Mark Horrell

What are Shabana Mahmood’s changes to the asylum system? Some of the home secretary’s major overhauls are already in place such as the 30-month review for refugee protections

"Mahmood halted visas for students from Sudan, Myanmar & Afghanistan due to the high numbers who claim asylum & the refusal of those countries to take back people whose claims had been refused."

Please someone tell her what's happening in those countries 🇸🇩 🇲🇲 🇦🇫
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

The world’s first (and best!) audiobook about climbing Baruntse After six years of heavy breathing, lolling tongues, hard swallowing and occasional salivation, I’ve finally finished narrating and publishing all my books as audiobooks. The very last one, T…

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After 6 years of heavy breathing, hard swallowing and occasional salivation, I’ve finally done it 😛

No, not that. I've finished narrating all my audiobooks. The last one, The Baruntse Adventure, went live last month on all the main stores 🎤
www.markhorrell.com/blog/2026/th...

Everest 2026: Rumor Fire Season | The Blog on alanarnette.com With the Everest 2026 season about six weeks away, the rumor mill is on fire, out of control. With the explosion of social media influencers and mainstream (and many outdoor/adventurous media) using s...

"I’ve been tracking these rule announcements for over ten years, and it’s fascinating to see repeats. The common theme is that virtually none are ever enforced."

The Everest silly announcement season is upon us. Here's what to look out for this year 🤦
www.alanarnette.com/blog/2026/02...

Not All First Ascents Are the Same - The Move to Commercialize Unclimbed Peaks » Explorersweb It's a good idea, but let's not lay on the 'historic' adjectives too thickly. Some peaks are unclimbed because they were deemed not worth the effort.

"Garrett Madison was among the first... He offered clients a chance to climb a virgin 6000er in 2021."

Not so fast, Garrett. I did a first ascent of Yangchan Kangri in Ladakh with Jagged Globe way back in 2007.
explorersweb.com/not-all-firs...

Climber faces manslaughter charge after leaving girlfriend on Austria’s tallest peak Kerstin G froze to death on Großglockner when Thomas P descended mountain to fetch help

"Thomas P left Kerstin G at about 2am in a state of exhaustion and unprotected when he descended the mountain to fetch help."

What a strange case. Even the victim's mother is saying he can't be held responsible for her death.
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

"Every year, new regulations are proposed [for Everest]... We then wait to see which ones are actually implemented."

Yes, indeed. This time they are trying to turn it into a law, but even so, I will believe it when I see it 🤔

explorersweb.com/new-everest-...

Cracking Ben Cruachan: one of the finest peaks in the Southern Highlands We saved the best walk for the best day. Edita and I had spied Ben Cruachan’s airy summit and hair-raising summit ridge from the top of Ben O’Cockle two days earlier. I could also see from the map …

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We had spied Ben Cruachan’s airy summit and hair-raising descent from Ben O’Cockle two days earlier 🗻

I could see from the map that the walk across its top featured an enormous ridge. It promised to be a great walk 👣

My trip report 📣
www.markhorrell.com/blog/2026/cr...

Ben Lui: the finest peak in the Southern Highlands (my arse) A short distance east of our previous day’s Munros lay Ben Lui, a mountain considered by many to be the finest peak in the Southern Highlands. I once took a photo of it from the north-east, r…

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Ben Lui is considered to be the finest peak in the Southern Highlands 🗻

I once took a photo of it rising majestically like a marble throne above arctic tundra 📸

From that moment I wanted climb it. But would it live up to the promise? 🙏
www.markhorrell.com/blog/2026/be...

Barking mad: a list of dogs to have climbed all 282 Munros, including the Inaccessible Pinnacle 🐶 ✅ www.themunrosociety.com/canine-compl...

Beinn a’ Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich: fowling our way up the hooded peak It was the fifth year in a row that Edita and I would be spending the Christmas period in Scotland trying to get up some hills, and our expectations weren’t high. Icy blizzards, deep snow, freezing…

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It was our 5th New Year in a row in the Scottish Highlands and our first with three good hill bagging days in row 🎉

Here's my trip report for the first one, up Ben O'Cockle and Ben Eunuch 👣🗻
www.markhorrell.com/blog/2026/be...

Back in Scotland at last 🤍 After a tough year working in Haiti, it feels so good to be here. Two Munros today — Beinn a’ Chochuill and Beinn Eunaich — with perfect winter conditions and a gorgeous forecast ahead. Very happy to be back in the hills 🏔️✨

Doubts Surface About Tirich Mir Climb » Explorersweb Last week, we received an email from a Pakistani climber on one of the Tirich Mir teams this summer, saying they had not really summited. We investigated.

"The climbers’ sunglasses reflect a snowy slope in front of them and the person taking the picture." 😮

Professional adventurer's 101: if you're going to fake a summit photo, remember to take off your mirrored sunglasses 🤦
explorersweb.com/doubts-surfa...

Simone Moro Suffers Heart Attack Near Mera Peak, Evacuated to Hospital » Explorersweb Simone Moro of Italy was airlifted to a hospital in Kathmandu today after suffering a heart attack while in the village of Khare in Nepal.

"On Dec 10, Moro and Nima Rinji set off from Mera’s high camp and reached the top in 2 hrs 20 mins... Moro felt sick once back in Khare, and they called for an emergency evacuation."

Startling news. One of the strongest Himalayan climbers ever. Get well soon 🤞
explorersweb.com/simone-moro-...

False Summits Applies To More Than Mountains In Overdone Social Media In a day of social media exaggeration and Guinness records, adventurers overstate their escapades. Nothing wrong with doing this stuff, just be real about what it means.

"Let’s get real people, and call adventure tourism what it is. Nothing shameful about that. And let’s get back to the old-school definition of what having the right stuff means."

A bit of a rant, but it's a fair point 🎯
www.forbes.com/sites/jimcla...

A chronological list of the 10 highest confirmed mountain summits ever climbed There are a lot of adjectives in the title of this post. What does it mean, precisely? There was a time in history when neither Everest nor the other 10 highest mountains in the world had been clim…

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There was a time when Everest had not been climbed. What was the highest mountain ever climbed back in those days? And what was the one before that? 📏

Let me take you back in time as I follow a sequence of mountains back to the 19th century ⏳ www.markhorrell.com/blog/2025/a-...

Mount Rainier Has Shrunk, and Its Summit Location Has Changed » Explorersweb A new study shows that all five ice-capped peaks in the Lower 48 have shrunk, including Mt. Rainier, which has lost 10 feet in height since the 1950s.

In 1956, Mt Rainier was 4,392m at its highest point, Columbia Crest. Now the summit is a 4,389m rocky outcrop a football field away. Columbia Crest is only 4,386m 🗻

A nightmare scenario for peak baggers, who now have to go back and climb it again 😱
explorersweb.com/mount-rainie...

Everest 2026: Khumbu Icefall Bypass-Real or a Dream? | The Blog on alanarnette.com Mostly, local Nepalese media are promoting a new route bypassing the infamous Khumbu Icefall, claiming it to be shorter, faster, and safer, retracing the original path used by the British 1953 expedit...

French donors have funded a new $400K via ferrata route with a 100m abseil that bypasses the Khumbu Icefall to Camp 1 on Everest 🗻

But why? It's hard to believe that commercial teams will use it? 😕
www.alanarnette.com/blog/2025/11...

Craig y Llyn: zipping up the cliff of the lake A short distance south of Pen y Fan, the highest peak in the Brecon Beacons is a range of peaks less well known to the outside world. The Rhigos Hills are home to the highest point in the county of…

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A short distance south of Pen y Fan, the highest peak in the Brecon Beacons, is a range of peaks less well known to the outside world 🍟

The Rhigos Hills are home to the highest point in the county of Glamorgan 🗻

My latest County Top ✅
www.markhorrell.com/blog/2025/cr...

High art: the museum that is only accessible via an eight-hour hike The Frattini Bivouac is part of a Bergamo gallery’s experiment to ‘think like a mountain’. But in the thin air of the Italian alps, curatorial ideas are challenged in more ways than one

"The bivouac can be read simultaneously as an act of love and an act of hubris: a structure that wants to merge with the mountain while also marking it." ⛺

A sentence that wants to merge with my head while going straight over it. 🤯

Looks a good museum though 🏛️
www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Do you mean Billi or Eberhard? I know he didn't like Eberhard's research (with good reason) but I didn't know he had a problem with Billi.

Remembering Elizabeth Hawley, the Sherlock Holmes of Himalayan Summits » Explorersweb For over 50 years, Elizabeth Hawley documented Himalayan expeditions. We commemorate her birthday by revisiting some of her important investigations.

"Climbers wanted her approval more than a certificate. Messner called her 'the only authority' on Himalayan records." ✅

Nice tribute to the founder of the Himalayan Database, Elizabeth Hawley 🏔️
explorersweb.com/remembering-...

Hellofresh box with roll of toilet paper

Today's Hellofresh delivery arrived with a complimentary roll of festive toilet paper 🎄🚽

I knew I shouldn't have ordered the curry this week 😦

Amazon launches an AI-powered Kindle Translate service for e-book authors | TechCrunch Kindle Translate, an AI-powered translation service, is designed to broaden the reach of e-book authors.

"Amazon claims its AI translations are 'automatically evaluated for accuracy' before publication, but it doesn’t detail what steps are involved."

A job best done by an editor in their native language. Still, it could provide a good first draft 🤔
techcrunch.com/2025/11/06/a...

Cartoon: two men chatting. One, holding something in his hands says "I've made a model of Mount Everest”. The second asks "To scale?". He replies "No, just to look at".

www.worldofmoose.com/products/eve...

Tour du Mont Blanc, the videos: Part 2 – Switzerland and France Ever since an incident in the Italian Apennines, the promise of ladders on a hiking route has made me nervous. As we approached the 11 ladders of the Grand Balcon Sud on the Tour du Mont Blanc, I w…

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Ever since a hike in the Apennines, the promise of ladders on a route has made me nervous 🪜

As we approached the Grand Balcon Sud, I wondered if they would be like the ones on Corno Piccolo? 😨

You can see for yourself in my latest videos 🎥
www.markhorrell.com/blog/2025/to...

British mountaineer Henry Todd dies at 80 Henry B Todd, a veteran British mountain outfitter, has died at the age of 80 while undergoing treatment in Kathmandu.

One of the strangest figures in Everest history, Henry Todd, has passed away in a Kathmandu hospital.

The article doesn't mention his earlier career as a manufacturer of LSD (google Operation Julie for more). He later became an Everest expedition pioneer. RIP ➕
thetourismtimes.com/news/t3-spec...

Jim Morrison completes first ski descent of Mount Everest's north face - Adventure Mountain When I close my eyes and think back to the North Face of Mount Everest 20 years ago, I see the so-called Supercouloir in front of me. The Japanese Couloir in the lower section and the Hornbein Couloir...

"The fact that Jim Morrison skied down this combination of two couloirs [Everest’s Supercouloir] yesterday and survived unscathed borders on a minor miracle in my opinion." 😮🪄

It certainly does. Next week Elvis Presley will be free climbing the Second Step 🕺
abenteuer-berg.de/en/jim-morri...

Survival Stories Get It Wrong, Drinking Pee Won’t Save You » Explorersweb By the time you’re dehydrated enough to consider drinking urine, the urine will be so concentrated that it’s just too salty.

Really useful stuff from @ashrouten.com.
Saved me from another disappointing night out 🍺

TL;DR if you're thinking of drinking your own Fosters, do it before you get thirsty.
explorersweb.com/drinking-pee...

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

"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...

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…

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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...