Jenny Tough is a professional adventurer. An endurance athlete, a writer, and a lover of exploring mountains alone. Jenny was one of the stars at Love Trails festival, joining me on stage for a screening of her new film SOLO followed by Q&A with an overflowing and excited audience.
Read MoreIn January 2018 mountaineer Élisabeth Revol’s rescue after becoming the first woman to summit Nanga Parbat (8,126m) in winter made headlines around the world. Tragically, Élisabeth’s climbing partner Tomasz Mackiewicz did not survive, and the world watched - and judged - in real time as the rescue effort unfolded. To Live is Élisabeth’s side of the story, and it’s a hard read….
Read MoreFell runner and poet Helen Mort explores our love of dogs and mountains. By coincidence I’ve met some of the dogs in this book. The first is Dean Potter’s Whisper, who I patted at the Yosemite Facelift in 2014, shortly after a screening of When Dogs Fly in which Potter takes his canine best friend BASE jumping…
Read MoreThe Trigger, otherwise known as Marsden to Edale, is a winter fell race that goes over Black Hill, Bleaklow and Kinder to Edale. If all goes well it’s around 25 miles with possibly 1,250m ascent. Half the challenge is to stay on the route, the other half is surviving the route…
Read MoreThe race is weird, Nicky is wonderful, and so is Last Women Standing: The Barkley Marathons 2019. Presided over by cult leaderish organiser Laz Lake, the Barkley Marathons promises to ‘shred your ego and your clothing’. Enter Nicky Spinks and it’s legendary ultra runner v legendary race…
Read MoreIf you’re thinking of entering the Dig Deep Trail Ultra 30 race, do it! Don’t be lulled into thinking it’s a soft option for an ultra though, there are several tough ascents and you’ll really feel them…
Read MoreThis summer feels deceptively quiet and with all this rain I’m in need of a little adventure inspiration, so I put together my list of five female filmmakers to watch this summer. Most of the films are free to view online - great inspiration for a rainy day…
Read MoreThere’s a growing recognition that time spent outdoors is good for us - not only for physical health and exercise, but for the positive effect it has on our mind. I spoke to Ruth Allen, coach, counsellor, and writer to understand more about the powerful effect the outdoors can have on emotional and mental wellbeing...
Read MoreRecently I’ve seen several high profile women mentioning with frustration the fact that their gender is a talking point. I do understand that. When you’ve dedicated your life to becoming one of the most highly skilled in your profession, whether as an athlete, a survivalist, or a photographer, why should the fact that you happen to be female be a talking point?
Read MoreThe subject of this year's Women's Climbing Symposium was Inspiration, so I was excited to find out more about what inspires the women at the WCS by running an interactive session. The results were fascinating, and especially useful for those who would like to engage more women and encourage them into sport and the outdoors...
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