by an expedition led by Luigi Amedeo Abruzzi and was named for Queen Margherita of Italyâ)
61:00 - âWe got into a little bivvy hut which is sort of like a metal coffinâŠâ
63:53 - Greatest Mountain Memory - a youthful awakening in the Pyrenees âThe feeling of freedom and limitless possibility that you get when this mountain world opens to you for the first time, and youâre there under your own steam with no particular agenda⊠this is it. This is the most in touch with the world, and peaceful and enthused Iâve felt. Ever. I suppose Iâm always trying to recreate that youthful, wide-eyed experience of the mountains.â
68:48 - All the time, money, freedom, where do you go? âI like Scotland a lot, but Iâve never been to Scotlandâs big sister, which is Norway⊠Iâm going to drive from south to north over four months picking off mountaineering routes.â
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Episode #9 welcomes a man whoâs not only a living legend in the worlds of climbing and mountain running, but also the organisational driving force behind the Dragonâs Back Race, the Cape Wrath Ultra, Skyline Scotland, and the Great Lakeland 3Dday. That means that we could only be talking about one person: Shane Ohly.
Shane first entered the scene in his teens/20s as a sponsored climber found energetically attacking everything from Cornish crags to the Eiffel Tower, with a brutal 2003 â502 routes in 18hrsâ epic thrown in for good measure. Since then heâs turned to running for his kicks and - amongst many other mind-boggling achievements - has finished first in the 53-year-old epic OMM Elite three times (!).
The real questions are: does he feel fear while free climbing? Would he get on with his âbrash, carelessâ 18-year-old self? And does he ever just sit on the couch eating crispsâŠ?
You can find out more about Shane via shaneohly.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram. While youâre at it check out his company Ourea Events too.
[episode recorded on 28/04/21]
- See mountainairpodcast.uk for full description, pictures and more episodes!
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