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The reality is I’ve probably already hit my mountaineering ceiling but climbing Everest will always be the apex of my ambition
It has been a strange year. Usually, press trips, treks and working holidays mean it’s not uncommon for me to spend up to three months away from home. This year, however, I’ve been away just twice. This year, it was all about one thing: Denali.
Our favourite Christmas gifts for campers, handpicked to suit all budgets
It’s no secret that Peter and I have a difference in opinion when it comes to camping. On our trip around the world, he carried around 4kg of camping gear for an entire year in the hopes that I would see the appeal. We camped for a total of 10 days.
‘Tis the season for serious savings on outdoor apparel and gear. Here, we hand-pick 10 great deals from the REI Cyber Week sale
I’m not the sort of person who hankers after luxury items. I’m more likely to shop at Asos than I am at Harrods and I’m just as happy at Nando’s as I am at a Michelin restaurant. One arena in which I do fork out, however, is outdoor apparel and gear. The difference between a high-quality hiking boot and one that’s “good enough” is substantial – something I learnt the hard way on the slopes of Cotopaxi.
From minor mishaps to serious crises, the failure of outdoor gear can ruin your entire trip. Here, we explain how to never break a zipper again
Technical outdoor gear is not cheap. I dread to think what I’ve spent on it over the years. Backpacks, sleeping bags, Gore-Tex jackets, fleeces, waterproof trousers, tents… it all adds up. What do these items all have in common? The humble fastener, AKA the zipper.
We’ve created a mountaineering calendar of the world’s greatest mountains and the optimal time of year at which to climb them, listed month by month
Since I first started climbing, I must have spent hours typing “when is the best time to climb…” into search engines and then crawling through websites to find the key piece of information I needed. Only when I have a date in mind can I start to think about the practicalities of actually trying to climb a mountain (i.e. booking time off work, flights, budget, gear etc).
Our tried-and-tested list of Christmas gifts for travellers, be they hikers, shutterbugs, adrenaline junkies or culture vultures
This year has been unusual in that Peter and I haven’t taken a single trip together for the first time in 14 years. He spent three weeks climbing Denali – one of the coldest places on Earth – and I certainly wasn’t going to join him on that. Later on in the year, he spent six days on the High Scardus Trail in Albania which, given my feelings about camping, I wasn’t going to do either.
From safely washing a sleeping bag to measuring partially used gas canisters, here’s how to look after your hiking gear
Last spring, I spent the best part of three weeks climbing Denali, the highest peak in North America. There were few opportunities to stay clean on the mountain so by the time I got off the slopes, I – along with all my gear – was in a pretty nasty state.
From desolate moorlands to windswept Atlantic islands, we take a look at Britain’s last remaining wild places
In Britain, wilderness has largely been abolished. The abolition began millennia ago. Between 7,000 and 5,000 years ago, around 75% of the UK was covered in forest. Then large-scale forest clearance started around 3100 BC when Neolithic agriculture was introduced. Now, the UK has around 13% forest cover, making it one of Europe’s least densely forested countries.
Where you stay can make or break your holiday. Here are the red flags and pitfalls to look for when booking a hotel
A few years ago, a friend of mine asked for advice on where to go on her honeymoon. I duly gave her a list of my favourite hotels from across the world: Baros in the Maldives, Likuliku Lagoon in Fiji, Vahine Island in French Polynesia, Montpelier in St Kitts & Nevis among a few others.
The High Scardus Trail in Albania is a wild alternative to the well-trodden Peaks of the Balkans Trail. Here’s all you need to know
“Welcome to Hotel Radomirë Korab,” Agron greets me with an enormous smile as I arrive at my lodgings. It’s the end of my second day on the High Scardus Trail and I am in dire need of a drink. “Can I get you a beer?” he adds, clearly reading my mind.
My comprehensive Everest base camp kit list includes everything you’ll need to reach the foot of the highest mountain in the world
Having just returned from my Everest base camp trek in Nepal, I thought it would be useful to share my entire Everest base camp kit list as a point of reference for future trekkers.
From the heights of Everest to a humble library, we share the most extraordinary international borders from across the globe
My name is unremarkable, most people would agree. It’s so common that if you Googled ‘Peter Watson’, you would find the intellectual historian, the author and the arts benefactor – all different men – ahead of me. There’s also a producer, a chemist and a podcaster among others.
Our complete Aconcagua gear list includes everything you’ll need to summit the highest mountain in the Western and Southern Hemispheres
Aconcagua in Argentina, at 6,961m (22,837ft), is South America’s highest mountain and one of the seven summits (the seven peaks that make up the highest point on every continent).
I recently returned from climbing Aconcagua with Acomara Aconcagua Expeditions. A good trekking company will issue you with a detailed kit list, but I always like to see what other people have used.
In 2024, Singapore tops the list of the world’s most powerful passports. We take a look at the other winners, losers and non-movers
I was feeling cocky as I queued up for my Chinese visa. I had checked and rechecked the requirements and had all my documents to hand: my passport, a photocopy of my passport, a spare photo just in case, the form that had taken me an hour to fill in online, my flight details, and my tour and hotel confirmation. I had also signed and dated the form – in both places – unlike all the (clearly inferior!) applicants in front of me.
From dizzying walkways to epic ascents, these hiking trails in Málaga are a superb way to tread beyond the touristy coastal resorts
For many, Málaga is simply a gateway to the crowded seaside resorts of the Costa del Sol. Relatively few will venture far from the beach. If they do, chances are they’ll head into the city which, after decades of being ignored by the masses, has undergone something of a reinvention.
Kia recently asked her mother if she has any regrets about her life. In this personal piece, she reflects on the answer
There’s a tree I sometimes notice on my way to my boxing gym. It stands on an unsightly corner near the junction of Barking Road – which has the dubious honour of the eighth unhealthiest street in London – and one of the grubby arteries that feed into it.
From kayaking alongside colossal glaciers to a bizarre Cold War-era town, these are the best day trips from Anchorage
The word ‘epic’ does not do Alaska justice. The state is home to North America’s largest mammals, national parks the size of countries and glaciers bigger than some US states. It is the least densely populated state in the US and is home to 17 of North America’s highest mountains, 100 volcanoes, 3,000 rivers and over three million lakes.
From lush megadiversity to the unexpected entry at number 10, we review the countries that can save Earth’s most-threatened species
As a child, I lived with cockroaches in my family home. Our entire street had an infestation and it was months before the council got rid of them. I have seven siblings and not all of us fit on the sofa, so some of us would watch TV from the floor and I remember things scuttling by right next to my hand, making me leap up and scream. Sometimes, one would scurry across my pillow right before bedtime. This, quite understandably, gave me a mortal fear of bugs.
From playing music out loud to leaving your pet unattended, here’s our expert guide on how to behave at a campsite
Some of my most unforgettable moments have taken place under canvas. From unzipping the porch to reveal the needlepoint summit of Laila Peak on the K2 base camp trek to listening to the snap, crackle and pop of Greenland’s Russell Glacier under a midnight sun, these were experiences I could not have had in a hotel.
Kia and Peter rank their top 100 travel experiences, hand-picked from over 100 countries, seven continents and thousands of places of interest
This week, it will be exactly 10 years since we packed up everything we owned, put it in storage and went off on a year-long journey around the world. It started on 11th August 2014 with a 36-hour journey from London, through Singapore and Brisbane, to our final destination of Vanuatu.
