T&T Blogs

Over the next few weeks I will join mountain guide, Kenton Cool, with a group trekking to Everest Basecamp from the south side. Kenton is a British climber and UIAGM mountain guide who has summited Everest (locally known as Sagarmartha) nine times and this trip he will attempt double figures. Our team have been training and fundraising for over 18 months now. Our journey with the group starts this weekend (1 April 2012) where we will meet in Kathmandu. A short but 'interesting' flight will take us to Lukla, 2650m and the start of our trail. We then take two weeks to walk steadily and gradually gaining height along the Khumbu Valley, through traditional villages, farming communities, across high cable bridge and where the only traffic are large woolly yaks transporting goods. The local people are so welcoming and friendly matched with unbeatable views. We will be staying in 'tea houses' which are family run mountain refuges which over the years are becoming pretty much like small hotels! It takes the unacclimatised over a week to trek in on good paths. Highlights include the colourful Sherpa Capital Namche Bazaar, 3400m which has busy cobbled streets, interesting shops and hosts a Tibetan market surrounded by breath taking panoramic views. On route we also climb to the famous Thyangboche Monastery, where we can soak up the history of the Lamas, which houses beautiful wall hangings, ornate carvings and a giant Buddha!

Have you ever been put off heading out for a run because of the snow or ice underfoot? Some of us still want to get our running fix come snow, rain or shine.

The winter so far in the Alps has been amazing, bringing all of the above. On those very snowy days when the ski pistes are a white out we've still enjoyed getting out on snowshoes, cross country skis and running. We are really lucky to be able to get out and exercise most days - but in my week I still want to keep my running going so that my body doesn't get a complete shock in Spring when the snow starts to clear.

“Flippers???”

“Oh don’t worry, that’s to do with all the divers we’ve had staying this weekend!”

How a city chick left the rat race to pursue her dream of a life in the hills. We will be following her journey over the coming months.

A ‘feeling’ buzzed through me at the start of this year. “Something hugely exciting is going to happen!”. I had absolutely no idea what this might be however, which made it all the more wonderful…

Swimming with snowshoes? Traverse of the Chablais, France

“Right!” said Fred. “Six days across the Chablais mountains in winter carrying all our kit and a dip in Lake Geneva at the end?” He’s not one to be overly demanding is Fred, as long as I can come up with a decent snowshoe hike of more than 725 m ascent, and around 10.5 km in length, plus a good hotel at the end of the day with a huge hot-tub with views to the mountains, excellent local food, a masseuse on tap, and a very good red wine then he’s pretty much happy!

The autumn months are when we explore new areas. So I have just returned from a fabulous 8 week trip to the Americas. First off was a 'rock & road' trip to the US where we drove through the mountains of Colorado and the deserts of Utah & Nevada. We rock climbed on what seemed like every sort of rock type, mountain biked amazing single-track trails in Moab & trekked famous 14,000ft peaks.

48 hours of wild weather, 2,400 mountain athletes, add a very wet BBC film crew and you have the ingredients for this years OMM - The Original Mountain Marathon! I am just in from the hills of Highland Perthshire having spent a wild weather weekend Producing, The Adventure Show for BBC Scotland. Wet boots, wet trousers, wet rucksack, wet gloves, wet everything ! The OMM has the reputation of being the UK's toughest mountain marathon. Two days in the mountains with an overnight camp, with all competitors carrying absolutely everything they need to survive on the mountain and camp!

What a great week in Tuscany exploring the Apuane and Appenine Alps. This really is a wonderful area of deep beech and chestnut forests and rocky ridges of limestone.

A HAT TRICK! Lizzy Hawker won the women's 2011 Mont Blanc Ultra Trail for the 3rd time. An amazing run completing the course 13th overall in 25h02mins. Huge congratulations to her - what an acheivement. If you would like the chance to run with Lizzy gaining expert advice from a very humble approach come and join us on our trail running camp next summer and perhaps enter the 10k, half marathon or full marathon in the same week. We are also looking to get a mini Ultra Trail team together for 2012 aswell - we can offer bespoke or organised weekends to practice trail courses for those interested. Please get in touch for further details. What's going to be your next challenge?