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Mount Everest: A little less drama, please! - Adventure Mountain

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Mark Horrell @markhorrell.bsky.social · 5d

"I am always astonished at how quickly and comprehensively the media avalanche rolls in as soon as Mount Everest comes into play." 🗻 📰

Well said @springinsfeld.bsky.social, but less drama on Everest? There will be pigs flying to the summit before then 🐖✈️
abenteuer-berg.de/en/mount-eve...

It shouldn’t surprise me anymore, because it’s nothing new. And yet I am always astonished at how quickly and comprehensively the media avalanche rolls in as soon as Mount Everest comes into play. Tha...

abenteuer-berg.de

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Mark Horrell @markhorrell.bsky.social · 7d

🌟 New blog post ✍️

It was going to be a heck of a day. We had over 2,000m to ascend in tropical heat 🌞

Edita and I couldn’t think of another occasion when we'd ascended so many metres in a single day 👣

My trip report from Pico Duarte, summit of the Caribbean 🌴🇩🇴
www.markhorrell.com/blog/2025/an...

An ascent of Pico Duarte, the highest mountain in the Dominican Republic

This is the second of two posts about our recent visit to the mountainous island of Hispaniola. In the first post, I introduced you to the Dominican Republic, and how we came to trek there. In this…

Why I gave the world wide web away for free | Tim Berners-Lee

Mark Horrell @markhorrell.bsky.social · 16d

Better to do it in private 😉

Mark Horrell @markhorrell.bsky.social · 17d

This 👉 www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

My vision was based on sharing, not exploitation – and here’s why it’s still worth fighting for

www.theguardian.com

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Mark Horrell @markhorrell.bsky.social · 21d

🌟 New blog post ✍️

The Dominican Republic has 5 mountain ranges, inc. the highest peak in the Caribbean 🇩🇴

I would never have travelled there had Edita not been working in Haiti, but I found a great destination for short multi-day treks 👣

But boy is it humid 😓
www.markhorrell.com/blog/2025/a-...

A mission to climb the highest mountains in the Caribbean

A few years ago, I wrote a blog post to explain that from that moment on I would aim to climb more obscure mountains that hardly anyone writes about. But how to decide which unusual peaks to climb?…

Arc’teryx fireworks display in Tibet prompts environmental outcry

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Mark Horrell @markhorrell.bsky.social · 22d

[Excessively priced outdoor clothing brand] Arc-teryx issued apologies for the event, with the company saying the display “was out of line with Arc’teryx’s values”. 🔥🛢️

Or as Groucho Marx said, if you don't like our values, we have others 🙈
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Outdoor brand says the Rising Dragon promotional event was out of line with its values after public criticism

www.theguardian.com

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Mark Horrell @markhorrell.bsky.social · 26d

"Competitors approached the adjudicator, sharing their concerns over suspiciously circular skipping stones."

Good grief, they didn't did they? All I can say is, what a bunch of tossers! 😳
explorersweb.com/world-stone-...

World Stone Skimming Championships Rocked By Cheating Scandal » Explorersweb

On a small Scottish island, the World Stone Skimming Championship was rocked by the discovery of doctored stones. Confronted, the perpetrators confessed.

A Dickson Step is a small step around 5 to 10 centimetres high in a hotel bathroom doorway. The step is designed in such a way to be a trip hazard for unsuspecting guests who get up to relieve them…

Reposted by Mark Horrell

Andrew Szalay @andrewszalay.bsky.social · Sep 11

Thanks for the advice, @markhorrell.bsky.social.
www.markhorrell.com/blog/2025/wh...

What is a Dickson Step?

One upon a time there was a man who climbed both summits of Mera Peak and narrated an audiobook about it

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Mark Horrell @markhorrell.bsky.social · Aug 14

🌟 New blog post ✍️

The handful of people who enjoy my audiobooks will be happy to learn that I’ve just released another one 📚

Islands in the Snow, about a trek through the Solu-Khumbu region of Nepal, is now available on all the main audiobook channels 🎵 🎧

www.markhorrell.com/blog/2025/on...

The handful of you who are fans of my audiobooks will be delighted to learn that I’ve just released another one. Islands in the Snow, about a trek through the Solu-Khumbu region of Nepal, is …

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Mark Horrell @markhorrell.bsky.social · Aug 14

6% of those think their nemesis is Dick Dastardly

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Mark Horrell @markhorrell.bsky.social · Aug 13

Ah, OK, understood. I used to do that too but now I keep the diary on my phone. You don't get fed up typing it all out again?

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Mark Horrell @markhorrell.bsky.social · Aug 13

I would contend that it's difficult to write about camping without the occasional toilet anecdote ⛺

More remarkably, your books are handwritten? 😲

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Mark Horrell @markhorrell.bsky.social · Aug 9

"He lost to Clutterbuck in heartbreaking fashion, as Bellemore was judged not to have drunk all of his beer."

The beer mile equivalent of dropping the baton 🏃

Meet the five-time beer-mile world champion: ‘I knew I could chug from a young age’

Mark Horrell @markhorrell.bsky.social · Aug 9

"For reference, the fastest ever mile time is 3:43.13, set by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco in 1999. El Guerrouj did not drink four beers during his run."

4 laps of the track with a beer to start each lap. If only I'd known earlier in life this was a thing 🍺🍺🍺🍺
www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/a...

Corey Bellemore keeps dominating the Beer Mile World Classic, which involves running after glugging four drinks

www.theguardian.com

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Mark Horrell @markhorrell.bsky.social · Aug 5

"Selfie parks provide self-contained spaces that give visitors a curated environment in which to create content (often of themselves)." 🤔

An interesting concept. Will shepherding the selfie hunters into a warehouse help to reduce overtourism? 📷
theconversation.com/how-selfie-p...

How selfie parks limit tourism damage to the world’s most ‘Instagrammable’ destinations

Travellers have been killed in search of the perfect shot – selfie parks may be controversial but they should at least keep tourists safe.

theconversation.com

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Reposted by Mark Horrell

Jay Owens @jayowens.bsky.social · Aug 3

What will drone transport on Everest mean for Sherpa mountaineers?

Xenon-assisted climbing may be an unnecessary innovation but this isn’t: it means less gear-hauling and more safety, says @markhorrell.bsky.social

www.markhorrell.com/blog/2025/wh...

What will drone transport on Everest mean for Sherpa mountaineers?

Much of the media coverage around Everest this year has focused on a brace of unusual speed ascents that have been framed as a game changer for aspiring Everest climbers. But there was another tech…

This Free Soloist Wants Your Attention » Explorersweb

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Mark Horrell @markhorrell.bsky.social · Aug 2

“Today is day 11 of free soloing a harder route every day until I fall,” the tousle-haired young rock climber says to the camera.

Interesting form of entertainment. Presumably it all ends quite suddenly...
explorersweb.com/this-free-so...

One young free soloist seems to be risking his life for Instagram clicks -- and asking followers to pay him for the entertainment.

Chris Bonington and the first ascent of Kongur Tagh

Mark Horrell @markhorrell.bsky.social · Jul 30

🌟 New blog post ✍️

Kongur sits between three huge mountain ranges in Central Asia. It was unexplored in 1980 when a British team set off to climb it 🗻 🇨🇳

After 18 years sitting on my bookshelf, I finally got round to reading Chris Bonington's book about it 📚
www.markhorrell.com/blog/2025/ch...

Wedged between the foothills of three huge mountain ranges – the Karakoram to the south, Pamirs to the north-west, and the Kunlun to the west – is Kongur, a complex massif of interlinked peaks and …

Controversy Surrounds Speed Record on Bernese North Face Trilogy » Explorersweb

Mark Horrell @markhorrell.bsky.social · Jul 22

"The controversy shifted dramatically when Hojac and Brugger discovered that Siegrist had retroactively changed details about his 2004 climb on his website." 😮

Handbags on the Eiger. Two competing claims to a speed record as accuser becomes the accused 👜
explorersweb.com/controversy-...

A mountaineering dispute continues to simmer after climber Stephan Siegrist questioned a new speed record set by Nicolas Hojac and Philipp Brugger.

Wetherlam to Waterlam: climbing the Old Man of Coniston in a summer heatwave

Mark Horrell @markhorrell.bsky.social · Jul 16

🌟 New blog post ✍️

The whole of Europe is in the middle of a scorching heatwave. The thermometer has been touching 30°C 🌞

It seemed like a good time to go hill walking in the Lake District, where good weather seemed guaranteed for a change 👣

Or was it? 😮
www.markhorrell.com/blog/2025/we...

The whole of Europe is in the middle of a scorching heatwave. Here in the Cotswolds the grass is as brown as a hay bale and the thermometer has been touching 30°C. It seemed like a good time to go …

What will drone transport on Everest mean for Sherpa mountaineers?

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Mark Horrell @markhorrell.bsky.social · Jun 25

🌟 New blog post ✍️

Media coverage of Everest this year has focused on unusual speed ascents that have been framed as a game changer for aspiring climbers 🏃

But another technological advance will change the job description for Sherpas more significantly 🚛 🎥 www.markhorrell.com/blog/2025/wh...

Much of the media coverage around Everest this year has focused on a brace of unusual speed ascents that have been framed as a game changer for aspiring Everest climbers. But there was another tech…

Everest 2025: Season Summary | The Blog on alanarnette.com

Mark Horrell @markhorrell.bsky.social · Jun 17

Almost all ladders & ropes used to prepare Everest’s route [on Nepal side] were flown by drones up to Camp I. Each drone carried 30kg as high as 6,130m.

678 successful summits: 38% client, 62% staff.

=> Sherpas are doing less load carrying, more support climbing
www.alanarnette.com/blog/2025/06...

The 2025 Everest expedition has come to a close, marked by strong winds, drones, challenging climbing, and innovative strategies. Along the way were reports of frostbite and helicopter evacuations, bu...

www.alanarnette.com

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Mark Horrell @markhorrell.bsky.social · Jun 12

You read it right, 5'5" and 13 stone 😊

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Mark Horrell @markhorrell.bsky.social · Jun 11

🌟 New blog post ✍️

Standing just 1.65m and weighing 82kg, nobody would have suspected Babu Chiri of being an athlete 🏃

In the 1990s, he was one of the world's best at climbing Everest, and one night in 1999 he did something that nobody had ever done 🏅 ⛺
www.markhorrell.com/blog/2025/a-...

A night on top of the world: the legend of Babu Chiri Sherpa

Standing just 1.65m tall and weighing 82kg, nobody would ever have suspected Babu Chiri of being an athlete if he walked into a bar. But in 1998, he was one of the top three in the world at his spe…