Blog
Musings on photography, mental health and mountain life.
A Weekend with the Old Man: Adventure on the Island of Hoy
Poking my head over a ledge I narrowly avoided the famed vomit greeting. Pat led through and deposited us safely at the base of the final stunning looking corner pitch.
Climbing and Photography in Peru: In Search of Adventure
I donned my big mitts and we carried on up the ridge, a dark abyss to our left which greeted us as the swirling mist occasionally parted. It was quite an experience to be so alone so high up. Dani began to throw up, his choice of breakfast came back to haunt him as half the curried noodles and a bottle of condensed milk curiously hadn’t sat well
Climbing and Photography in Peru: That’ll do Donkey!
The next twenty mins were probably some of the most peaceful I can remember. Watching the light slowly move over Ranrapalca, illuminating it’s East and North Faces with not another soul in sight, witnessing the dance between light and shadow on the glacier below me and slowly losing my fingers and nose to the cold will be something that will stay with me for a very long time.
Capturing Sunrise in the Écrins:
When I wasn’t breaking through the crust and sinking to my knees, I was attempting to maintain enough traction to make it to the next rock outcrop. This carried on for another 20 minutes or so until we found a steep gully to climb which brought us up to the ridge and on to a beautiful scramble towards the summit as Dawn was breaking.
Climbing and Photography in Peru: Arriba Peru!!
I had already sampled the kitchen of the hostel and decided that weight loss would be sufficiently achieved from time at altitude. There was, therefore, no need to run the dysentery gauntlet by cooking in the accommodation.
Summer Tales From Norway
It was as I sunk up to my knees in the snow for the third time that I realised I may have messed up. Sure enough, I got to the lakes with time to spare before sunset, however the frozen, snow covered water was unlikely to thaw in the hour I had to spare.
Meeting Myself: When the Horse Bucks
Tears rolled down my cheeks as I drove to meet a friend for lunch. The boy I had met was a memory I had of me aged 19. For the first time since I was this boy, I had somehow been able to find the mental space and distance to understand what he was struggling with.
Go West: Exploring Ireland’s Stunning West Coast
A couple of days later, I took a drive out to Downpatrick Head in Co. Mayo. I wasn’t sure what to expect as the weather was pretty abysmal. A night in my van had me wondering whether I’d still be where I had parked when I woke, such was the deluge. Morning arrived and the rain had thankfully eased but the sea definitely looked a little fuller. Either that or the tide was in, it was definitely one of the two.
Weathering the Storm: Part 2
The next few hours were a haze of friends leaning over me, MRI scans, doctors and nurses coming and going, more visits from friends, catheter wars and then sleep. When I came too finally and was a little more lucid, I struck up a friendship with denial.
Weathering the Storm
So it came to be that I found myself on a climbing trip in the south of France, sat on my rope bag by the river writing myself a list of reasons to stay (to live) versus ones to leave. The list in favour of ending it all flowed so easily, bullet point after bullet point mounted up whilst only two reasons for staying emerged. One, I didn’t want to be responsible for inflicting the hurt and pain that my death would bring to those who have loved me and stood by me for so long. Two, I didn’t want to die, I just couldn’t see a way to make the hurt stop.
Introspection
As you strode deeper and deeper into the world, determined to do the only thing you could do, determined to save the only life you could save…
Happiness and the Necessity of Risk
It’s been on my mind for a while to try and put into words how I have come to realise that my happiness seems dependent upon a certain amount of personal, physical risk…
Monch, Mindfulness and Salvation
I am drawn to landscape photography, perhaps because it’s potentially the easiest of the different genres, or perhaps (as I like to think) because it helps me to realize the beauty around us.
In it to Win it..
Quick write up of an amazing day skiing in Scotland during a trip back to the motherland.