Maybe it's the scale of it all. But after ten years since my first trip to the Lake District I still can't get over this place.

Home to both England's biggest lake and its tallest mountain, you could visit 100 times and still feel like you're missing things. This time I'm here to spend a few days with Nemo Equipment - a high end outdoor brand with a focus on lightweight kit.

For the uninitiated, Nemo was founded in the US by MIT graduate and sometime spacesuit engineer Cam Brensinger, who, after spending five night's bad sleep in a poorly designed bivvy sack, decided he could do better. Fast forward 20 something years and Nemo is firmly established in the US as a go-to for thoughtfully-made ultralight gear with a sustainable focus.

It's a newer presence in the UK though, and so I'm here as part of a campout to find out more about Nemo's latest products, along with Advnture contributor Gary Moore (who also happens to be my partner) and other journalists, including Sian Lewis, who was involved in the launch of this very site.

Gary and I have already been in the Lakes for 24 hours before the Nemo campout, taking the opportunity to photograph kit including the best wetsuit I've ever had, and an update on a Patagonia classic. Day one saw us hiking off the Hardknott Pass and swimming in the very cold and very fast River Esk, and then staying the night in a fun Scandinavian barbeque hut near Ambleside.

The next morning we head to Grasmere to photograph more kit, including two excellent changing robes from Zone3 and Red, before driving on to the National Trust's campsite at Great Langdale to meet the group for the campout. The campsite is definitely on the fancy side, with a dedicated drying room (more on that later) and hot showers available 24/7. With the forecast promising heavy rain, we're going to need both, but weather regardless, we arrive very much in the mood for more swimming, more hiking, and lots of gear chat.

There are half a dozen other outdoor writers in camp and in theory we're all competitors, working for rival sites and publications. In practice though, many of us already know each other, having bonded at trade shows and events over our mutual love of the outdoors and nerdish level of interest in the kit. From the outset, it's clear that we're going to get along just fine.

After a short round of introductions the Nemo team wastes no time giving us the low down on the brand's latest kit.

The technical bit: new tents

If you're familiar with Nemo tents already, you'll know that they're very light, beautifully designed, and come with a price tag that reflects both those qualities.

We're shown both existing tents, and upgraded versions coming in the next year, with the Dagger, Dragonfly and Hornet, all making an appearance. Coming for next season are more sustainable fabrics, solution dyes, and more room.

Despite their relatively low profiles, it's possible to sit up in every tent - a boon in rainy British weather, when you may unexpectedly get stuck under canvas for a couple of days. All the tents also have a 'landing zone' in the vestibule to stick shoes and backpacks for more sleeping space, and the larger tents have an opening on each side.

While Gary is very much a thru-hiker, having recently walked from Bristol to Ireland, I'm more of a car camper, so it's been a while since I slept in a tiny tent. Happily, the Nemo Dagger Ridge 3P we've been allocated easily keeps us cozy and dry, despite the often torrential rain that has unhelpfully decided to arrive after a month-long drought.

The Ridge versions of Nemo's tents have an updated pole structure, which adds both height, and more usable space - without extra weight. After two nights sleeping in this one, I'm a fan.

The technical bit: ultralight mats

Finding a sleep mat that's light, packable, comfortable and well-insulated, is a holy grail for any wild camper, and Nemo's Tensor sleep mats seek to answer that quest.

We're shown the latest Tensor sleep mats, including the Nemo Tensor Extreme Conditions sleep mat, which all feature 'suspended' insulation, that hangs between the top and bottom layer of the mat, massively reducing the noisy crinkling sound you often get when rolling over on a lightweight mat.

These mats are super lightweight and pack down to almost nothing, and I find myself marvelling - yet again - at how far this industry has come. We're also given a demo on how to use a pump sack, which I could have done with this summer when struggling to use one on my Therm-a-Rest mat.

The technical bit: spoon-shape sleeping bags

We're taken through a range of sleeping bags, most with Nemo's 'spoon' shape - which has a narrower middle section, but then flares out at the feet. It's an interesting compromise between rectangular bags and mummy-styles, that saves weight, while being a more comfortable option than mummy bags and better for side sleepers. Many of the bags have 'Thermo Gills' in the front - small sections that you can unzip to dump heat, which is a clever touch. I spend the first night in a Riff sack, while Gary has the Disco.

Both down bags hold up to the chilly damp conditions with remarkable ease and we agree the spoon shape is a winner, but I'm reminded when I wake up with a tight chest on the first morning that I'm slightly allergic to down and switch to the synthetic Forte for the second night. It's just as good, and it's going on my Christmas list.

Magic chairs: the Nemo Stargaze

With all that technical chat out of the way, it's time to relax. The Nemo team cook up a feast on the firepit (special shout out must go to Jo for her amazing homemade cakes) and we kick back in Nemo Stargaze chairs. Imagine a camping chair combined with a rocking chair and a recliner and you're on the right track. They are obscenely comfortable (admittedly with a pretty hefty price tag). There are two versions - the original Stargaze reclining chair, and the Stargaze Evo-X, which is a bit sturdier, a bit plusher, and quickly wins the vote over which of the two we prefer.

The group quickly divides between the rockers and 'non'-rockers, although, as you can see in my Insta post below, most of us eventually succumb. If I could take home a single piece of kit from the campout, it would be one of these.

The chat takes in some of our recent adventures and the revelation that one of our number doesn't know who Ilona Maher (US rugby legend) is - if you don't know either, you can check out her Instagram here and thank me later. We spend a while marvelling at how she's built her profile to become the most-followed rugby player in the world. We all agree she's awesome.

Swimming with monsters

The next morning the group splits into those keen for a five hour hike up the Langdale Pikes and, well, me. I have an old knee injury that makes me less nimble on the trails than I'd like. If I join the guided hike I'll be the one lagging at the back the whole time. And that's no fun.

So I set off on a solo adventure instead, making a short hike around the edge of Side Pike to Blea Tarn, where I want to swim. Once I'm off the road, a short wander around the side of another hill and through some very prehistoric-feeling woods, brings me to the lake.

Blea Tarn has existed for so long that the sediment on the bottom of the deepest parts hasn't been disturbed since this land was still covered in glaciers. I feel very privileged to be here.

It's pouring with rain and my only company is a female duck, who I share some of my lunch with before my dip. Because it's high up, the water is still and icy cold but I'm used to cold water, so I just chuck on my wetsuit and get in, admittedly with a gasp.

In recent years I've stopped putting my face in the water when I go wild swimming in the UK - the pollution scare stories are no joke. But I don't worry about that here. The water is clean and clear and high up enough that it's extremely unlikely that anything nasty is getting pumped into it,

I dip my head under and the water is pitch black. My lizard brain kicks in and I immediately foresee death by plesiosaur in my near future. The creeping dread so many people experience in open water is upon me. I know it's just a prey instinct, a genetic hangover designed to remind me not to swim with deep water underneath me (for there once were monsters), but it takes me a minute to recalibrate.

After managing to relax again and bobbing around for quite a while I feel like I've had enough, so I peel off my wetsuit in the water (much easier that way), but then the feeling of the cold against my actual skin is so lovely, I decide to stay in for a bit longer, and eventually strip off my bikini to swim naked. Life's too short not to skinny dip.

I do my best to dry off in the now pouring rain, and wander back to the campsite, taking in a pebbled path that runs down the side of Side Pike. I'm grateful for the Vivobarefoot hiking boots I've been testing recently, and my Silva walking poles, that aren't really designed for 'proper' hiking, but help to keep me upright on the steep decline anyway.

I arrive back at camp a little before the rest of the crew, and spread out my entire kit in the drying room before having a much needed hot shower.

The happy hikers return soon enough, with talk of swimming in waterfalls and trekking above the cloud line. I feel a pang of jealousy at not having been able to join in, but that's forgotten soon enough as the Nemo team starts cooking tonight's veggie chilli and we discuss the perfect S'mores combo.

As night falls the clouds miraculously clears and we pull our chairs out from under the awning, to spot a few constellations and track satellites across the sky.

Swimming in Coniston

After an action-packed couple of days we're ready to pass out soon enough, and crawl into our respective tents. Lots of heart-felt goodbyes are had the next morning, before Gary and I make one final stop - to swim in Coniston Water (here I keep my face out, as the big Lakes have seen increasing pollution).

The water is much warmer here, and there are ducks again.

I marvel at finding such peace in the middle of this crazy world and stretch out across the lake, once again reminded of how lucky I am to so all this and somehow call it work.

Food and accommodation at Great Langdale were provided by Nemo Equipment, without any editorial input to this piece aside from some of the photos you see here.

It’s 3:20am as I tiptoe down the creaky stairs of the Buddha Lodge teahouse in Gorak Shep and push the front door open to an icy blast of alpine air.

“Good morning,” says Jonathan Davies, who’s already waiting outside in the dark with two of our Himalayan guides, his headlamp strapped to his head in anticipation of our pre-dawn hike.

The celebrated Welsh rugby player and I have been trekking in Nepal for the last eight days with a small group pulled together by his friend and mentor, Rhys David, the new CEO of EverTrek, an adventure company that Davies has recently become a brand ambassador for.

Yesterday, we finally reached Everest Base Camp, at 17,598ft (5,364m) above sea level, where we hugged, high-fived, and clambered giddily onto a famous boulder for a group photo. After an hour or so ogling the Khumbu icefall and the smattering of yellow tents that remain late in climbing season when most mountaineers have summited or been repelled by the mountain one way or another, we hiked back down to Gorak Shep to spend the night before beginning our descent.

Before we do that, though, Davies and I have opted in to an excruciating alpine start to climb another 1,000ft (300m) higher than Base Camp up Kala Patthar to watch the sun rise over Everest and Lhotse. Our trekking companions have, quite sensibly, chosen to remain in bed.

The last scrum

The 37-year-old, affectionately known as 'Foxy' – a nickname he tells me people are often disappointed to learn he only earned because his parents owned the Fox and Hound Pub in Carmarthenshire and nothing more salacious – recently retired from a hugely successful 18-year rugby career. After signing with the Llanelli Scarlets immediately out of high school, his impressive stint saw him play for Wales 96 times, as well as in four Six Nations tournaments, two grand slams, and two Lions tours.

In May of 2024, right around the time his first son was born, Davies played his last game with the Scarlets, and decided to take a break to spend time with his growing family and think about his next move.

“I’ve been around for so much more than a lot of new dads get, and that’s the most important thing,” says Davies.

“There’s a bigger purpose in my life now. So it was great timing.”

After nearly six months, he says he knew that the more time he spent off the pitch, the more he realized he didn’t miss the game. Davies announced his retirement from the sport in October 2024, and tells me he did so without any regrets or reservations.

“I look back at my career and there’s not much else I could have done, so I’m happy, very fortunate.”

A fox on the trot

When we begin our starlit march across the high alpine desert terrain to Kala Patthar, it’s been almost exactly a year since his last game, and if you’ve been watching him play for a long time, it shows. In a 2024 interview with the BBC, Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel describes the first time he set eyes on Davies when he made his debut aged 18.

"There was a lot of talk of this kid coming through from Bancyfelin, and when he turned up to training, he was a monster," says Peel.

"It was a shock because of how big he was physically. He was more developed than most of the senior team.”

Though he’s still dedicated to physical conditioning – one of the first things he does when we get back to Kathmandu after 11 days of trekking is hit the hotel gym – with the intense training of his professional days behind him, he’s slimmed down to 210lb (95kg). But this lighter version of Davies turns out to be as strong and nimble as ever, and no less afraid of a challenge.

“I had one eye on Kala Patthar the whole time because it was that little bit higher than Base Camp, and I wanted to see if it would stress me,” he tells me of his decision to take our guides up on the optional extra hike.

Breaking the elastic

The walk up Kala Patthar itself is relatively short, with just over a mile of climbing, but in that time, we gain more than 1,300ft (396m) in elevation, and we’re quickly subdued into a breathless silence.

As minutes tick by, the silhouettes of Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse, Pumori, Ama Dablam, and more start to loom out of the receding darkness, and I become aware of a growing distance between myself and the rugby player. Perhaps I expected to have an edge over him, what with my many decades of experience trekking around the world, but as we near the ridgeline and every breath becomes an effort, I can’t help but slow down while he digs in. In professional cycling, something we’re both big fans of, there’s a term for this: “breaking the elastic”.

Knowing that sunrise is mere minutes away and if he keeps slowing down for my sake, he could miss it, I give Davies the nod, and within seconds, the elastic is in shreds, he and one of our guides have all but disappeared from view as they scurry up to a radio tower that marks the highest point. Myself and our remaining guide clamber weakly up to a ridgeline where I plop down on a frosty rock, my heart pounding, and watch the snow on the biggest mountains on earth turn dusky pink.

“The size of the whole mountain range is just breath taking, but I think Kala Patthar was the exclamation mark on it all,” says Davies later, after we’ve regrouped, met up with our trekking companions, and walked another eight miles down to Dingboche to spend the night.

A love of the outdoors

For fans used to seeing Davies scoring tries and spot-blitzing in his ever-present scrum cap (something his mother insisted he wear after his family witnessed a rugby player losing an ear during a tackle in a freak accident), images of him wearing hiking boots from The North Face might seem like something of a departure. But for those who know him, seeing Davies getting outdoors more these days is no surprise.

“When I’m outdoors, whether I’m on a mountain or in the woodlands, even on the beach, I feel calm. I wouldn’t say I’m uptight, but it just seems to take me away from everything else.”

Davies and his wife, Lou, first got bitten by the outdoor bug in 2019, during a nearly month-long trip to America’s west coast, where they discovered the tumbling waterfalls of Yosemite, endless salt flats of Death Valley, and glittering Lake Tahoe.

In Vancouver, the couple did the Grouse Grind, a popular fitness challenge where hikers see how quickly they can cover a 1.8-mile ascent with 2,800ft (853m) of elevation gain – something they enjoyed so much they did it again to beat their previous time a couple of years later when they returned to the Canadian Rockies on their honeymoon.

“I just feel so comfortable when I’m with the family outdoors or with friends exploring new areas of the world,” says Davies, who spent months before our trek training in the mountains of north Wales and on the trails of Cornwall with his son loaded up in an Osprey carrier.

“If I’m doing something, I really focus and try to get the full benefit from it.”

Reaching new heights

Despite his efforts in the lead up to the trek, Davies is the first to admit that spending nearly two weeks walking over 80 miles without a rest day and at high altitude is a totally different ball game to his previous adventures.

“This is on a far bigger scale than anything I’ve done before,” he tells me.

Trekking to the foot of Everest via the standard Khumbu Valley route we’ve taken isn’t exactly technical, but it requires, at minimum, six hours of hiking each day carrying a backpack, the dexterity to leap off the trail at any moment to avoid the sharp horns of a herd of yak, and the effects of ever-decreasing oxygen levels. At Kala Pattahr, we’re getting 50 percent less oxygen with each breath than we’d get down at sea level back in the UK.

“You can train as hard as you want, but you just don’t know how altitude is going to treat you, so that was a real worry of mine,” says Davies, who says he was "apprehensive" as to how he'd react after his days at rugby training camps in Switzerland. He knows from experience that altitude can be an unpredictable beast no matter how conditioned you are.

Of course, at camps with altitude-adjusted rooms, players can simply open their hotel room doors to get more oxygen after a long day of training. Here in Nepal, there’s no such option, and none of our group, guides included, escapes the crushing headaches, racing heart, and broken sleep that increasing altitude bestows upon the intrepid Base Camp hiker.

Big deep breaths outdoors

I’ve spent a lot of the last eight days looking at Davies’ calf muscles. Not because I’m a creep, but because he’s generally towards the front of the pack. Davies walks steadily, day after day, head up and unencumbered by the trekking poles most of the rest of us rely on.

His demeanor is steady, too. He’s happy to join the banter, even when it’s at his expense (he earns the nickname “Peter Andre” owing to a physique that could put the 1990s Australian pop star to shame). He’s just as at ease with more serious conversation, periods of silence and reflection.

“I’m very comfortable in my own skin,” he says. “I never wanted attention.”

Davies isn’t immune to the challenges an experience like this poses (though he may hide it better than the rest of us), but his years on the pitch have also reinforced a certain in-built resilience that’s a huge merit when you’re walking through this unforgiving landscape. He views the demands as an opportunity for self-inquiry rather than grumbling, and this is one of the things he says he loves most about exploring the outdoors.

“You have time to think about things, process things, it helps with your next steps, and it clears your mind.”

When I ask him if he thinks hiking could help professional athletes bridge the gap between structured days and constant time in spotlight to the new life that awaits them after retirement, he’s keen not to downplay the importance of mentorship, but adds that in some ways, hiking can be “like cheap therapy” that could be hugely beneficial for retiring athletes.

“Just going for a walk with friends and talking things through, that helps. I think it gives you a connection to yourself. There’s nothing more refreshing than big deep breaths outdoors.”

Foxy's kit for Everest Base Camp

• Ayacucho merino wool base layer
• Montane Fireball Lite softshell jacket
• Montane Anti Freeze XT down jacket
• The North Face Hedgehog hiking boots
• Osprey Talon 33 backpack

• Best hiking boots: hit the trail
• Best base layers: the foundation of your hiking garb

Purity is an overused word in climbing circles and what constitutes a pure approach to climbing has been the subject of endless debate. Sport climbers would assert that climbing on fixed protection allows them to fully focus on technique and the experience. Those daring enough to take a free solo approach would point to the purity of being alone on the wall. Trad enthusiasts extoll the ethical superiority of fixing your own gear to protect a climb, as well as the focus and skill such an approach requires.

It's this quality that sets trad apart. In essence, any wall, cliff, crag, buttress, rib, crack, overhang, chimney or ridge can be a trad climb. With the faff comes the freedom to climb where one will. The world’s greatest trad climbers have tackled some of our planet’s most fearsome lines, leaving behind little trace of their conquest, unlike the bolts left in the wake of a sport climbing project or the emotional toll that free soloing undoubtedly takes on a climber’s loved ones.

In this feature – the more traditional sibling of our greatest sport climbers in history piece – we take a look at some of the world’s greatest contemporary trad climbers. It's a feature that's awash with climbing grades – for context, see our guide to climbing rating systems.

Who are the world’s greatest trad climbers?

The process of whittling down the many legendary trad climbers into the selection below was very much the crux of putting this feature together. Climbers rarely stick religiously to one discipline – the varied joys of trad, sport, competition, big wall, bouldering, free soloing, ice climbing, mountaineering and alpinism mean that the elite often dip their toes into numerous pursuits.

So, with the selection, I’ve tried to focus mostly on those who have made trad their main form of climbing, or who’s achievements in the sport are too impressive to ignore. It would’ve been easy to pop someone like Alex Honnold in here but, despite his trad adventures, he’s better known for other styles and once said that he dislikes ‘all the faffing about that pure trad climbing requires’. So, it’d be rude to leave a true trad disciple out to make space on the list for those less enamored by nuts, hexes and cams.

I’ve also leant towards more contemporary characters that have sent their most impressive climbs in the last couple of decades, rather than legends of the past, such as Lynn Hill, Pete Livesey and Johnny Dawes. Treat the selection as a celebration of great, bold trad climbing and if it sparks debate, so be it. We all love a good debate, after all.

The world's greatest trad climbers

Beth Rodden: American who's up there with the best female climbers in history.

Jacopo Larcher: Tyrloean climber who may have sent the world’s hardest ever trad climb.

Dave MacLeod: Scottish climbing legend and first in the world to climb a graded E11 in 2006.

Hazel Findlay: British all-rounder with a penchant for big wall climbs.

Adam Ondra: Czech climber widely regarded as the best climber in the world today.

Tommy Caldwell: American climber most famous for his staggering ascent of the Dawn Wall on El Cap.

James Pearson: British climber who’s risen to prominence in recent years.

Meet the expert

Beth Rodden

Beth Rodden is bonafide legend of the climbing world, with a string of historic ascents to her name. Her trad journey began in earnest with a 13-pitch climb of Bravo les Filles alongside Lynn Hill, Nancy Feagin and Kath Pyke in Madagascar. She formed a formidable climbing partnership with Tommy Caldwell – they were even married between 2003 and 2009 – claiming the first free ascent of Lurking Fear (5.10) together on El Capitan in 2000. That same year, she endured the trauma of being kidnapped, alongside Caldwell, John Dickey and Jason “Singer” Smith by armed fundamentalists while on a climbing trip to Kyrgyzstan.

Rodden and Caldwell followed Lurking Fear up with the third and fourth free ascent of The Nose (5.14a) in 2005, emulating Lynn Hill’s famous 1994 climb. However, perhaps her crowning glory came in 2008, when she redpointed Meltdown (5.14c or d), a 22-meter vertical seam in Yosemite, thought to be the hardest trad route ever sent by a woman. The line was unrepeated for 10 years before fellow American Carlo Traversi managed the climb. He ended his tribute to Rodden’s achievement with just one word: ‘respect’.

Jacopo Larcher

Like legendary mountaineer Reinhold Messner, Jacopo Larcher hails from South Tyrol, a region characterized by the spectacular mountains of the Dolomites. He started climbing at the age of 10 and soon developed a talent that would see him compete at a national level in both boulder and lead specialities. Victory in the 2010 Italian Championships saw him move away from competition climbing and towards trad, multi-pitch, ice and expeditions.

He's perhaps most famous for his ungraded climb on Tribe in Cadarese, Italy in 2019. He first set eyes on the route in 2013 but the monstrous line took him over 50 sessions to finally conquer. Larcher was unwilling to grade the route, having broken its challenges down to a point where his appreciation of the difficulty had become warped. Instead, the great Adam Ondra weighed in, saying that it was ‘no doubt, the hardest single-pitch trad route in the world’ – it’s thought to be a possible 9a+ (5:15a). He’s also sent Yosemite’s Meltdown (5.14c or d), first climbed by Beth Rodden in 2008, as well as Rhapsody (5.14c), Dave Macleod’s Scottish masterpiece.

Dave Macleod

Dave MacLeod is a staggeringly bold Scottish rock climber who, among other things, has one of the world’s toughest free solo sends to his name, Darwin Dixit (8b+, 5.14a) in Margalef, Spain in 2008. He’s a decorated winter climber and boulderer too, but he’s perhaps best known for his trad prowess.

His magnum opus may very well be Rhapsody, an E11 (5:14c) climb on Scotland’s Dumbarton Crag in 2006. At the time, it was thought to be the hardest trad route in the world. He may have eclipsed this achievement with his 2008 send of Echo Wall, a monstrous 70-meter route on Ben Nevis, Scotland’s highest mountain. He declined to grade the climb, though fellow elite cragsman James Pearson suggested a hard E11 (5:14c) when he claimed the first repeat in 2024.

Hazel Findlay

North Wales based Hazel Findlay’s formative climbing experiences were on the sea cliffs of Pembrokeshire alongside her father. Her passion for trad saw her shun competition climbing, despite being junior national rock climbing champion on several occasions, in favour of grander adventures. She’d go on to achieve the first send of a British E9 in 2011, climbing North Devon’s Once Upon a Time in the South West. In 2013, she chalked off Chicama (E9) on the North Welsh island of Anglesey, a similarly impressive feat.

Great feats in Yosemite and Squamish would follow, including the third ascent of Ron Kauk’s Magic Line (8c+, 5.14c) in 2019, only the second climber to do so while placing gear, after Kauk’s son Lonnie in 2018. She said that it had been ‘so fun to move upwards on and in such a magical place’. She’s free climbed El Cap four times and was the first British woman to do so when she sent Golden Gate in 2011. In Squamish, she claimed the first free ascent of Tainted Love (8b+, 5.13d), a spectacular stem-corner that is accessed from the top of the Chief, in 2018.

In 2022, she joined Alex Honnold on an expedition to climb Greenland’s gigantic 3,750-foot Ingmikortilaq sea cliff, an adventure documented in the 2024 National Geographic series Arctic Ascent.

Adam Ondra

Widely regarded as the best rock climber in the world today, Ondra is, admittedly, primarily known for sport climbing and he features prominently in our greatest sport climbers in history feature. However, his domination of rock climbing disciplines means that leaving him off this list was impossible. This is, after all, a man who has repeated several of the world’s most challenging trad lines.

Born in Brno, Czech Republic in 1993, Ondra began climbing at the age of 6 and by the time he was 8 he was already onsighting grades as tough as 7b+ (5.12c). Since, he’s tackled some of the world’s toughest sport and trad climbs. He made short work of El Cap’s Dawn Wall (5.14d) in 2016, sending it in just 8 days, 11 quicker than Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson’s famous first ascent from the previous year. He also repeated James Pearson’s Bon Voyage (E12, 5.14d) in France, which he admitted ‘could be (physically) the hardest route on trad gear in the world'. It took Ondra three days to puzzle it out.

Tommy Caldwell

Like Adam Ondra, it was difficult to leave Colorado-born Tommy Caldwell off this list, despite the fact that he also appears in our greatest sport climbers in history feature. While his masterpiece, the free ascent of the Dawn Wall (5.14d) on El Cap in 2015 was admittedly a mixed trad climb, his achievements across the board warrant his inclusion here.

These include various other free ascents in Yosemite and a staggering traverse of the Fitz Roy massif, one of the world’s most beautiful mountains, in Patagonia alongside Alex Honnold in 2014, for which he earned the prestigious Piolet d’Or prize. He was married to Beth Rodden between 2003 and 2009 and the pair had earlier suffered an ordeal when taken hostage during a climbing trip in Kyrgyzstan in 2000. His climbing career is even more remarkable when you consider that he lost his left index finger in a tablesaw accident in 2001.

James Pearson

In 2023, British climber James Pearson sent Bon Voyage in Annot, France. It was his hardest climb to date and he suspected that it was something very special indeed. However, he hesitated to give the climb a grade. This was because, in 2008, he attracted criticism for claiming the world’s first E12 route on The Walk of Life, a sheer and mostly unprotected slab on England’s North Devon coastline. In the years that followed, some of the world’s best cragsmen tested themselves against some of Pearson’s previous climbs and several of his routes were downgraded. In the most brutal case, Dave MacLeod sent The Walk of Life and suggested a radical downgrade from E12 to E9.

Pearson exiled himself to Europe to rebuild his confidence and his reputation. In recent years, he’s risen like a Phoenix, achieving a repeat ascent of MacLeod’s Rhapsody (E11, 5:14c) in 2014 and, in 2020, putting up a second ascent of Jacopo Larcher’s Tribe – a possible 9a+ (5:15a).

And so, we come back to Bon Voyage, which has since been attempted by Larcher and Ondra, as well as other leading climbers Steve McClure, Sébastien Berthe, and Ignacio Mulero. Only Ondra has succeeded in sending the line and Pearson has been prompted to once again stick his neck on the line and proclaim a world’s first E12. Whatever the grade, it’s clear that Pearson is now right on top of his game.

Runners, hikers, and other athletes from all over the world rely on their Garmin sports watch to track their movements and monitor fitness in the wilderness.

The best Garmin devices combine a sturdy, durable exterior with a sleek design and plenty of built-in sports features.

Garmin models from up and down the price range include loads of handy workout modes to help you up your game and multiple health monitors to keep score of your fitness. Top-end models like the Fenix 8 and Forerunner 955 cover everything from jet lag to water skiing, while budget options like the Forerunner 55 offer a basic but dependable set of metrics for workout tracking.

With so many different options, using your Garmin to track workouts might seem a little daunting. Don't worry, Garmin makes it simple enough, and you can start tracking your workouts by following a few simple steps.

Read on for our guide to tracking your workouts with a Garmin device, including advice on how to find workouts and view them on your phone or computer.

How to select an activity

Garmin devices come with basic sports monitoring modes, known as activities, for individual sports.

These modes collect different fitness data relevant to said sport. For example, if you select the running activity, your device will measure your cadence and running dynamics in addition to basic info like your time, speed, and heart rate.

If you select hiking, it will monitor different metrics like your elevation gain and altitude.

Activities will also track your position in the wilderness with your device's GPS tracking. Garmin watches have a stellar reputation for accurate and dependable GPS, so you can stick to the trails wherever you are in the wilderness.

Finding and selecting an activity is quick and easy. Just follow these simple steps:

• Press the Start/Stop button
• Scroll through the Activities list and select one
• Select Start to begin your workout

How to select a workout

Activities track your health with precision, but don't guide you through a workout. If you want to follow a step-by-step training plan, you can use Garmin's workouts mode to find pre-made or custom workouts that you can edit and change to suit your preferences.

Like Activities, Workout modes also track your position via GPS.

You can select a workout by following a few basic steps:

• Press the Start/Stop button
• Select the Workouts app
• Select an activity type
• Select a workout from the available list
• Select Do Workout
• Press the Start/Stop button to begin

How to create a workout

If you're feeling a little creative, you might want to make your own workout, which you can customize to suit your preferences on the trails. This might sound a touch daunting, but it's easy enough once you get the hang of things.

You can create a workout on the Garmin Connect app or Garmin Express website:

Via the Garmin Connect app

• Open the Garmin Connect app
• Select More in the bottom right
• Select Training and Planning
• Select Workouts
• Select Create a Workout
• Select a workout type from the activities listed (Run, Bike, Swim etc)
• Create your workout by choosing from the options available, including your distances, rest times, target pace, target calories burned, and more
• Select save
• Your workout will now be available under My Workouts

Via the Garmin Express website

• Sign in to the Garmin Express website on a web browser
• Select Training and Planning
• Select a workout type
• Create your workout by choosing from the options available, including your distances, rest times, target pace, target calories burned, and more
• Select Save Workout
• Select Send to Device to access your workout under My Workouts on your Garmin watch

How to view your progress

Once you've completed your hike, run, or other workout, it's time to check your stats and see how you got on.

You can see data from your individual workouts on your Garmin device, via the Garmin Connect app, or on the Garmin Express website.

You'll then be able to view a detailed analysis of your performance and a round-up of all the metrics that your watch tracked while you moved. You can also find detailed breakdowns of specific measurements, like your heart rate and lap data.

If you want a broader vision of your progress, you can access detailed charts and graphs that display your stats over time, to show how you've improved with each workout.

Accessing your activity data is an easy job, whether you're using a mobile device, laptop, or your Garmin watch itself.

Via the Garmin Connect app

• Open the Garmin Connect app
• Select More
• Select Activities
• Select the specific activity you want to view
• Select Charts to view your data

Via the Garmin Express website

• Sign in to Garmin Connect via a web browser
• Select Activities
• Select the activity you want to view, and your stats will appear

Via your Garmin device

• Hold the Menu button
• Select History
• Select Activities
• Select the activity you want to see
• Select All Stats to see your data

You can also track your health and fitness stats on the Strava app by syncing your Garmin device with the workout-specific social media. To find out more, check out our expert guide to syncing your sports watch with Strava.

If you want additional coaching, the Garmin Coach feature will provide a personalized workout regimen based on your individual targets and progress on the trails. Find out how to use it here.

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As someone who attended every rally and protest about the recent attempt by a wealthy landlord to remove the right to legally wild camp on Dartmoor, and a regular wild camper myself, I dread waking up to news reports such as this one, claiming there has been a surge in fly camping since the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the general public retaining the right to spend the night on the moor.

The first thing that raises my hackles (after the fact that some people will stoop to such conduct) is the instant and seemingly gleeful conflation of wild camping with nuisance camping and general bad behaviour in the outdoors. Although the article does admittedly make an attempt to explain the ethics of wild camping as opposed to fly camping, the dots are neatly set out for the casual reader to join the two activities, as if one is an inevitable consequence of the other.

In reality, the fly camping described in the BBC piece has absolutely nothing to do with wild camping, and there are already laws in place proscribing such destructive behaviour. Wild camping involves hiking or biking some distance into a remote place with things you can carry in a backpack (ie not a generator, large speakers and a coolbox full of beer), and then leaving the area at least as pristine as you found it (many wild campers will remove litter left by others).

Going wild

Had the recent court case gone the other way, this problematic activity would very likely still be happening (especially in a summer that has seen four freakish heatwaves so far), but all the responsible wild campers would have been criminalised or deterred from spending time on Dartmoor as well, leaving fewer people to help clear up the resulting mess and/or alert authorities to serious wrongdoing taking place in the National Park.

To draw an analogy: it’s currently perfectly acceptable all over Britain to enjoy a picnic in a park with friends, but that doesn’t make it OK to drive across the grass, chuck empty soda cans and McDonald’s wrappers all over the place, bust out a sound system, hold an impromptu rave and leave your old sofa and busted fridge in the hedge.

These two sets of behaviors are pretty clearly distinct from one another, right? Well, it’s the same with wild camping and fly camping. Except no one is suggesting that a countrywide ban on picnicking is a good idea, or that responsible sandwich munchers should all be criminalized.

Under Pressure

Did the court case and media coverage of it draw attention to the fact that Dartmoor is the only place in the whole of England and Wales that you can legally camp in a natural setting without paying for the privilege? Yes, of course it did. And that has inevitably increased the numbers of people visiting the moor to do just that, which only goes to highlight how ludicrous that situation is.

Some people literally drive down the country to Devon from the North and the Midlands, passing all kinds of wonderful wild places, just so they can enjoy a night under the stars on Dartmoor without the threat of getting moved on. And the vast majority of these people proceed to wild camp completely responsibly, but they should be free to do this in myriad remote spots around the country.

To draw another analogy – currently anyone and everyone is free to fish from any publicly accessible beach or headland in Britain, without a permit (and, sadly, some of the people who interpret that right in entirely the wrong way leave broken beer bottles and fishing line laced with hooks behind on the sand for kids and dogs to find with their feet the next day). Can you imagine if ‘wild fishing’ was legal in just a couple of coves in one county – picture the pressure that would put that small piece of coastline under.

Optics and evidence

Part of the problem with fly camping is that it only takes a few groups of people doing it to create a massive and very visible mess. An increase in real wild campers is much harder to monitor, because they leave no trace (and therefore cause no problems).

“We have seen lots more wild campers coming to spend time in popular areas such as Postbridge recently,” says Gillian Heally – who is a Dartmoor Guide, running walking excursions across the moor, and a co-ordinator for The Stars are for Everyone, a group that has been at the forefront of the fight for the continued right to wild camp on Dartmoor. “But the next day you wouldn’t know anyone had been there.”

Sadly, the same is not true when you get an increase in vehicle visitation, whether people stay overnight in vans or tents (and, once again for those at the back, camping by your car is not wild camping), or just come for the day.

“I’m on a forum for outdoor leaders, and there has been a lot of talk this summer about the rise in problem behaviour like littering in popular outdoor areas across the country,” Gillian tells me. “And just look at the state festival sites are left in. We live in a throw-away culture. I think the best solution is through education – not through putting up barriers stop people going outdoors.”

Access and education

And this is the crux of the problem. If you make it hard, or impossible, for groups and families to take children out and legally spend quality time in the wilderness, how can you expect the next generation to know how to behave in, or to properly value, green spaces? And corralling campers into paid-for sites (as good as many of them are) just teaches people there’s a litter bin on every corner, which isn’t the case in the wild, where you need to pack everything back out with you.

The fact there’s still only one tiny corner of one county in the whole of England and Wales where you are allowed to do something as simple as sleep outside is staggering. And the attention that has been brought to this ridiculous situation has obviously increased pressure on parts of Dartmoor – especially in a post-lockdown era of outdoor online influencers (many of whom, to be fair, do stress the importance of leave no trace ethics) with enormous followings.

And this is why organisations such as the BMC are pushing for an expansion of the right to wild camp across the country, in a campaign I passionately support. But wherever you stand on the issue, make sure you leave the spot at least as green, clean, pretty and pristine as it was when you found it in the first place.

Hiking through woods and walking coastal paths is a fantastic way to explore your surroundings, stay fit and immerse yourself in the beauty of nature. However, factor in a baby or toddler who needs breastfeeding and things get a little more…challenging.

But little beats getting to indoctrinate, ahem, I mean, share your passion for the great outdoors with your children, so this is a challenge worth persevering with.

First off, you’ll need a way to carry your new mini adventure companion, as well as the correct kit to make breastfeeding them outside comfortable for you both. As anyone who has breastfed a baby or toddler knows, it’s thirsty work - so you’ll need a way to stay hydrated even on a short walk. And if the temperature dips, you’ll need a way to keep you both protected from the elements too.

• Stephanie Case recently won the Ultra Trail Snowdonia 100k running race, while breastfeeding her daughter en route - read the story here.

While that sounds like a lot to consider, with the right mindset and kit, hiking with your infant can be a glorious way to enjoy the outdoors together. Yes, your pace might have to slow down and you might have to stop more frequently to feed, but that’s no bad thing. It’s simply more opportunity to pay attention to the small wonders of nature. These days I’m less interested in PBs and more interested in finding animal tracks, and discovering which flowers are blooming.

So don’t be put off getting outside and exploring with your little one. Just get the right kit and learn how to embrace your new hiking buddy. Read on to find out how I update my hiking kit when breastfeeding.

Essential kit

Whether you’re breastfeeding a newborn baby or a toddler - the basic premise is the same. You’ll need to wear the right kit to enable you to easily and comfortably feed them anywhere. For the purposes of this feature, I’ll show you how I’ve updated my hiking kit to accommodate feeding my 18-month-old, but the same kit could be used (and in some cases modified) for younger or older infants.

Baby carrier: If you’re adventuring with a non-walking infant - or one that won’t manage the whole distance - you’ll need a convenient way to carry them.

Babywearing coat: When it gets cold, you’ll want a way to keep you and your baby snug and dry on your hike.

Babywearing hoodie: Perfect for when it’s too warm for a coat, but too cold for just a t-shirt.

Nursing bra: A bra designed specifically for nursing makes breastfeeding much easier, especially when you’re outside.

Nursing top: I personally like a nursing specific top as it allows easy access to the bra while offering plenty of coverage.

Water bottle: I like the convenience of a straw bottle for staying hydrated on walks with my children. (So do they.)

Baby carrier

• The best baby carriers are the most convenient and least restrictive way to explore outside with little ones that can’t walk
• Make sure the carrier you use is ergonomically designed and hip healthy

First up, you need a way to bring your infant along for the ride. While there are a range of excellent off-road pushchairs and strollers that make light work of bumpy terrain, nothing offers all-terrain access like a baby carrier. If your route includes narrow trails, tight gates or stiles, you’ll definitely need a carrier.

My preferred option is the Omni Deluxe All-in-One Baby Carrier. It's easy to adjust, comfortable to wear and you can carry your baby facing you from birth, outward facing (from five months) or on your back (from six months).

When it comes to carriers, you want to make sure the one you choose is ergonomic for little bodies, paying close attention to their hip position. All Ergobaby carriers have been acknowledged by the International Hip Dysplasia Institute as ‘Hip Healthy’, plus they’ve been awarded a Seal of Approval by the AGR of Germany as ‘Back Healthy’ for babies and parents.

If you carry your baby facing forwards, you can even breastfeed on the go. There's a hood you can pull up for sun protection, as well as privacy. I also like the six storage areas, perfect for keys, phone, wallet, teethers etc. It's also machine washable, which is always handy.

If you’re looking for a carrier to go the distance, The Omni Deluxe baby carrier can be used from 7lb right through to 45lb, which is the average weight of a four-year-old. Plus like their other carriers, the Omni Deluxe comes with the ErgoPromise Lifetime Guarantee.

Babywearing coat

• Make sure your coat can fit you and your child inside, so you both stay warm and dry
• Pick a coat with a detachable panel for the most versatile option

When it comes to keeping warm and dry on your hike, you’ll need to think about a protective jacket for two, not one, AKA the babywearing coat. This style of garment typically has an additional zip on panel which, when attached, enlarges the coat and makes it possible to wear the whole ensemble over the top of a baby in a carrier.

My preferred option is Seraphine’s Long Maternity & Babywearing Puffer Coat. You can start to wear this in pregnancy, as the zip-away panels extend the sides for your growing bump. Then once the baby arrives, attach the detachable kangaroo panel and you’re both ready for an adventure. The outer quilted fabric is shower resistant and the natural down and feather padding is exceptionally snug. There’s also two convenient side pockets, ideal for breastfeeding snacks.

And once you’re done babywearing? Simply unzip the extra panel, and you’ve got a standard puffer jacket, perfect for one.

Babywearing hoodie

• A handy option for when it’s too warm for a coat
• Zip-up functionality makes it easy to remove without waking the baby

The weather is nothing if not unpredictable, so it pays to be prepared. Don't make the mistake (as I have) of seeing a dark sky and wearing a jumper under the baby carrier, only for the sun to come out after the child has fallen asleep, rendering you a trapped sweaty mess.

The perfect answer to this is a babywearing hoodie. Wear a comfy base layer, put your carrier on, then finish off with a babywearing hoodie. Go for a zipped one, as it crucially allows you to remove it without having to take the carrier off and committing the cardinal sin of disturbing a sleeping baby.

My favourite choice for the job is Seraphine’s 3 In 1 Relaxed Fit Maternity Hoodie. First of all, it’s incredibly comfortable. I love the long length and the thumb holes in the cuff are a nostalgically comforting design choice. But most importantly, it’s easy to wear over a baby carrier, both undone and done up, with the attachable kangaroo panel. It’s also comfortable to feed in, ideal if you want to keep your baby cosy or create some privacy.

Nursing bra

• Breastfeeding is much more comfortable when wearing a correct fitting nursing bra
• Make sure you get fitting advice from a professional

Pregnancy can affect everything from the hair on your head to the size of your feet, so it’s little wonder the cascade of hormonal changes can also impact breast size too. Breastfeeding can also affect your size, and fluctuations are normal.

All of above can make knowing what size bra to get quite tricky and, with a tiny baby in tow, popping to the shops for a quick bra fitting isn’t always practical. If you’re in a size conundrum, consider an online fitting service. I was recently super impressed with the free virtual fitting service offered by Bravissimo, who got my size spot on the first time.

As for specific bras, for short hikes or low-impact exercise, I like Bravissimo’s Body Silk Seamless Nursing Bra. It's seamless and non-wired, and also available in a 'Fuller Cup' size, making it a super comfortable choice. The thick straps offer good support and the simple drop down cups are easy to use while wrangling a baby.

For more support on a longer or more challenging route, my go to option is the Nursing Sports Bra - Artemis from Natal Active, which is designed with high impact workouts in mind. It’s lightly padded, which I like, although you can remove the insert. You can also choose to wear it with the wide straps straight down or cross-backed, I prefer the latter for even more support.

Nursing top

• Provides easy access to make breastfeeding anywhere a doddle
• Pick bamboo for a comfortable, sweat-wicking choice

You don’t need a nursing top, you could layer up a vest (I really like Marks and Spencer’s Cotton Rich Secret Support Nursing Vest) with a t-shirt, and I simply pull up the top and pull down the vest when it’s time to feed. But for easy feeding when out and about, I don’t think you can beat the convenience of a nursing top. These are designed to have a lift up section to allow for easy access when it’s feeding time, while also providing good coverage.

I like Seraphine’s Twin Pack Maternity & Nursing T-Shirts when I’m out on a hike, as they’re made from ultra-soft bamboo; a great option for activewear thanks to its mighty sweat-wicking properties. They’re also super stretchy, meaning you can wear them when pregnant through to postpartum. And they’re cut quite long too, so perfect for layering on cooler days.

Water bottle

• Breastfeeding mums need to stay hydrated, as producing milk requires a lot of water
• Pick a water bottle that is ultra-convenient and easy to carry with you

Drinking enough water while breastfeeding is important, as breast milk is made up of about 87% water. Considering that, on average, during the first six months of exclusive breastfeeding, mums produce around 750ml of milk a day, you can see why getting enough sips in is vital. Dehydrating while breastfeeding is no fun and can negatively impact milk supply, not to mention lead to fatigue, muscle cramps, headaches and nausea.

Guidelines on how much to drink vary around the world, but in Europe the recommended total intake suggested for breastfeeding women is around 2700ml, as suggested by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

Suffice to say, you’ll want to bring some water with you when you head out. My top choice for staying hydrated on a hike is the Thrive Flip Straw 32oz Bottle with Tritan Renew from Camelbak. The flip out straw is really convenient whether you’re at home or out exploring, and the leak-proof cap is genius. Both of these features are great for my 18-month-old too, who enjoys “sharing” anything I’m consuming. And despite the size (32oz), it’s pretty lightweight. Plus you can chuck the whole thing in the dishwasher, which is always a bonus.

If you like your water cold, you’d prefer the Thrive Flip Straw 25oz Bottle, Insulated Stainless Steel. The vacuum insulated stainless steel will keep your drink ice cold for hours, however it's heavier, so I prefer to keep this one for home and in the car.

The National Park Service is facing an all-out crisis after losing roughly 24% of its full-time staff to a series of brutal cuts and redundancies imposed by the Trump administration.

Visitors to the parks have been forced to contend with long lines, reduced opening hours, and other issues as parks across the country struggle to cope without sufficient staff. Conservation and scientific efforts have also been impacted as employees are forced to perform various visitor-facing roles and clean the bathrooms, due to a lack of maintenance staff.

To find out just how bad things have gotten, I caught up with John Garder, Senior Director of Budget and Appropriations at the National Parks Conservation Association.

The NPCA is an independent non-profit organization dedicated to protecting America's National Parks and their staff.

What happened?

The past few months have been extremely damaging for the NPS.

Days after taking office, President Trump announced a federal hiring freeze, which stopped America's 63 national parks from recruiting the thousands of temporary workers they rely on each year during the busy summer season, and asked full-time employees to take redundancy.

Weeks later, one thousand further staff were fired in a bulk email, popularly referred to as the 'Valentine's Day massacre'.

In total, internal NPS data reported by NPCA suggests that the parks have lost almost a quarter of their full-time staff, and have only hired around half of the usual number of temporary employees.

Visitor experience

Inadequate staff numbers have had a drastic impact on the visitor experience at America's 63 national parks.

"We are seeing late openings of campgrounds, long lines at the visitor centre, challenges keeping up with maintenance, reduced hours at parks, reduced hours at visitor centres, and other impacts," Garder explains.

Delays have been a common occurrence throughout the summer. Parks across the country are recording record visitor numbers, but without ample staff to man the facilities, some visitors have been forced to wait in lengthy lines before they can even get through the gate.

To make up for the missing maintenance workers, Garder claims that law enforcement officers, scientists, and other non-public-facing staff have been forced away from their usual work to help visitors.

"We're seeing a situation where there are professional staff who care for resources, who do scientific work, who perform law enforcement, and are needed for their normal duties, who are now maintaining bathrooms, and are doing some of the other work so that visitors don't see the impact that this is having," he tells me.

Internal NPS emails seen by SFGate appear to confirm Garder's claims, asking biologists, hydrologists, and archaeologists at Yosemite National Park to take on bathroom shifts due to insufficient staff numbers.

Garder continues: "The long-term threat, which is very alarming, is not necessarily visible to park visitors, but if this keeps up, this eventually is going to be the case as resources get degraded."

Conservation

With conservation staff forced elsewhere to deal with other, 'collateral duties', Garder fears that their vital work monitoring wildlife, addressing invasive species, and restoring habitats is in danger.

"All of those things are at risk as professionals are being lost, and those staff who remain are, in many cases, being sent to perform other duties, many of which are visitor-facing," he explains.

Multiple conservation employees have also lost work in Trump's mass firings, and many more have taken the administration's redundancy package.

Campsites

Campsites are one of the few areas where the parks are just about coping. Although multiple sites were unable to open on time earlier in the summer, the rehiring of some seasonal staff has lifted the burden.

"As they've been able to hire more seasonal staff, which is not at the level that the Interior Secretary promised, they have been able to do more things like open up campgrounds," says Garder.

What's next?

The future of America's national parks remains in the balance, but there's a possibility that things could get even worse before they get better.

In June, President Trump's Interior Secretary Doug Burgum proposed a whopping $1.2 billion cut to the NPS in its 2026 budget proposal to Congress.

The announcement sent a shudder through the outdoor community. The NPS already has a monster deferred maintenance backlog of over $20 billion, and nature lovers feared that it wouldn't be able to cope with just two-thirds of its 2025 budget.

Congress, thankfully, listened to the budget's many critics, and a House appropriations subcommittee recently marked it up with a restored NPS budget of $3.1 billion, which would essentially keep funding the same as this year.

"We're relieved to see that Congress is declining some of the administration's worst proposals, at least so far," says Garder, who remains deeply concerned about the service's future under the Trump administration.

"The Interior Secretary has engaged in a steady, all-out assault on the National Park Service," he claims.

"This is historic in nature, and we're alarmed by it. It's important that Americans continue to demonstrate outrage, and the administration and Congress listen to them."

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It's a busy weekday afternoon in East London. The sounds and smells of a nearby food market flood the street as businessmen dressed to the nines barge past me on their way to the closest tube station.

I slip through the crowds and make my way onto an innocuous side road, where an equally innocuous sign sticks out from a grey building and reads: 'The Altitude Centre'. You'd be forgiven for mistaking it for a travel agent, or walking past without a second thought, but here, among beeping taxis and jam-packed streets, lies a vital port of call for the endurance athletes and high-altitude mountaineers of Britain.

What is the altitude centre?

Self-identifying as the UK's 'number one altitude training specialist' in its promotional material, the Altitude Centre in Aldgate, London, is a popular spot for mountaineers who want to get into shape before they take on the world's toughest climbs. The multi-purpose gym mimics high-altitude conditions and offers scientifically-tailored training sessions designed to get athletes peak-fit before they head up Everest, Kilimanjaro, or any other daunting ascent.

The centre has been used by many high-profile climbers and mountaineers, including record-setting Everest summiteer Kenton Cool, as well as other athletes (such as double Olympic champion triathlete Alistair Brownlee) who want to unlock the benefits of alpine training.

So I can get a real feel for how it works, I've been invited down for a taster, during which the experts at the Altitude Centre will put me through my paces with an intense workout in a tough, reduced-oxygen environment.

To get specific, the workout consists of 45 minutes of hard, interval-style running, with an exuberant instructor barking instructions from the front. It's not dissimilar from the sort of running class you're likely to find in any good gym, but with one major difference: the oxygen levels in the air I'm gulping are lower.

How does it work?

Altitude training is a common tactic for climbers looking to acclimatize to conditions in the mountains, or endurance athletes who want to get an edge over their opponents. It usually consists of cardiovascular or strength training in a chamber or pressurized room that contains less breathable oxygen than the (non-alpine) outside world.

The air at sea level contains 20.9% accessible oxygen, a number that drops dramatically the higher you get. At Everest Base Camp, it falls to around 10.4%. On the summit, of the planet's tallest peak levels are down to a third of the accessible oxygen quotient most people are used to breathing.

Pressurized environments like those at the Altitude Centre use high-tech generators to replace oxygen in the air with nitrogen, which replicates the challenging conditions in the mountains.

Exercising in these conditions forces your kidneys to release a hormone called erythropoietin (EPO), which prompts your body to produce more red blood cells. With more red blood cells, you can transport and utilize more oxygen, which has two main benefits.

Firstly, it means you're better acclimatized for the conditions you can expect to face in the high mountains. Creating more capacity to store and transport oxygen (via the extra red blood cells) prepares your body for the dangerous and demanding conditions experienced at serious altitude by minimizing the weakening effect oxygen depletion can cause, and reducing other risks of altitude sickness, allowing you to climb at full strength.

Climbers often practice simulated altitude training along with other methods, like sleeping in low-oxygen hypoxic tents to prepare themselves before heading up seriously high mountains like Everest. It's important to clarify that altitude training won't fully prepare your body for a high-altitude expedition, and time spent in the mountains, at real altitude, is also essential.

The second benefit of altitude training can be experienced at sea level. Exercising in low-oxygen conditions, whether it's simulated or not, can enhance your aerobic capability, allowing you to run, cycle, or play for longer without getting tired.

The Altitude Centre, although it's built for climbers, caters to all sorts of athletes hoping to reap the rewards of training in low-oxygen. James Barber, the centre's lead performance specialist, is kind enough to offer more information.

"Most of what we do is around high-altitude climbing," says James.

"There are usually 15 to 20 British permits for Everest. We'll usually work with all but one or two of them before they go out. Then, hundreds of people a year come [to train] for Kilimanjaro, Everest Base Camp, and things in South America that are around 5,000 meters (16,404.2ft).

"The majority [of what we do] is around that, and then the rest is around sports performance, so marathon runners, triathletes, and people like that who want to use the altitude for that fitness boost."

The experts at the Altitude Centre often bring their super-smart altitude tech off-site to work with elite athletes who can't get to the centre.

"A huge amount of our client base off-site is with elite performance," explains James. "We've worked with Olympic marathon runners, swimmers, rowers, triathletes - in the London 2012 Olympics, we would've come eighth in the medal table."

James is also kind enough to show me around some of the climbing-specific chambers at the altitude centre. One is filled with treadmills and masks that deliver air with reduced levels of oxygen, so trekkers can simulate the tiresome effects of uphill walking while they acclimatize.

"If we can get people training to walk uphill at altitude, let's get the training to look as much like the event as we possibly can, so they're literally walking uphill at altitude, or box stepping up and down with the mask on," explains James.

"As people acclimatize, we're building the altitude up from the 4,000-meter (13,123.4ft) mark to 6,500 meters (21,325.5ft), and making it very specific with walking boots on and rucksacks – we can put as much as 15 kilos (33lb) in."

During workouts, the experts at the altitude centre monitor athletes' health stats, like their blood oxygen saturation and heart rate, to understand how their bodies react to the training and how quickly they're acclimatizing.

How I got on

Surprising as it may be, I'm not in contention for a medal at the next Olympics, nor am I preparing to climb Mount Everest. So, I'm not shocked to find myself dead on my feet after only a few minutes of my training session.

The generator inside the chamber has reduced the oxygen levels to those found around 15,092ft (4,600m). As the instructor explains, it's akin to running at the summit of Mont Blanc, the tallest peak in the European Alps.

I experience all the usual symptoms of a long, hard workout; my legs ache, I'm out of breath, and there's plenty of sweat. The major difference is just how quickly my body tires. I'm used to feeling like this after a tough run, but I'm surprised to look up and see that I've only actually been moving for around 30 minutes, and covered little more than 4 miles (6.4km).

Put simply, I'm shattered, and I feel even worse after the full 45-minute session.

As I've now experienced first hand, running (or doing any exercise) at altitude is far tougher than it is at sea-level. With less oxygen available, your body has to work harder to transport the oxygen it does get to your muscles. This causes your heart rate to quicken, your muscles to tire, and everything to get generally harder.

One session isn't enough to cause any noticeable cardiovascular improvements, but consistent workouts at the same intensity certainly would, as my body gradually acclimatized to low oxygen levels at simulated altitude.

Learn more

Along with altitude training, the centre offers other handy services like acclimatization testing, which predicts how your body will handle conditions in the mountains.

If you'd like to give altitude training a go or learn more about any of the other services, you can check out the Altitude Centre website.

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Picture it: you’ve been hiking in a steady rain for half an hour when you start to get the sneaking suspicion that, despite the weather shield promised by your pricey Arc’teryx rain jacket, your shoulders are soggy. A quick check confirms that, indeed, your base layer has two dark patches where you should be dry. What do you do?

A lot of people would decide it’s time for an upgrade, even though they may have spent upwards of $400 on a high-quality model like the Arc’teryx Beta LT (or as much as $600 on the Beta AR Stormhood). That old jacket might end up on eBay (or worse, the landfill), and you could form the opinion that Arc’teryx jackets aren’t very good, even though they’re considered some of the best waterproof jackets around.

But if you take that same jacket into an Arc’teryx ReBird center – which would be a more reasonable response given its high price tag – you might discover that the only problem with your jacket is that it needs a good wash.

Lather, rinse, repeat?

Last week, I went to the opening of a new Arc’teryx store in Manchester – located in the north of England, it’s the brand’s first UK store outside of London, and it joins 25 stores across the globe that now have an in-house Arc’teryx ReBird service center.

Shortly after arrival, I’m ushered upstairs to the second floor, where product guide Aaron Rodriguez walks me through what might happen if I were to present him with a jacket like I described above. For demonstration purposes, he pulls out an old Arc’teryx Zeta LT in forest green that’s been dropped off by its owner to repair a tear in the back. The Zeta is no longer in production, having been replaced by the ultralight Beta, which is a good sign that this jacket has seen plenty of wear and tear.

Rodriguez takes the jacket to one of several machines behind the counter and clamps a section of the fabric between two plates. With the flip of a switch, the machine starts forcing water upwards into the fabric at a rate far more forceful than the heaviest rainstorm, causing it to bulge under the pressure.

“You can see that the water isn’t getting through, so we know the jacket is still waterproof,” says Rodriguez, before shutting off the machine.

He goes on to explain that the reason the jacket’s hypothetical owner might have damp shoulders while hiking in wet weather is that the pores in the Gore-Tex membrane that allow sweat to escape get clogged over time if the jacket isn’t washed. So that dampness that you’re experiencing on a rainy day could just be your own sweat building up on the inside of your jacket.

“People don’t want to wash their waterproof jackets, so they’re surprised when we tell them that’s what they need to do,” says Rodriguez.

It’s true that many of us fear washing off that prized DWR that makes rain bead on our jackets, but that’s something that can be restored simply by learning how to reproof your gear. And if you don’t feel confident washing your expensive jacket? Drop it off at a ReBird store and they’ll do it for you – on the day of my visit, store manager Elena Fanton says they’ve taken in a dozen jackets for a wash and reproof.

Keeping gear in play for longer

The wash and waterproof service is all part of Arc’teryx’s circularity initiative, which aims to keep its gear in play for longer, from design to post-purchase. Sven Radtke, general manager of Arc’teryx Europe, tells me that the Canadian brand’s focus on circularity begins in development.

“In the beginning, it was all about freedom of movement and functionality in design,” says Radtke.

“Now we have a repair service, our design teams are always considering how they can create the same functionality, the same freedom of movement, and make it easier to repair.”

That can mean designing jackets using panels that can be replaced in their entirety, which means every rip, rub, and tear doesn’t have to spell the end for the life of the garment.

Once the design process is complete, the brand uses more sustainable production methods like dope dying instead of traditional dying to cut down on water usage and joins many brands in switching to the new PFAS-free Gore-Tex membrane. And if you’re truly ready for a new jacket or pair of rain pants? Arc’teryx is developing a program to trade in your old gear, which is already available in North America.

All about circularity

Outdoor enthusiasts can be especially guilty of loving the planet to death, thanks in part to our endless appetite for new gear and also to our tendency to put our kit through the ringer. This isn’t just speculation – a 2018 research article claims our carbon footprint is 40 percent greater than that of athletes from other individual sports, and participants in nature sports (e.g. hiking and trail running) have the highest emission levels of all.

It’s not because we don’t care about the planet. It’s just that a jacket that comes with you on your weekly hike is going to take more of a beating from your backpack straps, thorny bushes and sharp gear like ice axes than one that you wear to pick the kids up from school and that’s perhaps how this particular Zeta LT in front of me has ended up with an inch-long slash in the back.

That hole means that, unlike with the clogged pores, the jacket really isn’t waterproof any longer, but it’s still no reason to toss it. Rodriguez opens one of dozens of drawers behind the ReBird counter to reveal patches in a multitude of colors. He selects one that matches the green jacket, turns to another machine – these machines are built in-house by the Canadian brand – and pulls a lever down to apply heat and fuse the patch. A few seconds later, the hole in the jacket is gone, and the patch is barely visible to the naked eye.

A menu of services behind the counter advises me that a fix like this should take 15 minutes, though in reality it’s far less, and it’s completely free. The same goes for minor zipper repairs, buckle replacements, and really any small repair that doesn’t require stitching – those types of fixes require sending your item off and may incur a small fee if, for example, the damage was sustained using your gear for a purpose other than that for which it was designed.

Some customers like to choose a patch that’s a different color from their jacket in an ode to the gnarly adventure that earned them the patch in the first place, and Fanton says they’re happy to oblige – but they won’t replace a perfectly good zipper with another color just for aesthetic reasons.

“We don’t offer personalization. This is about circularity and keeping the gear in play,” explains Fanton.

“As long as it’s Arc’teryx, we’ll fix it. It doesn’t matter if you bought it on the other side of the world.”

Make it last

Arc’teryx isn’t the only brand offering in-house repairs these days.

Osprey will repair your backpack no matter how long ago you bought it, Rab and Mountain Hardwear both have service centers to repair packs, sleeping bags and apparel, and Danner’s recrafting site will re-sole your favorite hiking boots to increase their mileage. But compared to some of those services, which come with a fee or entail mailing your item away, the ReBird Service Center does stand out to me as being particularly accessible and efficient.

Of course, while gear manufacturers like Arc’teryx can work from their end to use more sustainable production methods and offer care and repair services, a large degree of the responsibility here does fall on our own shoulders.

The better you care for your gear, the longer it’s likely to remain in the field, and that’s the best way to keep kit out of the landfill – and cut down on the costs of your outdoor kit too.

We’ve already shared some pro tips from ReBird for extending the life of your gear, and Product Care Education is one of the free services offered at a ReBird center. So if you’re feeling like that jacket isn’t living up to the promise of its price tag, don’t be afraid to stop in and ask them how to refresh your gear at home – they can even send you away with a bottle of own-brand DWR if you feel confident reproofing your jacket yourself next time.

• The best softshell jackets: protect against wind and cold on the trails
• The best synthetic puffer jackets: feather-free padding to keep out the winter chill

If you're into trail running, chances are you've considered getting yourself a high-tech sports watch from Garmin. The American brand has been creating top-notch fitness wearables since the release of the Forerunner 201 in 2003 and has developed a stellar reputation for quality.

These days, Garmin is the biggest name in the sports watch market, selling upwards of 10 million devices every year. The best Garmin watches combine sleek and dependable design with super-accurate GPS and plenty of health trackers to help you monitor your progress on the trails.

If you've just got your hands on a brand new Garmin, there's plenty to get used to.

Along with their vast range of health and fitness features, Garmin watches have plenty of options for customization. Whether you're using a top-end device like the Fenix 8 or a cheaper alternative like the Forerunner 55, several aspects of your watch can be adapted to suit your preferences.

One of the best ways to add a little personality to your Garmin watch is by changing its watch face. This is the initial visual display on your device, where the clock hands would be on an analog clock.

How to change your watch face

Garmin offers three different ways to personalize your watch face:

• Personalize a pre-existing watch face on your device
• Choose a new watch face in the Connect IQ store
• Use your favorite photos to create a unique watch face using Garmin's Face It app.

All three methods can be completed in a few simple steps.

How to personalize a pre-existing watch face

Garmin watches come with an eye-catching handful of pre-existing watch faces, which you can customize to suit your individual preferences. There are loads of different parts of the watch face to personalize, including the layout, style of hands, style of numbers, and much more.

You can personalize a pre-existing watch face by following these simple steps on your Garmin device.

• Select Settings
• Select Watch Face
• Swipe up and down to choose your watch face
• Select Add New if you want a minimal watch face
• Once you've chosen a watch face, you can scroll through the available customization options
• Select Apply to save your new watch face

How to a choose new watch face in the Connect IQ store

The Connect IQ store is a platform where you can access additional apps and functions for your Garmin watch. Along with compatible apps and widgets, there are thousands of unique watch faces to choose from.

You can access the Connect IQ store through its app and see available watch faces in a few simple steps.

• Open the Connect IQ Store app on your mobile device
• Select My Device
• Select My Watch Faces

• Scroll through the options to find your chosen watch face
• Select settings
• Adjust the available options to customize your watch face
• Select Save

How to use your photos to create a unique watch face

Face It is an app, available on the Connect IQ store, which turns your favorite photos into watch faces. It's free to access and easy to use.

• Open the Connect IQ app on your mobile device
• Select Face It from the bottom menu
• Select Add
• Select Photos (to bring up your camera roll), Camera (to take a photo), or Preset Backgrounds (to choose from pre-installed options)

• Select Allow Access
• Select or take a photo, or choose a pre-installed option
• Choose display options
• Select Done or Save (depending on your device)
• Select Install to add the watch face to your Garmin device

• The best GPS watches: smart timepieces to keep every adventure on track
• The best cheap GPS watches: log your adventures without depleting your savings

Everest might be the world’s tallest mountain but talk to any mountaineer who has climbed both, and it’ll be K2, the second highest peak on the planet, that makes them go misty-eyed. This staggering pyramid of rock and ice, the loftiest point in Pakistan’s Karakorum, is undoubtedly one of the world’s most beautiful mountains, arguably its greatest and, statistically, its most deadly.

Nicknamed the Savage Mountain, K2 has a dark reputation and it’s objectively more dangerous than Everest. While it poses similar problems in terms of avalanche risk and the complications associated with high altitude, the main routes to K2’s summit are extra technical, steeper and more fraught with unavoidable hazards. Among these are massive overhanging seracs, primed to shear off the mountain at any given moment, obliterating all in their path.

For many years, the summit-to-death ratio on the mountain was in the region of 4:1. For every four people that stood on the top, one would perish. With improving equipment and knowledge of K2’s dangers, this deadly ratio has eased in recent years, to something like 8:1. Nevertheless, the higher flanks of K2 remain one of the world’s most dangerous places.

The events of the 2008 disaster were dark even by K2’s standards. A deadly combination of factors led to the deaths of 11 international mountaineers during the first two days of August. So, what exactly happened during the 2008 K2 disaster?

We asked one of our mountaineering experts to piece together what's been reported about the events surrounding the tragedy. It’s worth bearing in mind that there are many contradictory reports of what exactly occurred, and a 100% accurate picture of the events may never been realized.

The Bottleneck

To understand the events of the 2008 K2 disaster, an appreciation of the natural architecture high on the mountain is required, as well as the tactics being used by those trying to climb it. The 24 mountaineers who made a serious bid to climb to the summit on August 1 2008, were ascending the standard route up the Abruzzi Spur.

This is the 'easiest' way to K2’s summit, and it was the route used during the first ascent of the peak in 1954 by an Italian team led by the great Ardito Desio. Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni achieved the summit but it was the role of the young Walter Bonatti and the subsequent controversy that would live long in mountaineering folklore. But that’s a different story…

The most dangerous part of the Abruzzi Spur route is the Bottleneck, a steep, narrow couloir situated at around 8,200 meters, 400 meters below the summit and well into the so-called death zone. Up here, the amount of available oxygen is scarce and the human body can’t survive for long. Judgement is impaired, upward progress becomes physically challenging and the odds of developing acute mountain sickness increase.

However, altitude isn’t the main hazard associated with the Bottleneck. This high section of the mountain, which climbers are funnelled into whether they like it or not, sits below a serac. A serac is an overhanging block of glacial ice, suspended above the slopes. Serac collapse is one of the ways that an avalanche can be triggered, devastating everything below. Known as the Great Serac, the icy cliff above the Bottleneck on K2 is gigantic.

Just like the much-dissected and publicized 1996 Everest disaster, there were various international teams all vying to reach the summit on K2 in August 2008. They were reliant on fixed ropes for speedy and, therefore, safe progress up this relentlessly steep part of the route. The less time you spend in objectively dangerous parts of a route, the better. The use of fixed ropes is commonplace on these kinds of siege-style mountaineering expeditions, as opposed to the alpinist approach of smaller teams, who rely more on self-sufficiency and minimal kit.

Meet the expert

Who attempted to climb K2 on August 1 2008?

According to Graham Bowley’s classic No Way Down, a book that takes a detailed look at the disaster, there were 24 climbers that made a serious bid to summit K2 on August 1, 2008. The table below lists the individuals, as well as the expedition team they were a part of. The fatalities are indicated by those in bold.

July 31 – all is not well

Adverse weather conditions throughout the main season (June and July) meant there were several teams suitably acclimatized to the altitude and chomping at the bit to attempt K2’s summit. Finally, a weather window had arrived and plans were made to fix ropes through the Bottleneck and the section known as the Traverse that followed up towards the summit. An Advance Team would set out early from Camp IV, the final camp, to achieve this. The team included nominated leader Shaheen Baig, a Pakistani who’d claimed the summit of K2 in 2004 and was climbing with the Serbian team, members from the South Korean Flying Jump expedition, two Pakistani high-altitude porters (HAPs), Pemba Gyalje from the Norit Dutch expedition and Karim Meherban, a Pakistani on the French-led independent expedition.

However, the effects of high altitude at Camp IV compromised one of the HAPs and Baig. Things began to unravel. The HAP started heading down, having been coughing up blood, taking a good deal of sorely needed equipment and rope with him. Then, Baig, feeling unwell, opted to remain in his tent. The Advance Team set off, short of equipment and without their experienced leader.

August 1 – delays, tragedy, then catastrophe

In the early morning, the teams made their way from Camp IV up towards the Bottleneck, where a traffic jam ensued. Matters got worse when the Advance Team ran out of ropes to fix while still in the couloir. There was confusion among the climbers below, who discovered fixed ropes much lower than expected. Members of the Advance Team asked those coming up to pull up the ropes towards the bottom, to add to the fixed ropes above. With time ticking on and patience wearing thin, several climbers decided enough is enough and decide to turn back.

Serbian climber Dren Mandic was one of those who opted to continue. He unclipped from the rope to assist the Norwegian Cecile Skog in bringing new rope up to the Advance Team when, all of a sudden, he lost his footing and tumbled down the Bottleneck, falling over 100 meters to his death.

A team set out to recover the body, comprising fellow Serbs Predrag Zagorac and Iso Planić, as well as their HAP Mohammed Hussein and Swedish climber Fredrick Sträng, who’d seen the fall from Camp IV. Surprisingly, they were also joined by Jehan Baig, a HAP from the French team, who Sträng later said seemed oddly incoherent. While recovering the body, Baig began behaving erratically, before falling and sliding down the mountain. The team watched in horror as Baig approached the abyss, seemingly unable to arrest himself with his ice axe. He disappeared over a lip and was never seen alive again.

The confusion around fixed ropes, the traffic jam at the bottleneck and the two fatalities had all conspired to make progress agonizingly slow. By 2pm, most of the climbers had made it to the Traverse beneath the summit. Some are feeling the effects of exhaustion and altitude but press on, undoubtedly suffering from classic cases of summit fever. One climber who made the seemingly wise decision to stop was Norwegian Rolf Bae. He told his wife he’d wait, while she continued towards the top.

At around 3:30pm, Basque alpinist Alberto Zerain was the first to reach the summit and he went on to make a safe return through the Bottleneck. Many of the other 17 who’d made it to the summit that day did so much later, some not until 8:00pm. Most then needed to negotiate the Bottleneck in the dark, a challenging proposition even before what was about to occur.

At around 8:30pm, a huge chunk of ice dislodged from the Great Serac. Plummeting through the thin air it was funnelled, disastrously, through the Bottleneck, leaving the fixed ropes in tatters. The resulting avalanche also swept Rolf Bae to his death. He’d been descending the traverse alongside his wife, Cecile Skog, and fellow Norwegian Lars Flato Nessa. Battling their grief, Skog and Nessa managed to continue their descent, fixing a new emergency rope in the Bottleneck.

The climbers above the Bottleneck faced an epic battle in the death zone, cut off from the relative safety of Camp IV, without the ropes or protective equipment to descend the Bottleneck safely and without knowledge of the new emergency rope. They’d have to free solo the downclimb, a hugely demanding ask in their oxygen-starved, exhausted states. Italian Marco Confortola and Irishman Gerard 'Ger' McDonnell decided to attempt an impromptu bivouac, while others opted to try descending the Bottleneck in the dark, unprotected. Both scenarios were incredibly dangerous.

August 2 – a grim fight for survival

With teams scattered and the safety net of fixed ropes gone, the upper reaches of K2 were in disarray. Sherpas Chhiring Dorje, Pemba Gyalje and 'Little' Passang Lama made a bold descent of the Traverse and continued down the Bottleneck, back to Camp IV, where they met American Eric Meyer and Swede Fredrik Sträng, both hugely concerned about the developing situation above the Bottleneck. Meanwhile, two more sherpas, Chhiring Bhote and 'Big' Pasang Bhote set out from Camp IV to search for missing climbers, though they turned back around the Bottleneck, having rescued the stricken Go-Mi Sun.

Cas van de Gevel, from the Dutch expedition, was the last person to see Hugues d’Aubarède alive. The leader of the French-led independent expedition fell past the Dutchman and down through the Bottleneck, having rappelled off the end of his rope. K2 had claimed its fourth victim, and there were more to come.

At around 3am, members of the Korean team – Hwang Dong-jin, Park, Keyung-hyo, Kim Hyo-gyeong and Jumik Bhote – attempted to descend the traverse, only for a fall to result in their ropes becoming tangled. With one member lost over the edge of a precipice and the others trapped by the ropes, they faced a desperate situation.

Above the Koreans, Wilco van Rooijen, Marco Confortola and Gerald McDonnell wearily continued their descent, having endured an impromptu bivouac high on the mountain. At around 7am, and suffering symptoms of snow blindness, van Rooijen makes a hasty retreat, while Confortola and McDonnell go to the aid of the Koreans, who by this point were barely alive, and Jumik Bhote, who was succumbing to frostbite.

Accounts of what occurred between Confortola and McDonnell vary, with Confortola recounting that McDonnell began to move back up the mountain and out of sight in an altitude-induced delirium. After doing all he could for the stricken climbers, Confortola continued his descent. Following the ordeal, Van Rooijen would assert that McDonnell had climbed back up the mountain to establish a more solid anchor from which to assist the Koreans and Bhote, a heroic act if true. It's thought that McDonnell may have spent hours trying attempting to rescue the climbers.

During all of this, Karim Meherban, a HAP from the French-led expedition was unaccounted for, and what fate befell him remains a mystery. The most likely theory is that he spent the night high in the death zone, before becoming delirious with altitude and listlessly heading for the Great Serac in an attempt to get down. It’s thought he probably suffered a fall, or may have even been caught in an additional avalanche. His body was never found.

Chhiring Bhote and 'Big' Pasang Bhote set out again from Camp IV to attempt further rescues and were followed sometime after by Pemba Gyalje, who'd been alerted to the presence of Confortola in the Bottleneck, struggling badly. 'Big' Pasang Bhote moved further up and encountered Jumik Bhote and, according to some, two of the Korean team members, free from the ropes that had entangled them. (Some sources suggest the Korean’s had already died before this point.)

In a series of tragic twists, more serac collapses led to further avalanches. The first is believed to have killed McDonnell. 'Big' Pasang Bhote witnessed a climber in a red-and-black down suit swept away by the avalanche and he reported this over the radio to Pemba Gyalje. The climber matched McDonnell's description.

Then, shortly after this, the serac collapsed again, suddenly crashing down the mountain. 'Big' Pasang Bhote, Jumik Bhote, and the Koreans were swept to their deaths.

August 3 – rescues continue

Remarkably, the almost snow blind van Rooijen had managed to descend a whole new route, unintentionally bypassing Camp IV. He was rescued by Pemba Gyalje and Cas van de Gevel on or near K2’s Česen route in the early morning. By 10pm, the three men made it back to base camp.

The fatalities

There were 11 fatalities, making the 2008 disaster the worst in K2’s history. The names of those who died, their nationalities, where their deaths occurred and what caused them are listed in the table below.

Getting my hands on MSR's new Hubba Hubba LT tent several months before it’s officially released in Europe felt a bit like pushing to the front of a queue at a big gig or popular club… but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. And besides – you want to know what to expect when one of the world’s most iconic tents is re-launched, right?

If you’re not familiar with the Hubba Hubba – a tent so good they named it twice – you might be wondering what all the excitement is about. Isn’t this just another lightweight shelter? Well, no, not really – not if you’ve spent years wandering trails and hanging out in crags and campsites where the Hubba Hubba has been an ever-present feature for two decades, an immediate indicator that the people within it know what they’re doing in the outdoors and value quality kit.

Hubba Hubba History

Back in 2004, Mountain Safety Research (an American brand better known as MSR) launched the first Hubba Hubba tent, and promptly transformed overnight hiking experiences for a generation of multiday walkers, thru hikers and backpackers.

A freestanding hub-style shelter, with a semi-geodesic dome shape, the original Hubba Hubba was the first widely available 3-season packable tent to offer a large living space with decent headroom, plus two doors and spacious vestibules – all while being lightweight enough to take hiking and remaining easy and quick to pitch.

Besides the two-sided symmetrical hub, a major innovation was the ‘brow pole’, a short pole positioned perpendicularly to the main cross pole, which pushed the side of the structure out, vastly improving the useful space in both the inner tent and the vestibules. This, combined with the use of cutting-edge materials and some super smart design, resulted in a shelter that provided reliable 3-season protection from the elements, plus excellent comfort levels and enough covered outdoor space for hikers to store their walking boots and backpacks, and use a camping stove in rough weather. It was a game changer, and would go on to be one of the most popular backpacking tents of all time.

Hubba Bubbles

For the next 15 years, MSR incrementally evolved the design of the Hubba Hubba, adding little innovative elements such as internal drying/hanging lines, a loft and rain gutters on the fly, carefully refining what many regard to be the classic 2-person shelter to arrive at the MSR Hubba NX, which came out in 2019. The brand also adapted the Hubba design to produce a 1-person tent for solo campers , launched a 3-person Mutha Hubba, a 4-person Papa Hubba, and developed a 1-person and 2-person iteration of the tent specifically for bikepackers.

Earlier this year, however, came the exciting news that, after two decades, MSR had decided to substantially reconfigure the Hubba Hubba. The new design – the LT – would be on sale in January 2026 (in Europe, and a bit earlier in the United States), with 1-person, 2-person and 3-person versions available.

I was lucky enough to get a preview of the new designs at the Outdoor Trade Show in June, but having been teased with a tantalising glimpse, I couldn’t wait another six months to properly test this exciting new-generation tent out. So I travelled to Midleton in County Cork in the Republic of Ireland, where Cascade Designs (MSR’s parent company) have their European HQ, to get my hands on an early sample of the Hubba Hubba LT 2-Person Backpacking Tent, and then I took it out into the wilds in the Wicklow Mountains. Here is how I got on.

Ch ch ch changes

Before we get overexcited – please note that, at first glance, the Hubba Hubba LT doesn’t immediately look dramatically different to the NX – at least not on the outside.

It retains essentially the same shape and the flysheet’s neutral color scheme is a subtly different shade (the U.S. and European versions differ from one another in color slightly too). And to be fair, these elements didn't need to be tinkered with – the symmetrical shape works well for dealing with wind while offering good amounts of living space, and the natural color is ideal for discretion when you’re wild camping – so why change them?

There have been some changes to the design of the design of the DAC pole skeleton, however, with the four legs in the >–|–< shape being lengthened, and the brow pole being slightly extended, adaptations that have increased the internal living space and the usefulness of the vestibules. The corner hardware, where the ends of the poles slot into the feet at the four corners of the groundsheet, has also been upgraded, so the components are now all metal and highly durable. The new pegs are lightweight, but very sturdy, ‘mini groundhog’ stakes.

And although it looks similar, the materials used in the flysheet (and the floor and internal mesh walls) are now solution-dyed, a process that reduces carbon emissions by a minimum of 80% compared to the fabrics previously used by MSR (and other brands). The window vents have also been enhanced.

It's worth noting, however, that while the flysheet retain a hydrostatic head (HH) rating of 1,200mm (the same as the NX), the HH rating of the tent body (ground sheet) has dropped from 3000mm on the NX, to 1,800mm on the new LT. For a hardier (but heavier) tent, have a look at the Hubba Hubba HD, which includes a rainfly with a HH of 3,000 and groundsheet with a 6,000mm rating.

In numerical terms the increases might seem minor – with the new pole design you get 1in (2cm) extra head space, and the rectangular inner has 4in (11cm) additional length and 2in (5cm) extra width (to give you 32 sq ft of space total) but these changes make a tangible difference to the comfort levels.

As soon as I pitched the LT, rolled out my camping mat and sleeping bag, and stashed my stuff in the vestibule, the tent felt substantially larger than the NX. And as I got changed out of my hiking pants and crawled into bed that evening, I certainly appreciated the additional headroom.

I was testing the 2-person Hubba Hubba LT on my own this time, but you can very easily lay two large rectangular Thermarest Neoloft camping mats side by side in this tent (I’ve tried it), which is more than can be said for the vast majority of 2-person shelters. (As an aside, the new 3-person Hubba Hubba LT can comfortably work as a 4-person backpacking tent, if you use mummy shaped sleeping pads.)

The vestibules are also longer, and although they are slightly narrower, the useful amount of porch space has been increased, which comes in extremely handy when you are storing muddy hiking shoes and walking boots, or boiling some water for a brew.

Best of all, because of the change in fabric used for the inner, this size upgrade has been achieved for less of a weight penalty, with the LT weighing just 3lb 6oz (1.54kg), as compared to 3lb 13oz (1.72 kg) for the NX.

The main tent is now made mostly from solution-dyed micromesh, which is very lightweight but provides excellent breathability (vastly reducing condensation) and bug protection. You can pitch the tent and leave the flysheet off on cloud-free nights, to enjoy some stargazing before you drift into a slumber.

I was camping in the middle of a heatwave that was sizzling (even in Ireland), and I was very comfortable in a lightweight 2-season sleeping bag, but I can’t help thinking the use of this mesh will affect how warm the Hubba Hubba is during the colder months, lowering the internal temperature – this is something I’ll monitor as the seasons change.

Another alteration that becomes immediately obvious when you start looking more closely at the LT is to the internal doors. Instead of the old-style D-shape doors on the inner tent, there is a triangular shaped opening, with two separate zips meeting at the point of the right angle. The benefit of this is that the zips are more durable, easier to use with one hand, and the zipper always ends up in the same place, so you know exactly where to find it without scrambling around with a headlamp in the middle of the night.

One other change I noticed on the inside of the tent is the addition of cable ports in the wall pockets, so you can have things like mobile phones and smartwatches neatly plugged into powerpacks for recharging, without wires dangling all over the place.

I have many more adventures planned involving the new LT2, during which I will test the thermal properties of the redesigned inner tent (outside of a heatwave), and I will be uploading a full review here in due course.

You can purchase the Hubba Hubba LT2 in the United States now, and it will be available in the UK and across Europe from 1 January 2026. In the meantime, look out for deals on all iterations of the Hubba Hubba NX, which remains a superb backpacking tent.

This past May, images of ultra runner Stephanie Case breastfeeding her newborn daughter while eating a slice of watermelon at an aid station during the Ultra Trail Snowdonia 100k have become the stuff of trail-running legend. Her resilient approach to the race – and subsequent win – marked one of the biggest comebacks we’ve seen in the sport, and may help redefine what’s possible for new mothers.

The 39-year-old Canadian – a human rights lawyer during the week, and founder of the charity Free to Run – has been competing at the ultra distance level for over 15 years, and her illustrious career has seen her take the podium at some of the world’s toughest races. However, after a second-place finish at the Hardrock 100 in 2022, she all but disappeared from the trail circuit.

In the years between then and her now-famous Snowdonia finish in Wales, the Canadian endured a tough three-year fertility journey, which brought multiple miscarriages and IVF failures. At the end of 2024, all that ended when Case and her partner, ultra runner John Roberts, welcomed their daughter Pepper.

A return to the trail

For some runners, the new arrival might have spelled an even longer break from competitive running, but a few months after giving birth, Case signed up for a return to Colorado’s Hardrock 100 in July and decided to do the Snowdonia race as a training run. At the time, she didn’t know if she’d still be breastfeeding when race day came around.

“That isn’t something you can necessarily predict – so it just wasn’t a factor I considered. I figured I would just manage. As long as Pepper was fed, that’s all that mattered,” she tells me.

Case worked with coach Megan Roche (the five-time US national champion who’s married to ultra runner David Roche) to train for the race post partum, and when the big day grew closer, she realized she wasn't going to have finished breastfeeding in time. Undeterred, she obtained special permission from UTMB Snowdonia race organizers to ensure that her crew was allowed access to the checkpoints where she would need to feed Pepper.

On May 17, Case showed up ready to take on a course that would present her with 20,700ft (6,300m) of climbing in Wales’ most famous National Park, with Pepper in her arms, and there was just one slight hitch with her plan.

“A volunteer told me that I couldn’t come into the registration area as it was only for runners,” recalls Case, who describes the misunderstanding as humorous and praises organizers for giving her such good care. As soon as she cleared up the confusion, Case was fast-tracked through the check-in process.

“A volunteer also came up to me right away to ask if I needed any help with my bottles or if I wanted any food to eat.”

A late start and an early finish

When the 4:30am start time rolled around, the elite runners took off from the National Slate Museum, but, having lost her elite status over the previous years, Case didn’t start for another 30 minutes.

“Knowing that I was starting in the last and third starting wave, I didn’t think I could have any performance goals.”

Ordinarily, a runner trying to reach the podium would attempt to make their aid station stops as short as possible, but Case had no choice but to stop and periodically breastfeed Pepper, and she thinks it may just have been the psychological reframing of the race that gave her a competitive edge that day.

“Knowing that I needed to fuel properly not just for me, but also for Pepper, probably made me a lot more focused than I would normally have been,” says Case, who took a running gel with 40g of carbs every half hour in addition to her watermelon slices and carb drinks to keep moving. But she also says she ran with a different attitude than in previous races.

“I ran with joy. I was just so happy to be back out there without any pressure, and I think I ran well because I was relaxed.”

“I purposely didn’t want to know where I was in the race so that I wouldn’t rush Pepper’s feeding time at the checkpoints.”

In the end, no one was more surprised than Case when she crossed the finish line in first place less than 17 hours later, four minutes ahead of the UK’s Lauren Graham and 13 minutes faster than third-placed Kimino Miyazaki of Japan.

“I did not expect to win at all,” says Case of receiving the startling news at the finish line.

A lesson for breastfeeding runners

Back in 2019, British ultrarunner Jasmin Paris won the 268-mile Montane Spine Race (finishing first overall - beating all the men), even after stopping at aid stations to express milk for her breastfeeding baby. This and Case's incredible victory have been a lesson for the trail running community as a whole, helping to bring more awareness to women's needs in long-distance events.

“Racing while breastfeeding is undoubtedly more complicated, but it doesn’t have to hold you back,” says Case, who went on to take fifth place in a hard-fought battle at this year's Hardrock.

“With the right kind of support and guidance on nutrition to keep up your milk supply in training, and with a bit of flexibility, patience and a good sense of humour, there is no reason why you can’t compete while breastfeeding.”

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It's a windy June day on Britain's tallest mountain. While the rest of the country enjoys a pleasant afternoon of sunshine, I'm wrapped from head to toe in layers of insulating hiking gear, battling the biting mountain breeze halfway up Ben Nevis.

A fellow hiker, whom I've just met and walked with, is struggling. She's not used to the mountains and complains of tired legs and a tight chest, suggesting it would be better for everyone to go on without her. Before I can offer advice, a warm voice interjects from over my shoulder.

"We do this together, or we don't do it at all," says another newly-acquainted trekker, eager to encourage his struggling companion.

Neither are experienced hikers, but both are in it together as members of the AKA community, an outdoors charity that helps people from all walks of life find friendship and let go of stress in the wilderness.

In a post-COVID world, remote areas like the Scottish Highlands have become something of a sanctuary for people who want to escape the troubles of everyday life.

A 2024 survey from Helly Hansen found that 37% of participants saw improvements to their mental well-being after spending time in nature, and plenty of other research backs up the various physical and mental benefits of hiking, trail running, and other outdoor pursuits.

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However, access to the wild isn't a privilege that everyone gets to enjoy. In the same Helly Hansen survey, 53% of participants acknowledged that there were financial barriers to the outdoors, and 40% pointed to a lack of transportation.

That's where AKA comes in. The British charity aims to help city-dwellers of all ages and backgrounds lace up their hiking boots and hit the trails without breaking the bank. It provides guidance and transport to help eager trekkers get to the countryside for regular community hikes and other outdoor activities.

Along with the physical and mental benefits of spending time in nature, founders Antwon Bonnick, Kevin Spriggs, and Anton Brown are keen to foster a sense of community, bringing people together and breaking barriers on the trails.

The AKA charity

I'm lucky enough to join AKA on their most ambitious trek yet: a trip to the top of Britain's tallest mountain. The expedition is supported by Helly Hansen, who have provided funding and kit as part of their Open Mountain Month, which encourages people to get out of the house and explore their nearest wilderness area.

As we trudge through the opening sections, Anton tells me about the group's humble beginnings and the former colleague who inspired the boys to explore their love of nature.

“He used to come into the office every day in his outdoor gear, hiking shoes, big bags, coats, and was always encouraging us to come out with him. But we were 18, 19 at the time, city boys, so we used to laugh it off," he recalls.

“About seven years ago, he passed away on a hike. He had an underlying health issue, ended up having a heart attack, and fell off the ridge. So we did a walk in memory for him, we did the Peak District, Mam Tor, Edale, it was about a 12-mile walk."

The boys' memorial walk opened their eyes to the benefits of spending time in nature and fostered a passion for hiking together.

"Obviously, physically it's fantastic, but mentally it's amazing," says Anton. "Especially being from the city, which is fast paced, just being out there and coming back with that level of calmness and tranquility. We felt like we needed to open that up and share that with the community, so that’s what we started to do."

Community is key to the AKA ethos. The charity brings people of all different ages and walks of life together to enjoy days spent on the trails and in the mountains.

“One thing we have in common is we’re all human, it's about human connections," says Anton.

“Once you remove barriers, you realize that everyone’s the same.”

So does it work? The community members seemed to think so. As we cross the rushing currents of the Steall Waterfall, one walker tells me: "I just turned up one day and made friends, just through meeting people you wouldn't ordinarily meet. And some have remained good friends."

Another, very out-of-breath trekker, praises the benefits of spending time in nature, saying: "There's so much science surrounding the connection between humans and nature. There's a reason we're happier when we see green, and there's a reason we're happier when we're outside."

Heading towards the roof of the Highlands

Scaling Ben Nevis is no easy feat, especially for a mixed ability group like AKA's. We're led through the rocky paths and violent winds by two expert mountain guides - Jim Bunting from Assynt Mountain Rescue and part-time guide Andy Reeve.

Bunting, who's constantly in the mountains of Northern Scotland in his capacity as a rescuer, is accompanied by mountain rescue dog Abhaiin (pronounced Ah-vin), who's trained to sniff out and locate missing trekkers in the mountains.

The excitable springador (red labrador and springer spaniel mix) has gone through hours of expert location training and can find a missing person or item of clothing from over 1,000ft (304.8m) away.

With Jim and Andy's expert advice and a few barks of encouragement from Abhaiin, most of the group are able to make it all the way to the summit, where they're greeted with breathtaking views of the jagged peaks and glistening lakes of the Scottish highlands.

Wearing the right kit

Despite the surrounding beauty, conditions at 4,413ft (1,345m) are unforgiving. While temperatures on the ground sit around 68°F (20°C), the summit has dipped below freezing and is made even colder for the summiteers by the presence of blistering 50mph (80.5kmph) winds.

To protect them from the elements, plenty of AKA members are kitted out with insulating kit from Helly Hansen, including the latest waterproof jackets, hiking pants, and hiking boots.

Will's Highlands Wardrobe

I've also been lucky enough to suit up in some top-notch Helly Hansen gear, layering the insulating and waterproof Odin 9 Worlds 3.0 jacket and Versatile half-zip over a stretchy Tech Trail 2.0 t-shirt. I also don the water-resistant Verglas Tur 2.0 trousers, which feature a handy thigh zip I use to cool off during strenuous sections.

Footwear is essential on a potentially treacherous mountain like Ben Nevis, and I'm pleased to report that the new Ascender Mid Helly Tech hiking boots kept me stable at all times. I was initially concerned that these heavy-duty hiking boots would take a while to wear in, but find them to be comfy and surprisingly flexible.

With the right gear, expert guidance, and an abundance of optimism, AKA's most ambitious hike to date is a roaring success, with plenty of members coming together to summit Britain's tallest mountain as one.

As Anton puts it: "One thing we have in common is we’re all human, it's about human connections.

"Once you remove barriers, you realize that everyone’s the same".

Want to give it a go for yourself? You can take a look at AKA's upcoming community hikes and other outdoor activities on their website.

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You only need to open Instagram to know that adventure travel is in its heyday. Your feed is probably filled with images of friends discovering distant peaks, rafting white water, or cross-country skiing under the Northern Lights. By some estimates, adventure travel generates more than $400 billion a year, and that figure is projected to nearly triple by 2030.

“There’s been a big shift in people wanting to experience things, as opposed to just lying on a beach,” says Rhys David, CEO of EverTrek.

EverTrek is a Welsh company that takes people on treks all over the globe, from Kilimanjaro to Machu Picchu, and earlier this year, I joined them on their marquee adventure to Everest Base Camp. Many iconic trekking destinations like Base Camp now require a licensed guide, but that’s not the only reason to go with an organized tour: mountains, jungles and oceans hold plenty of potential dangers within their beauty, and a guide can help you minimize and manage the risks.

But go online and search for an adventure travel guide, and you’ll find the internet is awash with companies offering their services, from premium-priced luxury outfits that promise to tend to every detail, through to budget operators that will get you from A to B without breaking the bank, but leave you with a lot of improvisation to do.

Over the course of my 11-day adventure in the Himalayas, I witnessed the entire range of experiences on offer, from miserable-looking trekkers slogging it up the mountain carrying all their gear and struggling to communicate with their guide, through to high flyers catching helicopters from viewpoint to viewpoint. It gave me a lot to think about regarding what to look for – and what to sidestep – when it comes to choosing an adventure travel company.

Trust

When you’re searching for a company that’s going to take you into wild spaces, you need to really trust them, so take some time to get to know who’s behind any outfit you’re seriously considering using.

EverTrek was founded by Andy Moore after his first trek to Everest Base Camp, just after the 2015 earthquake. He left Nepal with a desire to support the people he’d encountered and to help more people like him discover the Khumbu region. I could tell straight away he has a real passion for the adventure his company is founded on.

“You genuinely want to connect with a company, and trust is the biggest thing in travel because you go into these mountains and they’re dangerous places and you want to know that you’re going to be okay,” says Moore.

When you’re looking at a company’s website and social media accounts, consider whether it looks professional or is full of spelling mistakes and broken links. Are they simply a broker that will take your fee and then hand you over to a local outfit, or will they hold your hand every step of the way?

And – needless to say (but I’ll say it anyway) – read the reviews.

Price

Once you’ve found a company you like the look of, the first thing you’re going to check is how much they charge. Prices for a single destination can vary wildly: I checked out the top five search results for Everest Base Camp and learned that pricing ranges from $1,100 to $6,500.

If a company is out of your price range, you’re going to need to look elsewhere, but if there’s one piece of advice I can give above all else, it’s don’t give in to the temptation to cut too many corners.

EverTrek charges around US$3,300 (£2,300) for the Base Camp trek. You buy your flight to Kathmandu and secure your visa and insurance, and from the moment you arrive until you leave, that covers just about everything else. It’s not cheap, but it meant that we had two guides for our group of five, and porters carrying our duffel bags.

“I think you’ll see a difference by having a sizable team around you. It takes all the stress away, so all you have to think about is putting your rucksack on and getting out there in the morning,” says David.

There are cheaper ways to do it, but it’s important to consider that the more you slash your budget, the more you’re likely to be sacrificing, whether that’s safety, comfort, or ethics. And don’t forget that if your trip has an attractive price tag but includes less, you may end up paying double in the end by the time you’ve covered other costs yourself.

Communication

When I ask David how you know whether a company is the right choice, he has a simple answer: "Pick up the phone."

Any reputable company will have multiple ways for you to contact them, and it's reasonable to expect a human on the end of the line who can answer all your questions, no matter how small.

“A good company will be able to talk with great confidence about the route you’re likely to go on, the accommodation itself and the food you’ll be presented with,” says David, who joined us on the trek, just months after taking on his role, exactly so he could get this intimate level of knowledge of his company's offering.

“Don’t rush into it. When things are going well, it’s all fine. It’s when things go wrong that the quality of the business really stands out.”

Once you’ve chosen a company, it’s also reasonable to expect ongoing communication to help prepare you for the trip. Most people sign up for a trek to Base Camp at least 12 months in advance, according to David, and during the window between sign up and take off, they receive weekly emails with tips and invites to monthly online webinars where they can ask questions. This is all optional, but it means that you won’t be left in the dark about any aspect of your trip (unless you want to be).

Safety

No matter whether your chosen adventure involves hiking boots or ice axes, it’s going to carry some inherent risk: extreme weather, high altitude, sprained ankles, the list goes on.

“If you go on a challenge like this and you are pushing yourself out of your boundaries, there are going to be difficulties, and that’s really what makes it an adventure,” says Moore.

But there are always things you can do to reduce your risk. Make some enquiries and find out whether your guides have the appropriate training and equipment to handle emergencies. Does every guide carry a first aid kit with basic medications? Do they have access to a satellite communicator to signal for help in the backcountry?

“It’s when things are going wrong that you want to be with a company that prioritizes safety,” says David.

And safety, unfortunately, does cost money.

“In retrospect, if things go wrong, if you could have spent $500 more to ensure your safety, you would.”

Preparation

If you want a beach holiday, you can essentially click your computer mouse a couple of times, and before you know, you’ll be at the beach. If you want to trek to the roof of the world or deep into the jungle, you’re going to need to do a lot more planning, even with a guide at the helm.

If you’re paying a little more, a lot of details should be handled by the company, but make sure that your guides provide you with thorough kit lists so you know what gear you need. You will need to be specific about what size backpack you require and whether it's necessary to bring your own water filter, for example.

Another crucial point here is that you must get travel insurance that covers the type of activities you’ll be doing, and a good travel company should be able to give you several recommendations for trusted options.

Sustainability

On this warming planet, we need to be thinking hard about the impact our endless thirst for adventure has, and it should be a priority to look for companies with clear sustainability initiatives that go beyond mere lip service.

I’ve written more specifically about making the trek to Everest Base Camp more sustainable to give you some ideas, but as an example, EverTrek guides filter their clients’ drinking water along the route, so no one ever has to buy a single-use plastic bottle, and that cuts down on hundreds of bottles per trip.

Wherever you’re going on the globe, find out if there’s a plan to handle waste so that it doesn’t stay out in the wild. If your trip entails a lot of internal travel, consider how that’s done and whether there are greener alternatives available.

Ethics

It should be important to you that the company prioritizes ethical treatment of the humans that facilitate your bucket list adventure.

Again, the attractive price of a low-budget choice comes into question here, because that may indicate that your guides aren’t being paid a fair wage. You need to be sure that your guides are being adequately compensated and have insurance so that if they get injured, their family won’t suffer as a result of lost wages. This can be tricky to verify, but a company that’s proud of treating its guides well is likely to advertise it, and it’s usually clear if your guides are happy.

One of the most important factors in this regard is employing local guides, which ensures that at least some of the money you spend goes into the local economy. Stay at lodgings owned by locals and eat food prepared by locals. This, of course, also buys you a major advantage on any trek, as it means you get the best expertise about the region you’re exploring.

“Local knowledge is the best thing in the world,” says Moore.

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Every once in a while, a route is sent that sends shockwaves through the rock climbing world. Think Wolfgang Güllich’s Action Directe in 1991, Alex Honnold’s free solo of El Cap in 2017, or Adam Ondra’s Silence, also in 2017. When an individual does more than just raise the bar, but rather shatters the ceiling. These are the climbs that etch the names of the world’s greatest climbers into history forever.

For American legend Lynn Hill, her pièce de résistance was the free climb of El Cap’s The Nose in 1994. Climbed in just 23 hours, it was an unprecedented achievement at the time. Yvon Chouinard, fellow climbing legend and the founder of Patagonia, proclaimed that the feat was ‘the biggest thing that’s ever been done on rock’.

This climb was merely the pinnacle of Hill’s glittering career, which includes several sport climbing first free ascents and a hot streak in the world of competition climbing during the 1980s.

We asked one of our climbing and mountaineering experts to delve into Hill’s life, revealing her benchmark climbs and a little of the character of this living legend.

Early life

Hill was born in Detroit on January 3, 1961. She was one of seven children, a factor that would have a bearing on her fiercely self-sufficient. nature. At the age of eight she took up gymnastics but was by no means enamored with the different expectations and rules placed on male and female gymnasts, a theme that would run throughout her athletic career. Nevertheless, she was clearly talented and became one of the top young gymnasts in her state.

It was at the age of 14 that Hill first roped up on an outing with her two older sisters, brother and her sister’s boyfriend Chuck Bludworth. She was hooked and started climbing regularly in Southern California, taking to it like a duck to water thanks, in part, to the physical prowess she'd already developed as a gymnast.

It was the ideal escape from what had become a fraught family life with the divorce of her parents. A first trip to Yosemite, aged 16, introduced her to El Cap, Half Dome and the legendary Camp 4. There, she met her first boyfriend, Charlie Row, and the two would go on to climb together extensively. It was with Row that Hill climbed her first big wall route.

A burgeoning talent

Now totally hooked on climbing and inspired by the bold approach of characters like Beverly Johnson, the young Hill was on course to become the leading climber of her age. In the late 70s and early 80s, she became a mainstay in the ragtag climbing community at Yosemite’s Camp 4, eking out a simple existence of climbing and working just enough to survive. Here she developed a love for trad climbing and a proclivity for the free-climbing approach – a purer way to tackle a route than that offered by aid climbing.

In the summer of 1978, a romance blossomed with climber John Long. The two would go on to free climb Ophir Broke in Colorado. This taxing crack climb is graded 5.12d, which made it the hardest free climb ever sent by a woman at the time.

While Long was able to overcome the crux moves using his longer reach and physical power, Hill would discover alternative and subtler ways to unlock the puzzles, using holds that Long simply couldn’t access.

Hill climbed extensively with Long in the late 70s and early 80s, putting up many first free ascents, before they went their separate ways. She moved to New York, graduated in biology at the State University and developed a soft spot for the climbing at the Shawangunks, affectionately known as The Gunks.

Here, she achieved a raft of first free ascents, including Vandals, at the time the first ever female climb of a 5.13b. She also met her future husband, fellow Gunks climber Russ Raffa. The two married in 1988, though they’d subsequently divorce in the early 90s.

Europe, competition and rivalry with Catherine Destivelle

In 1986, Hill was one of a group of American climbers invited to climb in France by the French Alpine Club. Legendary climbing venues were on the menu, such as the spectacular Verdon Gorge and the spiritual home of bouldering, the Forest of Fontainebleau.

It was during her time in Europe that Hill started competition climbing, inspired by the challenge of going up against other leading female climbers like Catherine Destivelle. The two would enjoy a friendly rivalry for years: two once-in-a-generation talents going toe-to-toe for glory.

By 1988, Hill had become a professional climber and was competing regularly in Italy and France. She’d go on to win in excess of 30 international titles during this period. It wasn’t all about the competition scene though. In 1990, she became the first female to redpoint (climbing the whole route without resting on the rope) a 5.14a route on Mass Critique in Cimaï, France.

Her most notable climbing accident occurred in 1989 on the cliffs at Buoux, France, when she fell 72 feet to the ground and was knocked unconscious. Despite having broken a bone in her foot and dislocating her left elbow, she was back at it just six weeks after the incident.

She also found time to enjoy the limestone of Germany’s hallowed Frankenjura, the birthplace of the redpoint (or Rotpunkt) style. Here, she onsighted Simon in 1992, becoming the first female to onsight a 5.13b route in history.

Hill subsequently said the climb was one of her most treasured achievements. It was inspired by the great Wolfgang Güllich, who was tragically killed in a car crash while Hill was in Germany.

In the early 90s, Hill’s rival Catherine Destivelle would turn away from competition climbing to focus on alpinism, becoming one of the greatest mountaineers of all time and going on to claim the first female lifetime achievement prize at the prestigious Piolets d’Or awards.

Like Destivelle, Hill was also done with competition climbing and hankered to return to her true love: big routes in the great outdoors. "For me," Hill said in an interview with UKC, "what was really important was the sense of freedom along with the beauty (of being outdoors)."

'It goes, boys!'

In the early 1990s, the most coveted climb in Yosemite – if not the world – was The Nose on El Capitan. Once thought to be unclimbable, this monumental big wall route climbs, as its name suggests, the 880-meter nose of arguably the world’s most iconic cliff, the prow where the southwest and southeast faces intersect.

Hill had attempted to free climb the route alongside British climber Simon Nadin in 1989, but failed. In 1993, she was back in Yosemite alongside partner Brooke Sandahl and managed to conquer the route, becoming the first person in history, male or female, to free climb it.

She famously quipped ‘it goes, boys!’ to the male-dominated climbing scene of the day. Such a sentiment perfectly sums up Hill's defiance during the long grapple with sexist viewpoints of the time. She'd continually confounded expectations, usually set by men, becoming an inspiration to other female climbers.

However, Hill’s masterpiece, the climb that she’s most famous for, came on September 16, 1994, when she repeated The Nose alongside Canadian climber Steve Sutton, topping out after just 23 hours. German climbing royalty Alexander Huber put her achievment in simple terms, saying that Hill had "passed men’s dominance in climbing and left them behind".

Over the following 30 years, only 12 people would manage an all-free ascent of The Nose, underlining the brilliance of Hill’s climb. It was unrepeated until Tommy Caldwell and Beth Rodden achieved a free ascent on October 14, 2005, though Scott Burke came close in 1998 but was forced to top rope the Great Roof pitch due to incoming bad weather.

Caldwell would go on to emulate Hill’s sub-24 hour attempt, free climbing The Nose in just 12 hours, two days after climbing it with Rodden in 2005.

After The Nose

1995 saw Hill join the elite The North Face Climbing Team, an adventure dream team of sorts, featuring the likes of legendary American mountaineers Alex Lowe and Conrad Anker. She joined an exploratory trip to Kyrgyzstan, putting up first ascents alongside Greg Child and Lowe. However, she found that this expedition, which leant more towards mountaineering than traditional rock climbing, didn’t necessarily suit her style.

Trips to places like Morocco, Madagascar, Thailand, China and Vietnam followed. Bravo les Filles on Madagascar’s Tsaranoro Massif in 1999 was a particular highlight, being the hardest first ascent of a big wall achieved by an all-female team at the time. Hill led Nancy Feagin, Kath Pyke and Beth Rodden up the magnificent 2,000-foot granite wall with aplomb.

In 2004, Hill met Brad Lynch and the two had a son together, Owen. Being a mother caused a reset of Hill’s priorities, though she still managed to climb extensively when not caring for her son as a single mother. She currently lives in Boulder, Colorado and continues to be a legend of the climbing world.

Excitement is building ahead of this year’s Hardrock 100, the 30^th edition of one of the world’s most legendary trail races. This weekend, many of trail-running’s brightest stars will be putting themselves through the wringer in an attempt to emerge victorious on the infamously brutal course high in the San Juan Mountains. Separating them from the finish line is 102.5 miles (164km) of technical trails, dirt roads, surprise mountain hazards and 33,197ft (10,118m) of elevation gain.

There’s no Courtney Dauwalter this year, while American ultrarunning’s current golden boy Jim Walmsley will be pacing rather than competing. Nevertheless, a glance at the names on the start line suggests that there’ll be plenty of drama and more than a few stories to come out of the 2025 race.

If you want the see the action as it unfolds, you can follow runners via the live GPS tracking and live aid station splits, as well as by following the Mountain Outpost team’s live YouTube steam.

Women's race: Schide's Hardrock debut

In the women’s race, all eyes will be on American Katie Schide following a stellar 2024 in which she won both the Western States and the UTMB. This will be her Hardrock debut and many consider her to be the woman to beat, particularly as her great rival Courtney Dauwalter – winner of the last three women’s races – won’t be on the start line this year.

Reports suggest Schide, who calls the village of Saint-Dalmas-le-Selvage in the French Maritime Alps home, has been training in the US since mid-May. It’s clear her focus has been well and truly on this race.

However, there’s a glut of talent among her competitors, including Stephanie Case, the Canadian who finished second at Hardrock in 2022. She made headlines in May this year when she romped to victory in the women’s race at UTMB’s Ultra Trail Snowdonia (UTS) 100k. It’s a story reminiscent of Jasmin Paris’ legendary win on the brutal Winter Spine Race in 2019, as Case stopped to breastfeed her six-month-old daughter Pepper while at the aid stations.

Case – who is the founder of the charity Free to Run, which seeks to empower women from all cultures to take up the sport – had struggled to race at an elite level during a challenging, three-year fertility journey, during which she suffered miscarriages and IVF failures. However, her victory at UTS suggests a remarkable return to top form from an individual who clearly possesses spades of resilience.

Another athlete to watch is German runner Katharina Hartmuth, who finished 3^rd last year and was 2^nd to Courtney Dauwalter at 2023’s UTMB. This will be her first race since an incredible win at the 2024 Tor des Géants. Then, she set a new course record of 79:10:40, becoming the first woman in history to finish the TOR330 in under 80 hours, beating the previous record held by Britain’s Sabrina Verjee. She’s had her injury battles since but comes into the race looking sharp once more.

Men's race: can anyone stop Ludo?

French athlete Ludovic (Ludo) Pommeret appears to be the man to beat in the men’s race. He set a course record of 21:33:06 on his way to victory last year and, despite turning 50 this year, will take some stopping – especially considering he’ll be paced by the last two winners of the legendary UTMB: Jim Walmsley and fellow Frenchman Vincent Bouillard.

As well as winning last year’s race, Pommeret was the 2022 winner of the gruelling Ultra-Trail Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie (TDS), a 92-mile (148km) race that’s held as part of the wider Ultra Trail Du Mont Blanc event. In April this year, he finished 2^nd at the Grand Raid Ventoux by UTMB (GRV) 100-mile race, behind countryman Matthieu Simon.

Another Frenchman, Mathieu Blanchard, is expected to mount a challenge, however, fresh from finishing second in Wales at the UTMB’s Ultra Trail Snowdonia (UTS) 100k. This UTMB veteran was in great form last year, winning three major races, including the 100-mile Le Grand Raid De La Réunion – La Diagonale Des Fous, though he recorded a DNF at UTMB. Meanwhile, yet another Frenchman, Germaine Grainger will be looking to build on his success at the Chianti Ultra Trail by UTMB 100k race.

There’s an emerging story in the form of Kenyan-born elite American runner Zach Miller, who had to pull out last year due to an emergency appendectomy just a week before the race. (He had still been willing to give it a shot but race organizers decided against it.) This was following a fruitful 2023 where he’d won the 100-mile Tarawera Ultramaraton in New Zealand and finished 2^nd to Jim Walmsley at UTMB.

His do-or-die approach to racing means he’s one of the less predictable competitors in the field. Will he power to victory, as he did when he became the first American to win the Ultra-Trail Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix (CCC) in 2015? Or, will he implode, like at the 2018 UTMB when he pushed too hard in an attempt to overcome eventual winner Xavier Thévenard and ended up in a rescue helicopter?

Only time will tell…

What is the Hardrock 100?

Officially known as the Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run, the Hardrock 100 is a 102.5 mile (165km) ultramarathon that takes place in Southern Colorado’s San Juan Mountains. It’s a region renowned for its high, rugged peaks and mining heritage. In fact, the run salutes the toughness and perseverance of the hardrock miners who once lived and worked here. It was first held in 1992 and featured just 18 participants, but has since grown to become an iconic event in the world of trail running.

It’s not a run for the faint-hearted. It entails in the region of 33,000ft (10,000m) of elevation gain on dirt roads, tracks and cross-country trails. Runners will move through several climate zones and remain at altitudes between 7,700ft and 14,000ft (2,350 and 4,250m) throughout.

By no measure is it your average run. Official course description guidance states: 'There are many hazards on the Hardrock course! Including but not limited to; falls on snow, scree, talus and cliffs, fast moving water, wildlife encounters, rock fall, altitude sickness, lightning, cold and heat'.

The route is a loop linking the historic mining towns of Silverton, Telluride, Ouray and Lake City. Just to keep the runners on their toes, the direction is reversed each year. Finishers won’t cross a standard finish line either, instead they’ll plant a kiss on a mountain goat-emblazoned hunk of rock to end their race.

Hardrock legends

Many of trail running’s most legendary characters have been victorious at the Hardrock 100. Widely regarded as the greatest mountain runner in history, Spaniard Kilian Jornet shares the record for most male race wins with Utah-based ultra runner Karl Meltzer. Both have won five times: Jornet in 2014, 2015, 2016 (tied), 2017 and 2022; Meltzer in 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2009.

The last three women’s races, in 2022, 2023 and 2024, have been dominated by one runner and one runner alone: the great Courtney Dauwalter. Her 2023 victory was her second step towards her historic Triple Crown, winning the prestigious trio of Western States, Hardrock and UTMB in a single year.

However, when it comes to course legends, she’s still got some way to go to top fellow American Betsy Kalmeyer’s haul of five victories in 1996, 1999, 2001, 2004 and 2006. US runner Diana Finkel also enjoyed a period of dominance, winning the race four times on the bounce between 2009 and 2011, before another American, Darcy Piceu Africa, won three in a row, in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

How to stream the race

You can watch the live broadcast throughout the event via the three videos below. Each covers a different section of the race:

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Mosquitoes, ticks, horseflies, fleas, midges – biting bugs have always been, at best, a nuisance for hikers and campers. At worst, some of these pests can pose a major health hazard. Mosquitoes can transmit West Nile virus, ticks can be harbingers of Lyme Disease, and in certain areas, fleas can carry the bubonic plague. Nasty. In short, a hike in nature sometimes delivers more than you seek, and not in a poetic John Muir quote kind of way.

At Columbia Sportswear's design HQ, this is exactly the type of issue that the Innovation Team likes to get its teeth into.

“We’re always looking for problems to solve,” VP of Innovation Haskell Beckham tells me.

Over the years, addressing the problems hikers and outdoor recreationists face – heat, cold, wet weather, rough terrain – has produced dozens of innovations for the Oregon-based company. Omni-Heat works like an emergency blanket, using tiny metallic dots to make clothing from base layers to puffer jackets reflective and capable of keeping you warmer in frigid conditions, while OutDry Extreme puts a breathable waterproof membrane on the outside of your rain jacket or pants, bypassing the need for DWR and preventing the material from wetting out.

Recent innovations have seen the brand, founded in 1937 by Gert Lamfrom after she fled Nazi Germany, look to nature for inspiration, coming up with a hiking shoe inspired by a pine cone (one of my favorites from last year) and a down jacket inspired by a polar bear.

A warming planet

Columbia may not have the aspirational clout of a brand like Arc’teryx, but some of these technologies are truly ingenious. As Beckham points out, developing its own technologies allows Columbia to make more affordable outdoor gear and help more people get outside safely.

“If you’re only offering products at very high price points, you’re not really being very inclusive, and at Columbia we’re very proud of the fact that we can engage with a broad, diverse group of consumers.”

All this is what led Beckham and his team down a rather deep rabbit hole a few years ago, on a mission to try to solve the problem of mosquitoes – and other biting bugs – for those of us who like to spend time outdoors.

For a long time, many of us who live in cooler northern climes or higher altitude regions have assumed we were safe from itchy red bites and infectious diseases. Those problems are for hikers in Florida, we said smugly. But, as research shows, all that is getting ready to change.

“As the planet warms, mosquito season gets extended in a lot of regions and furthermore, mosquitoes are appearing in places they never have before,” says Beckham.

Mosquitoes are just too clever

Trying to get ahead of climate change, Beckham and his team went to work, attempting to create clothing capable of protecting hikers from mosquitoes. After seeing the results of 2020 research exploring the hypothesis that stripes help zebras ward off insect bites, Beckham says he wondered if the same concept could be applied to clothing.

“I’ve never heard of any other brand taking this approach and coming up with camouflage for mosquitoes, and I thought we may have stumbled across something really neat here.”

Beckham and his team spent countless hours in labs sticking their arms in cages and counting how many mosquitoes landed and how many bit their host. They created a checkerboard pattern using Columbia’s Omni Shade Sun Deflector technology, which applies white dots to a reflective fabric to help with cooling, and he says it produced “an amazing reduction” in the average number of bites. But in the end, Beckham and his team came up against a major hurdle – well, three to be exact.

Mosquitoes have not one or two, but four different mechanisms to target you when you’re out on the trail: they can detect carbon dioxide, which you emit with every breath you exhale, they can sense your body heat, they can smell you and they can see you (though not particularly well).

“If you cut off any one of those they still have three different ways to target humans so it becomes very challenging,” says Beckham.

In other words, mosquito camo alone wasn’t going to be enough.

“We thought there was going to be an opportunity there for disruptive innovation, but mosquitoes are just too clever.”

So the good news is that we don’t all have to start hiking dressed like zebras, and the Columbia team realized that the solution they sought already exists. This summer, the brand launched its Insect Shield collection, featuring hats, shirts, jackets, and hiking pants that claim to protect us from biting insects without having to douse ourselves in DEET.

What is Columbia’s Insect Shield collection?

Unlike in-house Columbia technologies such as Omni-Shade and Omni-Freeze, Insect Shield is a third-party technology that the Columbia design team has integrated into fabrics to create a collection of hiking clothing designed to protect you against bugs. The designs are loose-fitting, light-colored hiking clothing with additional features like deployable sleeves and mosquito face masks that can be tucked away when not in use.

Insect Shield is the trademark name for an insecticide called permethrin that can be applied to the fabric of clothing. Permethrin naturally occurs in certain chrysanthemum flowers, but Insect Shield produces it synthetically, and the company says permethrin and Insect Shield Repellent Gear works against mosquitoes, ticks, ants, flies, chiggers, and midges (no-see-ums).

Unlike insect repellent, which prevents mosquitoes from being able to smell you, or mechanical barriers (fabrics that don’t allow penetration but are super hot and uncomfortable for hiking), permethrin works on all mechanisms to essentially stun mosquitoes, according to the CDC, and usually causes them to die.

According to Insect Shield, Permethrin has been used in the US as an EPA-registered product since 1977, appearing in lice shampoos for children, flea dips for dogs, and various other products. The site says Insect Shield has undergone years of intensive research and field study in accordance with USDA regulations, and using it meant Beckham and his team could save on resources, bypassing processes that would have set the company back hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“We’ve figured out during the course of our research that this solution works better than anything we were trying and overcame all the regulatory hurdles and allowed us to put product into the market sooner.”

Columbia designers had fabrics treated with Insect Shield – essential binding the insecticide to the fibers – then tested the fabric again before coming up with designs like the Skien Valley Hooded Long Sleeve Shirt and Cachalot Hat, which protects you from more than just the sun.

Why not just use insect repellent?

If you’re allergic to DEET or just find bug sprays and lotions uncomfortable to wear, this news will be like music to your ears. But if you’ve found a brand of insect repellent that works for you, you might be wondering why you’d make the switch and buy a whole new wardrobe?

For starters, Insect Shield has reams of videos and articles showing its research to provide the effectiveness of its product. Another compelling argument for the Insect Shield collection is that it’s odorless, which will come as welcome news even if you’re not overly sensitive to the smell (and let’s be honest, taste) of bug spray clawing at the back of your throat after you hose yourself down with it.

It’s also durable, with Insect Shield saying the product is EPA-registered to last through 70 washes, which is far beyond the average life expectancy of most hiking tops and bottoms. Even if you wear the Skien Valley Cargo Pants for one hike a week in the summer months, you could get away with only three or four washes a season, which means they could last you more than 20 years.

And, as Beckham points out, “It’s really safe.”

While the jury is still out on just how harmful DEET is (unless you drink it, then it’s definitely harmful), Insect Shield has no Consumer Risk Rating from the EPA, and that’s because you can’t overdose on it.

“We’ve put just enough to be effective but not enough that you can overexpose yourself like you can with a spray.”

We're still in the process of testing the gear out ourselves, but if the label is correct and you head out into the woods dressed in Columbia’s Insect Shield collection this summer, you’ll quite literally knock 'em dead.

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It’s thrilling, moving quickly and continuously along an exposed mountain ridge, unencumbered with ropes and protective gear, getting hands on with the ancient rock. Yep, compared to the short bursts of activity followed by faff and a long belay wait when climbing, scrambling feels like a purer pursuit – a liberating form of adventure. Just you and the mountain. Not as risky as free soloing, but still something that feels just a little…edgy.

The popularity of scrambling has been gaining pace alongside its better-known cousins, namely hiking and rock climbing, for some time. Scrambling is the bridge between the two. At one end of the scrambling spectrum, you’ve got adventurous hiking, the sort where you can no longer amble along with your hands in your pockets. At the other extreme, you’ve got the sort of terrain on which the vast majority of folk, unless you’re someone like Alex Honnold, would want to be attached to a rope.

The line between difficult scrambling and easy climbing is a blurry one and it’s difficult to define exactly where scrambling ends and climbing begins. Regardless, many people have tried to do just this. We thought we’d throw our hat into the ring by asking one of our mountaineering experts to consider just when does scrambling become climbing.

What exactly is scrambling?

Scrambling is defined as the act of using your hands as well as your feet to progress through rocky backcountry terrain. Easier scrambling can be thought of as adventurous hiking, while tougher scrambles can be thought of as ‘nontechnical climbs’, as named in the Sierra Club’s Definitions for Scrambling Ratings – a document I'll be referencing quite a bit in due course.

A scramble will often form the crux – the trickiest bit – of an easier hiking route, and many popular hikes have short sections of scrambling in them. More sustained routes, with long stretches of terrain where the use of hands is required, are usually given a title, making them 'named scrambles'. Examples include the Crestone Traverse in the Rockies or Aonach Eagach in the Scottish Highlands.

Easy scrambles are usually tackled without a rope or other climbing equipment, while most people probably would rope up for the more difficult scrambles. It’s this that begs the question: when does scrambling become climbing?

Unroped scrambling is a potentially dangerous pursuit, particularly in the higher grades, when it essentially becomes easy free soloing – we'll explore this distinction more in due course too. Many of the world's most dangerous hiking trails feature sections of easier scrambling that are typically done without climbing equipment.

How are scrambles graded in America?

The US and the UK have their own grading systems to indicate the difficulty of a scramble. Handily, the American Yosemite Decimal System (YDS) captures the full spectrum of difficulty from a simple walk (Class 1) right through to Adam Ondra’s Silence, perhaps the hardest sport climb ever sent (5.15d). Classes 1 through 4 are described as non-technical mountain climbs, with Classes 2 through 4 representing the sort of terrain that would be defined as a scramble.

Indeed, the much-respected and comprehensive instructional mountaineering text Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills backs this assertion up. It reads: 'Nontechnical climbs, or scrambles, occur on second-, third-, or even fourth-class terrain.'

The Sierra Club have further broken down Classes 2, 3 and 4, giving each subcategories within the grade to describe nuances in difficulty, much in the same way as the Class-5 climbing grades are broken down.

Class 2 is described by the Sierra Club as: 'simple scrambling and rough cross-country travel on scree, talus, and boulders, with minimal exposure and low to moderate risk'. This doesn’t sound like rock climbing to me.

The club describe Class 3 thus: 'moderate scrambling on steep, rocky terrain that requires handholds for upward movement and safety. Beginners may want a belay due to increased exposure and risk of serious injury'. This is beginning to sound more like rock climbing than hiking. However, Angels Landing in Zion National Park is a renowned Class-3 route and very few would think of it as a rock climb.

Class 4, however, is: 'difficult and exposed scrambling on very steep terrain where a rope is often advisable for safety, given the substantial risk of serious injury or death in the event of a fall'. The first subcategory, 4.0, is defined accordingly: 'brief, very hard scrambling' with 'readily available holds' and notes that 'some climbing skills are needed'. Understandably, it recommends a helmet and a rope for belays and descending. By the time we get into the meat of the 4.1 subcategory, however, the words 'rappel' and 'commitment' start getting thrown around. Commitment and rappels? I reckon we’re into the realms of rock climbing here.

How are scrambles graded in the UK?

Scrambles are graded differently to both sport and trad climbs in the UK, with a separate system that goes from Grade 1 (easier) to Grade 3 (harder). The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) outlines the definitions on its website. In fact, it goes as far as to say scrambling is 'essentially' easy rock climbing. Though I and many others would assert that easy scrambling has much more in common with hiking than with climbing.

UK Grade-1 scrambles are comparable to YDS Class 2 routes and are usually tackled without ropes or other climbing equipment. Adventurous hiking, one might say.

UK Grade-2 scrambles 'blur the line between scrambling and rock climbing' though the BMC don’t really describe the terrain in their definition. Let’s bring in the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC), who describe Grade-2 scrambles in their Highland Scrambles North guide as having 'considerable exposure' and 'short technically difficult sections'. Like YDS Class 3, we’re starting to approach something that sounds a little like climbing to me. Scottish classics like the Liathach Traverse and the Aonach Eagach fall into the Grade-2 category.

UK Grade-3 scrambles 'often appear in climbing guides as ‘Moderately’ graded climbing routes', according to the BMC. 'Use of the rope is to be expected for several sections, which may be up to about ‘Difficult’ in rock climbing standards'. Enough said?

The SMC have this to say about UK Grade-3 scrambles: 'Thought-provoking moves on steep rock in exposed situations'. Sounds pretty climbingy to me. Wait…here comes the nail in the coffin, the piton in the rock – if you will. 'A few slings, nuts and karabiners may prove useful for setting up belays'. Case closed. UK Grade-3 scrambling might as well be called climbing. Right?

When does scrambling become climbing?

The short answer to the question posed at the top of this piece is: there’s no agreed point at which scrambling becomes climbing. What is clear is that respected bodies like the Sierra Club, the BMC and the SMC draw many parallels between YDS Classes 3 and 4 and UK Grade 2 and 3 scrambling and easy climbing, while the BMC go further by suggesting a direct overlap between the two pursuits.

So, it seems that scrambling blurs into climbing somewhere within those grades, perhaps at the upper end of YDS Class 3 and UK Grade 2, where the use of a rope becomes desirable for most people in order to prevent serious injury or death, or at least provide the confidence needed to tackle the route.

Another way to think of it is to consider the approach an individual takes to these sorts of borderline routes. Perhaps this is what determines whether you’re scrambling or climbing. Bring your climbing shoes and full rack to the first pitch and you’re doing a spot of easy climbing. Bring a lightweight scrambler’s rack and approach shoes to the same route and you’re taking on a roped scramble. Leave the harness and ropes at home and attempt it sans protection, and you’re embarking on some very bold scrambling.

This begs the question: when does bold, unroped scrambling become free soloing? Well, once you get into routes within the YDS Class 5 grades that describe 'technical rock climbing' or into the UK’s accepted sport and trad climbing grades, you’d be within your right to say you were free soloing if tackling them without a rope. Note: this is certainly not something we’d advise doing.

Brette Harrington, one of America’s leading alpinists and one-time partner of the late Marc-André Leclerc (of 2021 documentary film The Alpinist) fame, cites mindset as being the key difference between scrambling and free soloing. When scrambling, the climber is 'cruising', whereas when free soloing they require laser focus. In this case, it's the competence and confidence of the climber that determines what they're doing, not the difficulty of the route itself.

Now, here’s the thing. Scrambling and climbing grades are highly subjective and the challenges posed by any given route will vary depending on factors like the weather and what the scrambler chooses to wear. A hard scramble that feels desperate in trail running shoes will probably feel much easier in approach shoes. Take on a relatively easy scramble in the wet and you’ll likely be more gripped than on a technical climb in glorious summer sunshine.

Inevitably there’s a bit of an overlap between hard scrambling and easy climbing, and the routes and sort of terrain that fall into the center of this adventurous Venn diagram are bound to cause debate. An experienced crag rat might proclaim that a certain route ‘was nothing more than a scramble’, while someone working their way up the grades would probably consider the same route as a thrilling climb. I’ve heard some people describe the Matterhorn’s Hornli Ridge as a scramble. I’ve one word for such a sentiment: psychopathic.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter whether it’s technically a scramble or a climb – all that matters is that you enjoy it. As the late legendary American mountaineer Alex Lowe once said: ‘the best climber is the one having the most fun’.

A GPS watch isn’t essential for trekking and thru-hiking, but it can provide some great benefits, from providing navigational assistance and showing how far you still have to walk each day to understanding the impact of the trek on your body.

As an outdoor journalist, I get to test the best GPS watches on the trail, so when I was offered the opportunity to trek to Everest Base Camp, it wasn’t so much a question of whether I was going to wear a watch, as which watch I was going to bring.

Fairly quickly, I settled on the Garmin Fenix 8, which came out in 2024. I had already given it a thorough test over a three-week period earlier this year, so I knew it was a showstopper, brilliantly built and fantastically featured. But because I’d only used it for day-long adventures, I was curious to see how it would perform on an 80-mile, 11-day trek.

For the Fenix 8, Garmin took the winning formula of the near-perfect Fenix 7 and added extra navigation tools plus the option of a crystal clear AMOLED display, voice commands, and more smartwatch functions like the ability to take and make phone calls. On the trails of Scotland, I found it to be rugged, responsive, accurate and easy to use, but how would it perform in the remote Himalayas?

On the morning that we flew from Kathmandu to Lukla to begin the trek, I strapped the Fenix 8 onto my right wrist and, for control purposes, kept my considerably more humble (but very much beloved) Coros Pace 3 on my left wrist. This way I’d be able to compare metrics like heart rate and distance.

En route to one of the highest points on the planet, I found four standout features I really loved about the Garmin Fenix 8.

Altimeter

For a long-distance mountain trek, it’s helpful to know what altitude you’re at for navigation purposes and to understand why you might be feeling out of sorts. On the trek to Everest Base Camp, you start at about the elevation of Breckenridge ski resort in Colorado and keep climbing until you reach 17,598ft (5,354m), so altitude plays a really crucial role in your experience.

Thanks to its built-in barometric altimeter, whether the Fenix 8 is in activity mode or daily use, it automatically shows what altitude you’re at on the main screen, which I used more than any other feature.

While this is generally true for adventure watches, it’s not the case for all Garmins. In fact, another trekker in my group had a Garmin intended primarily for playing golf, which didn’t display what height we were at, and fitness-based models like the Vivoactive 5 have left it out to keep costs down.

As a result, I ended up assuming the unofficial but very useful role of Chief Altitude Information Officer for the trek, keeping my companions informed about our height.

LED flashlight

Lots of watches I’ve tested (for example the Suunto Race S) claim to have a flashlight, but what they actually have is a white screen. It’s marginally useful if you just want to find something on your bedside table at night without waking your partner, but you wouldn’t use it to navigate on the trail.

The Fenix 8, on the other hand, has an actual LED flashlight, which was one of my favorite features during my initial testing period. This proved invaluable on the trek, from finding my way to the shared bathrooms in the teahouses at night without having to strap on a headlamp, to getting organized for early alpine starts.

At the time of year we were trekking, the days were long and we typically started in daylight, but one of the most special days of the trip – the hike up Kala Patthar to watch the sun rise over Everest – had us setting off in the pitch darkness at 3am.

I started out wearing my headlamp, but it was so overly bright that I quickly realized my watch was a better choice. I switched off my Petzl, double-pressed the top left button on my Fenix 8 to turn on the flashlight, then turned it down to red light mode. Thanks to the clear skies, this provided enough illumination for me to walk safely, not blind my companions, and still let my eyes adjust to the stars above, so I could really appreciate the stunning views.

Visibility

The biggest difference between the Garmin Fenix 8 and its predecessor is the option of that bright, AMOLED display, which makes it easy to view in just about any weather conditions you might encounter. The Coros Pace 3, on the other hand, features a Memory-in-Pixel (MIP) display, which can be harder to read in low light conditions.

For the trek to Base Camp, we were mostly treated to bright skies, but that meant I was always wearing a brimmed sunhat and my SunGod FORTY2s sunglasses to protect my face and eyes. Though SunGod uses what it calls its 8KO Iris photochromic lenses, these are essentially polarized lenses that can make it hard to see certain watch faces. This proved no problem at all for the Fenix, but if I’d been hiking with only my Coros, I’d have been removing my shades every time I wanted to find out what altitude I was at.

Accuracy

Because I was trekking with two watches on, I was able to get two different reports of each day’s activities, and it quickly became clear there was a discrepancy between the two watches in terms of distance data.

This isn’t uncommon; in fact, hike with anyone also wearing a watch and you’ll almost always notice a slight difference due to variances like GPS signal limitations, environmental interference, watch settings and the improbability that you both start your watches at exactly the same time.

I noticed that my Coros consistently showed my distance every day to be about 0.2 miles less than the Garmin. That doesn’t sound like a huge difference, but in metrics it’s close to half a kilometer, or one lap of a high school track, and I hadn’t noticed this discrepancy when I’d previously tested the two watches together, so it was enough to make me investigate.

Without a yard stick, it would be impossible to say for sure which watch was more accurate, but by speaking to my local guides, comparing distances with other people in my group and looking up the trek distances on route reports online, I became as certain as I can be that my Garmin was giving me the most accurate reflection of distance.

This isn’t a make-or-break feature, but for long treks in remote places, it is nice to feel confident that you’re getting the most accurate readings possible.

Battery life

I had a lot of fun testing the Fenix 8 in the Himalayas, but it wasn’t perfect, and there were some features that would make me pause and consider a different watch next time. For starters, battery life.

In general, the Fenix 8 model has a better battery life compared to the 7, but since there are different sizes and models, it's hard to compare them accurately and it turns out that the 43mm model I was testing is a bit of a downgrade compared to the similarly-sized 7. It claims up to 28 hours of battery life when you’re using it in GPS mode with gesture (meaning it only lights up when you lift your wrist). Obviously this is plenty when you’re using it for day hikes and regular runs.

For this trek, I had it on GPS mode (with gesture) for at least six hours a day, and I didn’t activate any of the settings to save battery life. In real terms it meant that I had to charge it every third day, and it died during one of the hikes. In comparison, I charged my Coros just once during the whole trek.

Charging my watch wasn’t a huge deal, as I was carrying three portable power banks, but it was more than I’d have liked. This is an issue that could theoretically be solved (or at least improved upon) by going with a solar option, but honestly the jury is really out as to how much of a difference a solar Garmin really makes.

Weight and size

The Fenix 8 is currently available in 43mm, 47mm and 51mm sizes, and there’s no getting around the fact that it’s a big, bulky watch. This is the trade-off for having every feature imaginable, a better battery and a brighter screen. But it did mean I found it annoying.

The profile of the watch is just big enough that it got caught on the strap of my backpack every time I put it back on, which was multiple times a day. It also meant that as we got higher, and the weather got cooler, it was a hassle to pull my multiple sleeves up to view the screen.

Now the bigger you are, the less huge the watch looks – one of my trekking companions wore the same watch, but he’s much taller than I am, and perhaps it was less unwieldy for him. But there’s no getting around the fact that it’s a brute of a watch, and heavy enough to really hurt when you drop it on your toe, as I have discovered the hard way.

Is the Garmin Fenix 8 right for your trek?

If you’re a Garmin junkie, you’ll have noticed that most of the features of the Fenix 8 that I loved – altimeter, flashlight and razor sharp GPS – are available in the Fenix 7, while the Enduro 3 has the same features and boasts better battery life. So if you’re not too fussed about the AMOLED screen, there are other Garmin models that will perform similarly (or even better) for a lower price.

Despite my battery charging woes, I still thought the Fenix 8 was a super fun tool for my trek, and if I happened to have a lot of cash lying around, I’d certainly consider buying it. That said, one feature that I think would really send premium Garmin watches over the edge would be the option to review my routes in 3D video animation.

This comes free with the Suunto app and I’ve really loved having it while testing the Suunto Run lately, but it looks like it’s only available using third-party apps with Garmin watches. Now that Base Camp is becoming a distance memory, I’d love to be able to look back at each day of trekking and watch the terrain I crossed in a miniature movie.

You can read our full Garmin Fenix 8 review here.

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It’s an unusually hot June day as we climb at a leisurely pace from Fionnay up to Cabane de Louvie. At less than 2.5 miles (4km), the hike is short, but it’s steep, with an elevation gain of nearly 3,000ft (700m). But none of that is the real reason for our languid approach.

I’m here in Switzerland’s Val de Bagnes for a Mindful Weekend with 10 strangers, guided by yoga teacher Amélie Bertschy. We’re wearing our best hiking boots and our packs are filled with hiking essentials like waterproof jackets and headlamps, but unlike a typical group hike, we’re not here to charge up the mountain.

The brochure promises immersion in nature, wellbeing, and mindful movement. The part which piques my curiosity most is that the trip is described as the 'ultimate digital detox', something that’s grown harder to come by even in these alpine huts, once notable for their soul-stirring silence, that have given in to public demand for WiFi. These days, the chirp of the local alpine chough increasingly gets drowned out by the bing of an incoming text message, even miles from the nearest village.

But Cabane de Louvie has held strong on this front, and even though we happily snap photos with our smartphones and compare distances on our GPS watches, when we arrive at the serene cabin after a dip in the lake outside, we’re greeted by a sign that reads 'No WiFi here, connect with each other instead'.

On the hike up, Bertschy, who has an impressive portfolio as a sports scientist, physiotherapist and accomplished mountain runner, in addition to teaching yoga, explains that this is just one reason why Cabane de Louvie makes the perfect setting for a mindful retreat.

“It’s different from the other cabins because it has no reason to be here,” she says of the picturesque hut perched at 7,380ft (2,250m) high, in a nature reserve.

Other huts in the area serve weary travelers on their way to and from summiting mountains – Cabane Mont Fort down the valley in Verbier historically lodged trekkers on the Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt, for example – but a visit to Cabane de Louvie is the whole point in itself.

“It’s about enjoying the mountains and just being there and being in contemplation,” explains Bertschy.

As such, we discover the patio outside the deck is festooned with couches where guests can recline and scan the surrounding mountains for glimpses of wildlife. The owners have constructed a small yoga deck just behind the cabin, where we meet for an evening flow as the sun sets, and again at sunrise, thrilled when an ibex nonchalantly strolls past. Though our fondue supper is lively, with the cabin at full capacity for the night, the lights here automatically go out at 10pm to encourage guests to rest.

We take a longer route out the next day, climbing another 1,300ft (400m) up from the cabin before traversing the mountain to Verbier ski resort where we cool off with a cold drink before riding the gondola down and heading back to our regular lives.

In total, the experience lasts just over 30 hours – in normal life, enough time for me to work, eat, sleep, and work some more – but it has a great impact in a short time, and has led me to change the way I want to spend time in the mountains. There are the obvious benefits, like improved mobility and the therapeutic impact of stretching our tired muscles, but the real gains are subtler and more profound.

Read on for five ways I think slowing down and moving mindfully can benefit all hikers.

Presence

Before setting off from Fionnay, Bertschy gathers us together and makes a suggestion for our approach:

“Every so often, stop talking to each other and ask yourself: what do I hear? What do I smell? What do I see?”

It’s a simple but effective prompt that helps me connect more to my surroundings through my senses. I spot wildflowers I can’t name and patches of snow clinging to the distant peaks despite the heat. I breathe in the scent of edelweiss and spruce, and hear the melodious song of a whinchat from the trees, then the shrill chirp of a marmot as we climb higher.

We’re also encouraged to go slowly, with Bertschy setting the pace at the front of the group. And I mean really slowly. My Suunto Run watch informs me that the whole journey to the cabin takes nearly four hours, including our long stop for lunch, meaning we hiked at an average pace of just over half a mile (1km) per hour. Unlike my usual fast march, my heart rate stays low, and I find the walking easy, pleasurable. On our second, longer day, I don’t fall foul to fatigue, which all too often can result in poor decision making among hikers.

The result isn’t frustration or annoyance, as I might have predicted. Instead, I’m able to soak in my surroundings more fully, whereas on an ordinary hike I might get distracted by conversation or lose sight of my surroundings as I put my head down and muscle my way up a steep slope.

Connection

When we reach our yoga mats, Bertschy several times invites us to sit with eyes closed while facing the Combins Massif across the valley, then open our eyes and really see it.

“Nowhere is more powerful than the mountains, and the contrast here between eyes closed and eyes open,” she says.

Each time I open my eyes, I’m struck by the vividness of the changing colors as the sun sets, then rises, and I notice new details, like the swing bridge across the distant glacier catching the sunlight or an impossibly vertiginous trail that weaves up the side of the mountain.

It’s these moments that should be intrinsic to hiking but can all too easily be lost in rushing or technology and, though I wouldn't recommend hiking with your eyes closed, you can try this exercise any time you stop for a break and revel in a new appreciation of your surroundings.

Proprioception

More commonly referred to as 'body awareness', proprioception is your ability to sense your body placement in space. It’s vital for balance and coordination, so it’s important for anyone moving through the mountains who doesn’t want to lose their footing, but it’s best practiced (and improved) on a yoga mat.

I realize this as Bertschy brings us down onto our seats, then invites us to lift our legs, take hold of our big toes, and stretch our legs out wide, effectively balancing on our tailbones. From my precarious spot right at the edge of the deck, any small distraction or gust of wind could be enough to send me over the edge and into the scrub, but with time and effort, I’m able to find a steadiness in both my body and my mind.

We tend to lose proprioception with age, which can be a challenge for those of us who like an outdoor adventure, but it’s a process that can be refined with exercises like those found in yoga. The benefits of what you strengthen on a yoga mat can follow you out onto the trail and help you as you step over ground that moves beneath your feet, a heavy backpack shifting your center of balance.

Breath control

Like any cardiovascular activity, hiking impacts your breath by challenging it. Doing it regularly can enhance your cardiovascular fitness, which can improve the length and quality of your life. But if you haven’t trained yourself to breathe deeply before you start hiking, you might find that hunching forward as you climb a steep slope while wearing a bulky backpack actually makes it difficult to breathe. That, in turn, can make activities like hiking feel stressful and more difficult than they need to.

Yoga, on the other hand, can be the perfect place to learn the diaphragmatic 'deep' breathing that’s correlated with improved blood oxygen, lower heart rate and better muscle function. Bertschy cues us to breathe constantly throughout our yoga practices, from sitting quietly in a cross-legged seat and moving our hands apart on an inhale, and together on an exhale, to alternating between two standing poses and linking the actions to our breath.

When we strap our backpacks on and begin our hike out the following day, it feels easier to keep our chests open and breathe deeply, making the climb seem less daunting. When we stop for breaks, I find I can use the time to admire the views rather than catch my breath.

Self-reflection

This particular retreat invites us to connect more fully to our surroundings, but there’s also more quiet time to reflect inwards, something that can be missing if yoga is just a rushed studio class squeezed in on your lunch break or after work.

The schedule allows for time where there’s nothing on the agenda, the yoga practices start and end with quiet contemplation, texts and emails can’t reach us here, and even the hiking is punctuated with breaks.

Bertschy gives us prompts to consider what we’re curious about before setting off and what was most resonant as we conclude the retreat, and these invitations encourage us to reflect on what we learned and what was meaningful. Self-reflection, according to research carried out by Harvard Business Review, can help our critical thinking skills as we figure out what has worked for us, what hasn’t, why, and what we can do differently.

That research is aimed at those seeking to improve their professional performance, but these are skills that can serve us in all of our roles and activities, from the boardroom to mountaintops.

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Jimmy Chin’s talents seemingly know no bounds. His adventurous career makes a mockery of the perception that you have to focus entirely on one pursuit in order to master it. Where Chin is concerned, it’s a case of Jack of all trades – master of all trades. He’s an individual who commands the respect of both America’s greatest mountaineers and climbers, while he’s also responsible for bringing us some of the most spectacular climbing films the world has ever seen.

Chin is probably most famous for Free Solo, the documentary film that captured Alex Honnold’s quest to climb El Capitan without protection. Working alongside his wife Elizabeth Chai-Vasarhelyi to create the 2018, Oscar-winning phenomenon, he directed, produced, captured footage for and co-starred in the film, and had previously done the same for 2015’s critically acclaimed Meru. However, as is obvious from his own climbing exploits in Meru, filmmaking is just one of Chin’s fortes.

This is a man who’s skied from the summit of Everest, been part of the North Face’s Athlete team for more than 20 years, written bestselling books, and been on adventures in places as far flung as Antarctica, the Karakorum, Borneo, Tibet, Mali and Baffin Island. Oh, and in 2024, he discovered the remains of Sandy Irvine, George Mallory’s climbing partner from the fateful 1924 Everest expedition.

Here we delve deeper into Chin’s remarkable career, detailing the highlights and revealing more about one of the adventure world’s most multi-talented individuals.

Early exploits and an introduction to film

Jimmy Chin was born in Mankato, Minnesota in 1973 to Chinese parents, both of whom worked as librarians. After graduating from Carleton College in 1996, he became something of a climbing and skiing nomad, living in a 1980 Subaru Loyale and chasing conditions between places like Yosemite, Red Rocks, Bozeman and Jackson. This seven-year period was the foundation for his adventures to come.

In 1999, he sold his first adventure photo to Mountain Hardwear and undertook his first forays into the Greater Ranges, completing a duo of big wall climbs in Pakistan’s Charakusa Valley. Further climbs followed, including a first ascent of 3,500-foot Tahir Tower in India’s Kondus Valley in 2000 and new routes on Mali’s Hand of Fatima, the world’s greatest freestanding sandstone tower, in 2001. In the same year he became part of the North Face Athlete team and teamed up with Conrad Anker and Brady Robinson to attempt an ascent of the Karakorum’s K7, only to be trapped on a portaledge for five days by a storm.

Circumstance played into Chin’s hands when, in 2002, he was invited by Anker to join a 300-mile trek across Tibet’s remote Chang Tang Plateau, along with photographer Galen Rowell, Rick Ridgeway and film director David Breashears. Rowell would go on to become Chin’s mentor, while Breashears was unable to make the expedition. In his stead, Chin was handed the role of cinematographer, despite having no experience with a film camera. The rest, as they say, is history. National Geographic, impressed with his work, awarded Chin an Emerging Explorer grant.

Everest adventures, the Himalayas and beyond

Over the next few years, Chin would enjoy some remarkable adventures on Everest and on other mountains in the Greater Ranges. In 2003, he and Stephen Koch were almost killed in an avalanche while trying to take on an alpine-style, direct line up Everest’s immense North Face.

The next year, he was back on Everest and reached the summit alongside Ed Viesturs, another American mountaineering legend, while shooting scenes for the 2015 feature film Everest. In 2005, he joined Viesturs again, first on Cho Oyu, where Chin suffered a cerebral edema due to the high altitude and had to retreat before the summit bid. Nonetheless, he recovered to accompany and photograph Viesturs on the top of Annapurna. This summit marked the end of Viesturs’ quest to ascend all fourteen 8,000-meter (26,242ft) peaks, the first American to do so and all without supplementary oxygen, emulating the great Reinhold Messner.

Perhaps Chin’s most remarkable Everest adventure was in 2006, when he and wife-and-husband Kit and Rob DesLauriers became the first Americans to ski from its top. Kit had successfully completed her incredible project to ski from the summits of the world’s Seven Summits.

Chin also enjoyed several climbing adventures alongside Alex Honnold and Mark Synnott during this period, notably in 2009 when they were mugged at knifepoint in Chad’s Ennedi Desert. In 2010, he took the iconic shot of Alex Honnold on Half Dome’s Thank God Ledge, which featured on the cover of both an issue of National Geographic and Honnold’s Alone on the Wall book.

Meru

A long-time project of American mountaineering legend Conrad Anker was Meru’s Shark’s Fin, a stunning big wall climb on a blade of granite in India’s Garwhal Himalaya. Anker first attempted the route in 2003 with fellow mountaineers Doug Chabot and Bruce Miller and was back in 2008. This time, he’d recruited Chin and climber Renan Ozturk to take on this much-coveted climb. The trio formed a formidable team but severe weather curtailed their attempt after 19 days on the wall, just two pitches beneath the glittering prize of the summit.

By the time the team returned to the mountain in 2011, the situation was less than ideal. Chin had narrowly escaped death in an avalanche while skiing in the Grand Tetons, while Oztruk had suffered skull and spine injuries in his own skiing accident. However, against all the odds, and having dealt with Ozturk suffering to a mini stroke high on the face, the trio made it to the summit.

The resulting 2015 film, directed by Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi, who he married in 2013, was a great success. It became the year’s highest grossing independent documentary, won an audience award at the Sundance Film Festival and garnered critical acclaim. However, the husband-and-wife team’s next film would propel them to much greater renown.

Free Solo

In terms of filmmaking, Chin’s greatest achievement is undoubtedly 2018's Free Solo. Not only did he direct and produce the film alongside Chai Vasarhelyi, he also featured prominently in the narrative. The documentary followed Alex Honnold’s journey on his way to to free soloing El Capitan in 2017. A monumental success, it went on to gross more than $28 million worldwide, capture the imagination of people way beyond climbing circles and win dozens of awards, including both the Oscar and the BAFTA for Best Documentary.

Part of the intrigue that makes Free Solo so riveting is the internal struggles that those around Honnold, including the filmmakers themselves, go through as he squares up to the incredibly dangerous task of free soloing El Cap. This makes it a very post-modern production, in that it turns the camera on itself, exploring the ethics behind filming the risky business of someone performing on the very edge.

The fact that Chin is one of the leading cast members, shows how self-aware the production was. In the film, Chin even admits: "It’s hard not to imagine your friend falling through the frame to his death." However, the team behind the film thought "very, very carefully" before deciding to go ahead and document Honnold’s exploits.

More adventures and creative exploits

Often tasked with capturing stunning photographs and film, Chin’s talents have taken him around the world with some of the adventure world’s elite. From deep water soloing along Oman’s Musandam Peninsula with the likes of Ozturk, Synnott, Hazel Findlay and Mike Shaefer in 2013, to pulling off a 4,000ft (1,212m) big wall climb alongside Anker on the sensational rock fang of Ulvetanna in Antarctica’s Queen Maud Land in 2017.

Chin’s 2021 photography book There and Back was an immediate success, quickly becoming a New York Times bestseller. In the same year, he and Chai Vasarhelyi released The Rescue, which documented the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue of twelve members of the youth football team and their coach in Northern Thailand.

Their first scripted film, Nyad, premiered in 2023 and tells the tale of Diana Nyad's swim from Havana, Cuba to Key West, Florida at the age of 64. More recently, the duo co-directed the 2024 documentary Endurance, telling the story of Ernest Shackleton’s great Trans-Antarctic expedition and the discovery of the ship in 2022.

Sandy Irvine’s boot

In September 2024, Chin made a startling discovery on the Central Rongbuk Glacier in the shadow of Everest’s mighty north face. He was there as part of a National Geographic documentary team and was searching the icy expanse along with fellow climbing filmmakers Erich Roepke and Mark Fisher, when they caught sight of a boot. This was no modern mountaineering boot but a remnant of a golden, ancient era of exploration. The boot belonged to Andrew ‘Sandy’ Irvine, George Mallory’s climbing partner from the fateful 1924 expedition, 100 years ago.

On June 8, 1924, Mallory and Irvine were heading along the Northeast Ridge towards the summit of Everest, somewhere in the vicinity of the First Step. Cloud obscured the watching expedition member Noel Odell’s view and the pair were never seen alive again. Whether or not they’d made it to Everest’s summit is mountaineering’s most enduring mystery. If they had, they’d have been the first in history, as it’d be 29 years before Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay achieved the official first ascent, on May 29, 1953.

Irvine’s ice axe was found just below the First Step but no evidence of the pair’s fate was unearthed until Conrad Anker discovered Mallory’s body in 1999. Clues suggested that Irvine and Mallory had been tied together and taken a fatal fall.

Chin’s discovery failed to comprehensively solve the mystery, though it’s thought the the Kodak Vest Pocket Camera that Irvine had been carrying may be hidden somewhere nearby. However, Chin and his team have refused to share the exact location of their discovery to discourage trophy hunters.

Among the many 100-mile trail races across the world these days – and let’s face it, there seems to be one a week – one reigns supreme as the most prestigious, and that’s California’s Western States Endurance Run.

Western States isn’t the biggest trail race in terms of competitors – it sees just a few hundred runners compared to the thousands who compete in the UTMB finals in Chamonix. It’s tough, but perhaps not as tough as the Tors de Geants or the Marathon des Sables, just to name a couple of gruelling ultras. It doesn’t offer a prize purse to the winner, and while that’s not unique in the world of trail running, if you wanted to make bank, you’d be better off angling for the Run Rabbit Run 100, which awards the first-place finisher $15,000.

So why is Western States such a big deal in ultra running? In this article, we took a look at this iconic endurance race, from its unlikely origins to the details that make a silver belt buckle one of the most coveted finisher prizes in ultra running.

What is the Western States Endurance Run?

Western States (WSER) is a 100-mile trail race that starts in Olympic Valley at the base of Palisades Tahoe ski resort, travels southwest, and finishes on the running track at Placer High School in the gold rush town of Auburn. Most of the terrain between those two points is remote and rugged, taking competitors over 18,090ft (5,500m) of ascent and 22,970ft (7,000m) of descent.

The highest point on the course is at Emigrant Pass, at 8,750ft (2,667m), and participants have to ford the American River at mile 78 (when the river is too high, they are ferried across by raft). But to understand why the WSER is such a big deal, you first have to understand the origins of this race.

Half a century of endurance

Western States claims the distinction of being the world’s oldest 100-mile trail race, and since no one has come along to challenge that title, we’re going to assume it’s true. To run in the Western States, therefore, is to take part in one of trail running's seminal events. In fact, this race predates the very concept of trail running, Hoka, Salomon, hydration vests, and everything that’s come to represent the sport as we know it today.

This historic race, which makes up one-fifth of the Grand Slam of Ultra Running, follows a portion of the Western States Trail (which goes from Salt Lake to Sacramento) in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. The route was originally used by native Americans for trade before the pioneers and gold rush miners used it to move between California’s gold fields and Nevada’s silver mines.

The first race along the route wasn’t a foot race; in 1955, the first Tevis Cup (officially known as The Western States Trail Ride) was held. This equestrian race required competitors to complete the route in under 24 hours to be considered finishers. According to an article in the Reno-Gazette Journal, the first time anyone attempted to run the race on foot was when a group of Fort Riley soldiers tried it in 1972. Of the 20 who started, seven finished.

In 1974, runner Gordy Ainsleigh became the first to complete the race on foot in under 24 hours, and in 1977, the first official Western States Endurance Run foot race was held concurrently with the horse race, with just 16 runners competing. Just like the horse race, runners had 24 hours to finish, and of the three who ran the entire 100 miles, only Andy Gonzalez made the official cutoff. The following year, a sub-30-hour category was added, and the foot race was moved a month earlier so as not to clash with the equestrian race.

By 1978, the race had a board of directors, aid stations, and drew 67 runners, including the first woman finisher, Pat Smythe. In 1980, a lottery system was implemented to limit numbers. Western States has now run every year for nearly 50 years, with the exception of 2008 (poor air quality due to wildfires) and 2020 (COVID).

The current record holders for WSER are Jim Walmsley, who arrived at the finish line in 14:09:28 in 2019, and Courtney Dauwalter, who punched in at 15:29:33 in 2023. Trail running legend Scott Jurek holds the men’s record for consecutive victories with seven wins between 1999 and 2005. Ann Trason has won the race 14 times and held the women’s course record of 17:37:51 (set in 1994) for 18 years, until Ellie Greenwood achieved a new fastest time in 2012.

Today, WSER is just one of hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of 100-mile races across the world, but more than any other, it allows today’s runners to feel they are connected to trail running history. Those who complete the course in under 24 hours receive a handcrafted silver buckle, while the sub-30 finishers get a bronze buckle, and since 2021, all finishers receive a Running Stone to enter the lottery for the UTMB finals.

Striking gold

One of the reasons a place in Western States has become so desirable is scarcity. Because a section of the course runs through the Granite Chief Wilderness, race organizers have agreed to a cap of just 369 runners to retain permission to continue. Not all of those places are up for grabs via lottery, however.

Each year, the top 10 men and women are invited back for the following year, bringing the number of available spots down to 349 (if every runner accepts), but there are also up to 28 spots (14 each for men and women) that are given away at select Golden Ticket races, which include the Black Canyon 100k, CCC at UTMB, Javelina Jundred, Canyons Endurance Runs 100k, Tarawera 100k and the Chianti Ultra Trail by UTMB. Basically, in these races, the first-placed man and woman receive automatic entry into the race. If they choose to pass, as Francesco Puppi did after winning the 2025 Canyons by UTMB 100k, the ticket goes to the next-placed runner.

So that brings the total number of lottery tickets down to only 321, making each space highly competitive. To enter the lottery, you have to have completed a qualifying race in the 12 months before the lottery application period. Consequently, it can take years – and by some accounts decades – to earn your spot in the race via lottery.

An elite field like no other

It’s true that many big trail races attract a lot of elites, but if it seems like Western States has an abnormally high volume of elite runners, that’s probably because it does.

Thanks to the Golden Ticket process and the invitation of previous year’s top 10 finishers, more than 10 percent of all entrants are, by definition, elite runners. This means that this particular race is especially competitive, and practically no matter who is racing, the event is always an exciting showdown.

Elite runners will often make the trek to the race even if they are not competing, and the town of Auburn is overrun with the best in the field in the days leading up to the race.

Not for the faint of heart

If you were paying attention to the course stats, you’ll have noticed that WSER entails more downhill than it does uphill, but make no mistake, that does not mean it’s an easier course than other Grand Slam races.

While it’s true that the total elevation gain of the course is significantly less than that of the UTMB or Hardrock 100 (by around 14,000ft) and it lacks the high-altitude terrain of races like Hardrock and Leadville 100, the organizers of WSER warn that the course differs from other major races substantially, and is not to be taken lightly.

The highest point on the course is reached within the first five miles, which means that right out of the gate, you’re climbing 2,550 vertical feet (777m). Meanwhile, over 18,000ft of ascent is nothing to scoff at – that’s more than climbing Mont Blanc. The variation in altitude also means that runners frequently encounter snow and temperatures over 100°F (37.7°C) in the same race.

The real challenge though is the remoteness of the course, which passes through high mountains and deep canyons that can only be reached by foot, horse or helicopter. That means that training runs on the course are more risky, and runners are warned not to attempt the river crossing as part of their training.

On the course, you’ll need to be mentally prepared for at least one night very far removed from the nearest town, and you shouldn’t expect crowds at regular intervals cheering you on like at other races. You might, however, encounter rattlesnakes, mountain lions or bears, like Jim Walmsley in 2018 (not that it slowed him down).

Finally, those downhill sections, which are an inevitable part of most races that also go up, can be up to 16 miles long with grades of over six percent, and these can be savage on your quads and knees.

How can I watch this year’s Western States?

You can follow all the action live at the Western States 100 YouTube channel with commentary and increasingly great footage and coverage.

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If you’re trekking to Everest Base Camp, it ought to be because you’re seeking a big adventure in remote terrain and a harsh environment with a good serving of physical and mental challenge thrown in. If you want comfort and luxury, you should probably go pretty much anywhere else on the planet. But that doesn’t mean that you’ll have to go for 11 days without charging your phone or seeing a proper toilet.

I spent months before my journey poring over packing lists provided by EverTrek and making sure I had all the right equipment and supplies so that I could be safe and comfortable, but when I arrived, I discovered that a whole industry has sprung up in the Khumbu region to make sure trekkers have everything they need (and want).

I don’t know that I’d have done anything differently if I’d had this knowledge in advance – I’d rather be 100% sure I have everything I need – but knowing how well-serviced the trail is might have cut down on my anxiety levels before the trek.

Whether you’re curious about the sleeping arrangements or how easy it is to send a text, all of your questions about what’s available – and what’s not – on the trek to Everest Base Camp are answered below.

Sleeping

On the trek to Base Camp, you’ll stay at the rather exotic-sounding teahouses that have sprung up throughout the Khumbu region in the decades since Lukla airport was established. These are simple lodges with basic but comfortable rooms that aren’t that far removed from the mountain huts of the Alps, only you don’t have to worry about sleeping top-to-tail with strangers.

As long as you’re trekking with a reputable company, you should have a private double room with a locking door. A surprising number of these rooms are ensuite, though as you get closer to Base Camp, you’re more likely to find shared bathroom facilities.

In my experience, the mattresses are fairly comfortable, and there’s usually a half-decent pillow and a very warm duvet. This should not be seen as a replacement for your sleeping bag, however. Teahouses are not centrally heated – there’s just a paraffin stove in the common area – and it gets cold at night.

I brought the outrageously toasty Big Agnes Torchlight Exp 0 (which I highly recommend, because it’s expandable for sleeping in different positions), and I used it plus the duvet most nights.

Peeing and pooing

Somewhere among the many kit lists I scrutinized before my trek, I read that I might want to bring a pee funnel so I could comfortably relieve myself outdoors. I dutifully packed my SheWee, and assumed that this was a sign that toilets wouldn’t be in plentiful supply. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

Assuming you’re taking the Khumbu Valley route, the trek to Base Camp is lined with lodges and cafes where you can relieve yourself in outhouses. These came along at regular enough intervals that my SheWee never left my duffel bag, and in 11 days, I think I squatted behind a bush twice.

As for the quality of the toilets, it varies from the 'surprisingly not horrifying' variety with a flushing cistern to 'slightly scary' ones that are missing a seat (or have a loose seat that threatens to dismember you with a sudden slip forward) and a bucket of water and jug next to it for inefficient flushing. They get more 'rustic' the closer you get to Base Camp, but if it helps at all, they’re all better than the atrocities you’ll find at major music festivals (we’re looking at you, Glastonbury).

Sometimes there will be a donation jar asking you to help with the maintenance and cleaning, and if you’re not buying coffee or a drink, throw 50 rupees in.

While we’re on this topic, I don’t recall seeing a single roll of toilet paper anywhere, including at the teahouses, so pack your own. Two rolls just about had me covered for 11 days, and you can restock on the trail, but we’re not talking puppy soft Andrex here, so if you’re precious, pack three – I removed the cardboard tube from the middle so they took up less space in my pack.

Finally, though you might sometimes find a dubious looking bar of well-handled soap and a water dispenser outside, it’s not guaranteed, so you’ll do well to bring a small bottle of soap like Wilderness Wash and hand sanitizer for afterwards (slather it on liberally or you might end up, like me, face to face with a 'challenging' toilet for a few hours).

WiFi

Though I had been prepped that there would be some access to WiFi, I bid my loved ones goodbye with the understanding that they might not hear much from me for the best part of two weeks.

In my pack was a Garmin InReach Mini 2 satellite communicator for emergencies that would allow me to signal for help and send messages from anywhere. Fortunately, there were no emergencies and I mainly used it to excitedly text my editor when we met Tenzing Norgay’s son at a monastery.

Despite the incredibly remote nature of the trek to Base Camp, WiFi is plentiful all the way, and just about every lodge and coffee shop will let you log on. It’s generally free to access earlier on in the trek, but once you get past Namche Bazaar, you’ll most likely find that you have to pay for an internet card when you arrive at your teahouse. In 2025, these cost 1,000 rupees ($7) and they last for 24 hours (they even work at the next teahouse, since they’re all on the same network).

I didn’t attempt anything too data-reliant, like streaming movies, but the signal was always ample for exchanging messages and even uploading reels to Instagram. We got lucky with the weather, but the internet will go down if there’s a storm, so don’t be too dependent on it.

Washing

The typical trek to Base Camp entails 11 days of walking in conditions that can be sweaty and dusty, and most of your 'showers' will come in the form of Wet Wipes. That said, I did encounter something resembling a shower in two of my rooms along the way.

The hot water systems feeding these showers rely on solar power, which means that in theory, you can get a warm shower (a trickle, usually) but in practice if it’s cloudy or outside of the afternoon then it’s most likely an icy splash, but I did give my feet a wash once or twice out of respect for my teammates.

That said, if it’s important for you to shower regularly, most lodges will sell you a hot shower, usually for around 400 rupees ($3).

Most importantly, if you are trying to get a proper wash, it’s advised that you do so from the neck down. Viruses in the water can make their way into your system via your eyes and mouth, so save the hair wash till you get back to Kathmandu.

Likewise, if you realize that two pairs of hiking socks aren’t going to get you to the end of the trip, you can have the teahouses launder your clothes, for a few hundred rupees, but be warned that anything containing merino wool may not come back the same size.

Cash

It's a good idea to bring a little spending money on the trek, as there are some lovely gifts along the way and you'll probably want the odd coffee or chocolate bar.

I flew to Nepal with cash (£400, which is roughly $550) which I exchanged into rupees at Kathmandu airport. This was more than ample for the trek, but there are cash machines available in Namche Bazaar if you run out or miscalculate.

Be warned that these can get emptied out, so you may need to try several, but you should be able to get more cash en route.

Eating and drinking

Your accommodation includes your dinner and breakfast, and hopefully the fee you’ve paid to your trekking company also covers your lunches, which will take place at teahouses along the way.

Eating on the trek to Base Camp goes something like this: at first, you’ll be amazed by the variety. In addition to Nepalese fare like Dal Bhat (all you can eat lentils, vegetable curry and rice), noodle soups and sometimes momos (steamed dumplings), there are dishes from around the world like pizza, pasta, french fries and omelettes. Sometimes you’ll even see burgers.

There are lots of vegetables available, like mustard greens, potatoes, radish and tomatoes, and these are grown in the Khumbu region. Be warned, though, that everything else has been flown to Lukla and then brought up on the back of a donkey.

For that reason, with the exception of the first couple of stops from Lukla to Namche, it’s advised you steer clear of all meat and anything claiming to have milk in it (this is usually milk powder mixed with water that hasn’t been purified). We were also advised to avoid fried food because the oil may not be changed very frequently.

By the end of the trek, that varied menu will start to look really repetitive, but the good news is that the food is surprisingly good given what the villages have available and you’ll find plenty of fresh stuff if you eat like a local.

If you need a bit more sustenance, the teahouses will always be happy to sell you a Snickers bar or a tube of Pringles with some elevation taxation thrown in for good measure. Occasionally, these will be three years out of date, but they can do a lot to boost morale.

Charging devices

I’d love to tell you that I used the trek to have a complete digital detox, but I was there to work as well as walk and between my phone, Garmin Fenix 8, Coros Pace 3 (which I use as a control while testing other watches), Kindle and camera, I had something that required juicing up every day.

Most of the bedrooms on the trek don’t have electrical sockets (they do have electricity, but only for illumination), so you have two choices: bring portable chargers or pay the lodge around 300 rupees to charge your devices. I carried three fully charged Belkin portable chargers, and that more than sufficed for the trek.

Replacement gear

Forgotten your trekking poles? Broken your headlamp? Don’t sweat it – you’ll be able to resupply on the trail.

I spent weeks triple-checking my kit list and even made an emergency detour for gaiters on my way to the airport (which I never needed), but there are loads of opportunities to buy outdoor gear.

From Lukla to Namche, you’ll find stores selling useful kit for trekkers, from basics like first aid kits and dry bags to technical gear like crampons and ice axes. There’s even an actual North Face store in Namche. You could in theory get everything you need on the trail and then you wouldn’t have to worry about that 15kg weight limit for the flight to Lukla, but of course the disadvantage is there’s no opportunity to test your gear beforehand, so save it for emergencies and know that you’ll be covered if you forget something.

While we’re on the topic, I highly recommend you stop off at the Sherpa store even if you don’t need anything. This Kathmandu-based brand uses its profits to help educate local children, and their eco-friendly gear is lovely and makes great gifts.

Personal items

Finally, though it’s smart to make sure you have all the medications you need – plus toiletries, hand sanitizer and painkillers – there are pharmacies in the main villages that can help you out in an emergency.

I stopped in and got some (unusually effective) cold medication and extra tissues on my descent, and others in my group grabbed items they’d forgotten like body wash and Vaseline.

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I love putting myself in situations that squeeze me beyond the comfortable: rappelling into a Utah slot canyon and navigating a subterranean maze, riding my bike solo for 80 miles over four Colorado high mountain passes, trekking to the world’s highest base camp over 11 days with four strangers. Strenuous adventures, especially long ones in remote areas, always provide opportunities to examine how you respond to a challenge, and usually show you just how tough you can be – plus there’s loads to learn along the way.

The trek to Nepal’s Everest Base Camp isn’t technical and doesn’t require crampons or mountaineering experience, but it can still feel daunting. There’s the elevation to contend with – at 17,598ft (5,354m) above sea level, it’s higher than nearly every mountain in the US, plus Mont Blanc, Rainbow Mountain, and many Himalayan peaks. That means that by the time you arrive, you’re getting 50 percent less oxygen with every breath than you would at sea level. And that’s enough to turn a substantial number of trekkers back before reaching Base Camp.

It also involves a long journey. We took the 11-day option, which is one of the shorter routes, and still walked for about six hours a day. You’ll sleep in teahouses, but you won’t have the same access to hot showers, clean drinking water, and charging your phone that you might back home.

Like a lot of trekkers, I had my moments of struggle, which you can read about here, but I’d consider my trek to be a success. I managed every step, never got a blister or threw a tantrum, and after 11 days only felt stronger. That's thanks in part my guides at EverTrek. The trekking company is based nearly 5,000 miles away from Everest, in Wales, and they’ve only been around since 2017, but they bring more people to Everest Base Camp each year than any other outfit.

Thanks to their expertise and the advice of our local guides on the trail, I learned loads of tips and tricks to bring this extreme adventure into reach and even make it more comfortable. Following are my main takeaways – informed by my experiences and those of my teammates – to help you trek to Everest Base Camp.

1. Train hard

“There’s just no hiding from the fact that you have to get the steps in,” said Rhys David, CEO of EverTrek, as we stood outside our teahouse in Lobuche, catching our breath.

We’d been walking for a week over rough ground and, according to my Garmin Fenix 8 watch, had already covered over 16,000ft (5,000m) of ascent. That’s more than climbing to the summit of Everest from Base Camp, and more than climbing Mont Blanc from sea level.

I’m not telling you all this to put you off; as David says, the trek is “80 percent very accessible, 20 percent very difficult,” which are quite good odds – but only if you put in some significant mileage in on foot in the months before you set off.

Even if you’re in peak condition, assume the trek will be tougher than you expect and train hard. One of my teammates, Jonathan "Fox" Davies, only recently retired from an 18-year professional rugby career. That’s nearly two decades of top-level training, never mind the fact that he’s seven years my junior and trained seriously for this trek. Compared to the rest of our group, he made it look easy, but when I asked him, he admitted it was anything but.

“Definitely hard. I’ve done steeper climbs and hikes that have taken one or two days, but the unforgiving nature of this has been tough.”

2. Get your gear right

For the first few days, we were joined by EverTrek founder Andy Moore, who first trekked to Base Camp a decade ago and has learned a few things over the years about how to do it well. I asked him which single piece of gear he recommends all aspiring trekkers think hard about, and he was unequivocal in his answer:

“Walking boots are probably the most important thing because if you mess your feet up, you’re going to struggle.”

There are a few non-negotiables when selecting hiking boots (or shoes) for this trek, such as good traction and a waterproof membrane, but beyond those criteria, what you choose to walk in is really a personal choice.

Myself and David have, independently, both opted for the new Lowa Renegade Evo GTX Mid boots for the trek. I love them because they offer a really good level of protection but still provide some trail feedback, and my feet never feel tired or sweaty in them. Elsewhere in our group, footwear runs the gamut from modern classics (Merrell Moabs and The North Face Hedgehogs) to big and bouncy (Hoka Kaha 3s) and even lightweight trail running shoes, in this case the Hoka Speedgoat 6s.

Whatever you settle on, get a lot of miles in them beforehand – I walked over 100 miles in my boots before I even boarded the plane to Kathmandu – to be totally sure they’re the right choice.

And while you’re breaking in your boots, make sure you test out your other gear too to ensure everything fits properly, is adequate and comfortable and you know how to use it.

“Use your equipment whilst you're training, you don’t want to show up and use your trekking poles for the first time on the trip,” cautions Moore.

3. Slow down and look around

When the trail is steep and the days long, it can be easy to shift into autopilot: dig in, one foot in front of the other, and get it over with. But that’s how you can miss out on some of the natural splendor.

“As you go up the valley, you don’t want to have your head down just trying to get oxygen into your lungs. You want to enjoy it,” advises Davies.

To do that, you have to slow down. Fortunately, we’re paced by Vikram, a local guide who brings up the front of the group, but if you have a choice or control over your speed, choose a low gear. This will help you to acclimate to the increasing altitude, and keep you tuned in to your surroundings.

Walk mindfully and accept every opportunity to sit down and take a water break or stop for tea or coffee at one of the villages where patios are often constructed for you to take advantage of the views. If it’s cloudy, and often it is by the afternoon, the surrounding peaks only make brief appearances, and you want to be ready for them because you never know what’s behind the next passing cloud.

4. Go with a reputable trekking company

Almost every day on our trek started the same way. We packed our duffel bags and three porters began carrying them to our next stop while we had breakfast. Our lead guide Sailesh briefed us on the day ahead while the team filtered water so we had plenty for the trail, then we started walking by 7.30am.

With Vikram up front, Sailesh brought up the rear to make sure no one got left behind. He was always communicating with the other guides and porters, answering our questions and doing whatever it took – even the occasional well-timed song and dance – to help get us up the trail with spirits intact.

It was a big team, and there’s no getting around the fact that that level of service is going to set you back a bit of cash – EverTrek is one of the pricier trekking companies – but it meant that there was always plenty of support available.

The cost of cutting a few corners and taking a more budget-friendly approach could mean you’re less comfortable (you might, for example, have to carry your own gear) but it could also be dangerous if you’re not able to communicate easily with your guide or they don’t have the resources to keep your group together. We always felt safe, and that’s a big deal in such a remote place.

“You go into these mountains and they’re dangerous places, and you want to trust that you’re going to be okay,” says Moore.

A reliable company doesn’t just help you during the time that you spend on the trail – it means you have access to better lodging and can navigate the chaos of Lukla airport at the end of your trek.

“The engine works in a particular way in Nepal, and the more contacts your guides have, the better,” says David.

And, he adds, it means we don’t have to worry about plans and logistics: “You can just focus on putting your rucksack on, getting out in the morning and walking.”

5. Follow the leader

If you’ve chosen a good trekking company, you should be furnished with great local guides – assume they know their stuff and follow their direction and example at all times.

Sailesh was a bit of a rockstar guide, with excellent English, boundless energy and extensive mountaineering experience. He could name every peak and take care of practical details too, constantly reminding us to drink more water, eat even when we weren’t hungry (a common altitude response), and steering us away from dodgy food choices (mainly meat and milk as we got further along the trail).

As the days went by, I realized how important it is to do what your guides do, and not just what they say. If our guides were wearing their waterproof jackets when we met in the morning, I pulled on my Arc’teryx Beta AR and assumed it was going to be either wet or breezy. If they had their neck gaiters pulled up over their faces, I figured the trail was extra dusty and did the same to protect my lungs from the dreaded Khumbu cough. I learned to order Dal Bhat at the teahouses, the national dish of Nepal that Sailesh explains is an excellent source of nutrition, and to step to the uphill side of the trail to let herds of yak pass so I didn’t fall.

As Moore says, no matter where you are, “Local knowledge is the best thing in the world.”

6. Revel in the downtime

There is a flip side to the physical toil of trekking to Everest Base, and that’s a tremendous amount of downtime. Most days, we arrived at our teahouse before 3pm, and from then on, the schedule was open.

At some stops along the trek, like Namche, Pheriche, and Lukla, you’ll find villages with cafes, bars and things to discover, but mostly, once you get to your teahouse, you’re looking at hours of downtime. I can’t emphasize this enough: enjoy it.

If your regular life is a whirlwind of lists, demands and obligations, 6–8 hours of downtime before bed might feel more torturous than all the walking. We’ve built our society around perpetual stimulation, so switching it off can be hard, but as far as I can tell, nothing in the evidence suggests all this busy-ness is any good for us. Short of finding a new planet to live on, this trek is the closest thing I’ve been able to find to a total nervous system reset.

“You have time to think about things and process things,” says Davies.

You’ll probably be able to access WiFi as long as the weather is good, but after sending a message to your loved ones with an update, set the phone down and enjoy the simple life. I plowed through three novels on the trek and kept a daily journal. My teammates and I spent hours playing card games, growing friendships and listening to music, and while I can’t prove it, part of me thinks this was better for us than the actual hiking.

7. Build in time at the end and treat yourself

Though you might be able to grab a freezing cold (or scalding hot) splash along the trek, most of your bathing will be done using wet wipes, and you’ll definitely feel pretty grimey at the end. I can’t imagine anything worse than flying back to Kathmandu and checking into a backpacker’s hostel, or worse, hopping directly on the long flight home.

We built in a few days in Kathmandu at the end of our trip, and even though we were keen to get home and see our loved ones, it was the best way to come down from the incredible high of the trek. We booked into a five-star hotel and I’ll think about that first long, hot shower fondly for a long time, never mind the new appreciation for the luxuries of air conditioning, buffet dinners, and a full-service spa.

Does it add a little extra expense and vacation leave to an already pricey and extended trip? Sure, but at this point, you’ve been well-squeezed from your challenging experience. It’s time to enjoy the juice.

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Millions of people worldwide rely on their Garmin sports watch to track their fitness and help them progress on the trails. Since its founding in 1989, the American brand has sold over 280 million products and developed a stellar reputation for crafting high-performance GPS watches.

Along with their insightful health monitors, accurate GPS tracking, and sleek design, Garmin watches are well-known for their durability. Everything from premium models like the Fenix 8 to budget options like the Forerunner 55 can last for years with the right care and attention.

So, how do you properly care for a Garmin watch? After heavy use, these super-smart wearables can become dirty, scratched, and damaged on the inside and out, so it's important to know how to properly clean and look after your device without causing any additional damage.

Read on for our guide on how to care for and maintain your Garmin sports watch.

When to clean your Garmin watch

The best Garmin watches are built for constant use in tough environments, so whether you're racing through sandy desert trails or negotiating rocky mountain pathways, your device is bound to get dirty.

Your watch strap can also take on sweat and may begin to smell after a little while.

To keep your watch clean and odor-free, Garmin advises that you perform a short rinse and dry wash after every exposure to sweat, debris, and dirt.

How to clean your Garmin watch

You can clean your Garmin's watch face and body in just a few simple steps.

First, use water to rinse your watch or wipe it with a damp, lint-free cloth. Then use a soft-bristled toothbrush to remove dirt and debris from the charging points on your device. Make sure to scrub gently and keep the toothbrush away from holes in your device, like in the speakers and microphone.

Avoid using sharp or dirty objects and don't prod any openings.

If it's really dirty, Garmin recommends using a 70% isopropyl alcohol wipe to gently remove dirt. You can also use disinfectant wipes, but must rinse the watch under water after washing, to avoid skin irritation.

Metal bands are similarly easy to clean using a damp, lint-free cloth. Make sure the cloth is clean before application.

Leather or suede bands may need a little more regular TLC. These bands are designed for casual wear rather than repeated sporting activity, and will deteriorate faster if used on the trails.

They can also be cleaned using a damp, lint-free cloth. Make sure to avoid leather cleaners and polishes as they can discolor your strap.

Whether you've got a metal, leather, or suede watch strap, it's important to wait for it to dry before you put it on again

Substances to avoid

There are several substances that can damage your Garmin device. Here is the full list Garmin recommends you steer clear of.

• Moisturising cream
• Hair dye
• Insect spray
• Perfume
• SanitiserSoap
• Solvent
• Detergent
• Sunscreen
• Oil

Keep your Garmin running smoothly

You can make sure the tech inside your Garmin watch is in tip-top condition and keep your device up to date using the Garmin Connect app or Garmin Express website.

Software updates will download automatically with the Connect app. You can check for more and download them manually on the Garmin Express website.

If you encounter a serious issue, like failing GPS, you can reset your Garmin by following our expert guide.

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Here at Advnture, we're all about getting you outdoors in the gear you need to be safe and comfortable, and sometimes that means an extra boost like the one you'll get from the new Hypershell X. The Hypershell X is the world's first exoskeleton designed for outdoor adventuring. Whether your fresh air pursuits take you out hiking, trail running, or ski touring, the Hypershell X helps you move further, stronger, and smarter using technology that blends seamlessly into the way you move.

While I love hitting the trail unencumbered by tech or equipment from time to time, I tested this exoskeleton on the UK's highest mountain and found some powerful reasons to use an exoskeleton on your next adventure. This AI-powered wearable exoskeleton is surprisingly lightweight and comfortable, enhancing the movement of your legs and reducing effort as you walk, climb or run.

Of course, there's no replacement for fitness when it comes to hitting the trail, and tools like trekking poles might be useful to aid balance or reduce your Rate of Perceived Exertion, but only the Hypershell X adapts to your movements whether you're going uphill or downhill to provide support where you need it most.

Weighing as little as 4lb (1.81kg) and with a battery range of up to 10.8 miles (17.5km) per charge, the Hypershell X isn't just for outdoor explorers – it can reduce fatigue in anyone who walks a lot, whether you're a photographer, landscaper or just have a long daily commute that you want to do on foot.

No matter whether you're an athlete recovering from injury or just wanting to go further without feeling tired, the industry-leading Hypershell X will get you where you want to go, with less effort.

1. Go further, feel stronger

Hiking and other outdoor adventures are about the journey, not the destination, but let's face it, it can be dispiriting to have to turn back before reaching that coveted summit or waterfall, or to not be able to keep up with your friends on the trail.

With an 800-watt peak output (equivalent to 1 horsepower), you'll instantly notice the boost to your power whether you're on the flat or a steep gradient. The Hypershell X gives you 40% more leg strength with every step you take, which means you can see places you might not otherwise be able to reach. It also helps you move faster, if that's your goal – I was able to trim two hours off my usual time for an ascent of Ben Nevis thanks to the Hypershell.

Just charge the battery pack using a USB-C charger (full charge takes 88 min with 65 W PD fast charging), tighten the exoskeleton around your waist and thighs using the adjustable straps and chose from up to 10 Adaptive Activity Modes (Down Stairs, Downhill, Uphill, Up Stairs, Mountain, Cycling, Running, Gravel, Race Walking, Walking).

You can easily control the exoskeleton either using the control button or the optional app on your phone, but however you operate it, you'll instantly feel the assistance and find yourself able to walk with more power and less effort.

2. Beat fatigue

Playing outdoors is hard work, and getting tired quickly doesn't just diminish your enjoyment – it can mean you make silly mistakes on the trail, which can lead to injury, or worse. Even if you make it back to the trailhead in one piece, being sore and tired for days afterwards is no fun and can make it difficult to go about your daily life for a few days.

Even with a 10.5 mile (17km) hike where I gained over 4,400ft (1,352m) in elevation, I didn't experience any fatigue with the Hypershell X, and my legs felt fresh the next day.

The Hypershell X lets you accomplish the same distances as you usually would, or more, while cutting down on physical exertion by a massive 30%. That means you'll be less tired during and after your adventure, which lets you get back out on the trail sooner for more fun.

3. Feel lighter

When you've already got a backpack full of gear to contend with, the thought of adding more weight to your kit might seem like the last thing you want, but the Hypershell X doesn't feel like a burden on the trail.

Both the Hypershell Go X and Pro X weigh just 4.4lb (2kg), while the Hypershell Carbon X is even lighter at 3.9lb (1.8kg), which is equivalent to adding a hardback book to your pack. Each battery weighs just 14oz (400g), so you can afford to carry a spare or two. But that structural weight doesn't tell the whole story.

The Hypershell X actually offsets your load by 66lb (30kg), so instead of weighing you down, you'll feel lighter. That means you can afford to pack that extra layer, liter of water or snacks that you might sometimes forgo because you don't want to carry them.

I found that my hiking backpack sat comfortably on top of the Hypershell to take the weight off my shoulders and waist, and it's also foldable for easy transport when you're traveling to and from the trailhead.

4. Intelligent assist

The Hypershell X is more than just horsepower. This exoskeleton uses AI to adapt in real time to your body's movement. The AI MotionEngine gathers information from over a dozen sensors integrated into the exoskeleton, such as gyroscopes, accelerometers and a barometer to predict your next step, and modify how much power assist the motors give.

The more you wear it, the better it gets at adapting to your unique stride, so over time it feels like an extension of your legs and grows smooth and natural to wear.

Key features of the Hypershell X

• Durable: with a service life of 1,864 miles (3,000km) for the Go X and Pro X, and 2,485 miles (4,000km) for the Hypershell Carbon X, you and your exoskeleton will be able to cover a lot of ground together
• IP54 dust and water resistant: your Hypershell is up to the demands of desert trails and rainy days.
• Battery range: up to 10.5 miles (17.5km) per charge means you can hike for hours, or go for several day hikes without charging in between.
• Battery charging time: 0-50% in 35 min; 0-100% in 88 min with 65 W PD fast charging.
• Operating Temperature: -4° to 140° F (-20­° to 60­°C)

Find out more about Hypershell X exoskeletons at www.hypershell.tech

After releasing its first Forerunner smartwatch in 2003, American brand Garmin has earned a stellar reputation for producing super-smart fitness wearables to track your fitness and help you up your game on the trails.

The best Garmin watches combine a tough and durable exterior with reliable GPS tracking and plenty of handy sports and fitness features.

Great Garmin devices are available at multiple price points. The latest and greatest models, like the Fenix 8 and Forerunner 955, offer hundreds of high-tech features but will make a noticeable dent in your wallet. Budget options like the Forerunner 55 can still track your health and position in the wilderness, but come without the expensive bells and whistles of their top-end counterparts.

Whatever you're wearing, you can probably use Garmin Pay, a handy smartwatch feature used to make contactless payments. Instead of reaching for a wallet or smartphone, you can simply pay with your Garmin watch.

While you're unlikely to get much use out of it on the trails, Garmin Pay, which is available on most modern models, can come in handy when paying for that post-run coffee or slice of cake.

So, what is Garmin Pay? And how can you access it? Read on for our expert guide to this handy payment feature.

What is Garmin Pay?

Garmin Pay is a contactless payment system used to make purchases without the need for a credit card or cash. It works like a digital wallet and stores your credit and debit cards.

Once set up, you can make payments by simply tapping your device against a card machine or other payment terminal.

How to download Garmin Pay

Most modern Garmin watches and multiple major banks are now compatible with Garmin Pay.

Want to try it out for yourself? You can get started by following a few simple steps, which are as follows:

• Download and open the Garmin Connect app on your smartphone.
• Log in or create a Garmin account.
• If you've just created an account, sync your smartphone with your Garmin watch by following the on-screen prompts.
• Select 'More' on your Garmin watch to access the Menu.
• Select 'Garmin Pay'.
• Select 'Get Started'.
• Select the watch you want to use with Garmin Pay.

• Create a four-number password you'll use to access Garmin Pay.
• Select the card you want to use.
• Read the first set of terms and conditions and select 'Continue'.
• Enter your card details and select 'Next'.
• Fill out your address information and select 'Next'.
• Read the second set of terms and conditions and select 'Continue'.
• Your bank may require you to confirm you're selection with a phone call or text. Follow the on-screen prompts to do so.

You can add more cards by repeating the above steps.

If you want to get rid of an old card, select it in the Garmin Pay section and press 'Delete'.

How to use Garmin Pay

With Garmin Pay downloaded, you can access it and start making transactions with just a few simple steps.

• Press and hold the light button.
• Select the wallet icon.
• Enter the passcode you created when downloading Garmin Pay.
• Hold your watch near a card reader to pay for purchases.

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If, like us at Advnture.com, you really want to live the outdoors, this rugged new portable power station from Jackery is the solution. Whether you're setting up a coastal base camp with family and friends, or RV-ing into the wilderness on your own, the Explorer 3000 v2 is the most powerful portable unit yet, allowing you to live self-sufficiently for longer.

While we love getting off-grid and unplugging from the buzz of modern life, there are great reasons to bring a power source on your travels. Cooking hot food and chilling perishables keeps you and your loved ones fuelled and healthy. Electrical accessories, such as head torches and GPS units, put you on course on your backcountry missions, while Kindles, radios and cameras lift spirits.

Phones are great safety backups, acting as navigation aids, flashlights, clocks and links to emergency services. And it's always nice to take comfort in calls with family.

The Jackery Explorer 3000 v2 can aid with all of the above, powering appliances and charging devices to help keep you safe, comfy and connected.

More power, improved performance

If you're serious about your overlanding odysseys, the Jackery Explorer 3000 v2's durable housing and proven lithium battery tech gives you maximum freedom. It offers industry-leading performance with maximum capacity, output and efficiency in the most lightweight unit possible.

With a huge 3072Wh capacity and 3600W output (that's 20% more than the previous generation) you can run high-demand home appliances, including microwaves and refrigerators, and outdoor essentials, such as showers and stoves.

There are eight output ports (AC, USB-C, USB-A and car port) for you to power multiple devices at the same time. The longlife battery lasts 10 years, and it doesn't matter if you want to keep it for occasional use or emergencies – the unit keeps 95% charge after 365 days, so it won't let you down.

Plus, you can generate up to 3,500kWh of clean energy over 5 years with two Jackery SolarSaga 200W panels.

When it comes to charging, there are fast and flexible options: wall charge in just 1.8 hours or use hybrid charging (AC and Solar/DC) to fully charge in 1.7 hours. Solar charge in as fast as 3.5 hours, or charge through your car in 36 hours.

Designed with exploration in mind

The Jackery Explorer 3000 v2 is built without the bulk, and while you're not going to lug it by hand up a mountain, the lightweight and compact design is built for sliding into your vehicle without taking up too much space.

It's 47% smaller and 43% lighter than the industry standard. The CTB (cell-to-body) tech features a honeycomb cell structure instead of previous bulky clamp systems to save space and increase durability. It has improved shock resistance and stability – ideal for rugged outdoor and off-road conditions.

The portable carry handles make it easy to manoeuver at camp.

Brains as well as brawn

As well as having a rugged build, this powerful camping partner comes with all the smart controls you'd expect from a modern-day piece of kit.

Connect to it via wifi or Bluetooth to control settings and monitor in real-time the battery level, input and output power, estimated remaining runtime, as well as solar power and carbon emission-reduction stats. Use the smart settings to switch the unit to battery-saving or quiet-charging mode, or even self-consumption mode to maximise free solar power. At home you can schedule charging to coincide with off-peak electricity rates.

Reliable and long lasting

The Jackery Explorer 3000 v2 is built to deliver dependable power anytime and anywhere. You can use it safely knowing the Jackery exclusive ChargeShield 2.0™ technology offers cutting-edge hardware and software protection.

There are dedicated safety mechanisms built in and the system continuously monitors for abnormal conditions, including overtemperature, overcharge or overcurrent. It takes preemptive action if necessary.

Key features of the Jackery Explorer 3000 v2

• 3600W output (7200W surge)
• 3072Wh capacity
• Fully charged in as fast as 1.7 hours
• 3 × AC outlets, 2 × USB-C (100W Max PD), 2 × USB-A, 1 × Car port.
• Versatile recharging methods – AC, solar, car, AC+DC hybrid
• 95% power retention after 365 days
• 3+2 years warranty

Find out more about Jackery portable power stations at uk.jackery.com.

Afternoon clouds hang low by the time we reach Tengboche monastery, bringing a welcome drop in temperature after the long climb up above 12,600ft. We pause at the ornate gates and, after warding off an overly interested yak with our trekking poles, our leader Sailesh asks another guide to snap a group picture for us. He obliges, then we pull off our hiking boots and hurry into the shelter of the hushed temple as the first drops of rain fall.

Inside, Sailesh turns to me and says, “That man who took our photograph? That was Tenzing Norgay’s son.”

Our encounter takes places five days before the 72nd anniversary of Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary’s first ascent of Mount Everest. In 1953, the pair launched their successful summit push from Nepal’s Base Camp, and in the decades since, over 7,000 climbers have climbed to the top of the world’s highest peak, including Norgay’s son, Jamling, twice. But today, he’s doing the same thing as me – heading to the bottom of the mountain.

You don’t need to be a superhero to do this

A few months ago, an email arrived in my inbox inviting me to join the roughly 40,000 people each year who make the iconic pilgrimage to Everest Base Camp. It came from a Welsh company named Evertrek, founded in 2017 by Andy Moore, who started it after his own memorable first journey to the iconic mountaineering destination.

“I realized you don’t need to be a superhero to do this trek, and I knew I wanted to help other people achieve it,” he tells me as we sit at a picnic table in the sunshine in Namche Bazaar on the third day of our adventure, multicolored prayer flags fluttering overhead and local children playing among construction machinery that’s the only real clue of the damage caused by the devastating 2015 earthquake.

By 2023, Evertrek was bringing more people to Base Camp than any other company. It has gained a reputation for partnering with expert local guides and has a commitment to sustainability and safety, so I decided I’d be in good hands.

Four months later, I touch down in bustling Kathmandu and meet my teammates for the first time. Our captain is Rhys David, CEO of Evertrek, and we’re joined by former firefighter Royston O’Reilly, Gary Hutchings, who only weeks before had rowed solo across the Atlantic in 56 days, and Jonathon “Fox” Davies, a recently retired Welsh rugby star. They're not all lifelong trekkers, but they're no stranger to doing hard things.

The following morning at 6am, we’re hustled onto a 20-seater Summit Air prop plane which takes off with a roar 10 minutes later, banking steeply over the green mountains dotted with the blue roofs of increasingly remote villages.

Just thirty minutes later, we appear to be flying disconcertingly into the side of a mountain, but at the last minute, we’re saved by the sudden appearance of an impossibly short uphill runway. Lukla airport has gained notoriety as the most dangerous in the world thanks to its inclusion in a History Channel show called Most Extreme Airports, but having survived it twice now, I’d call it the world’s most exciting.

A routine trek that's anything but

After an hour spent nervously applauding blood-curdling aviation maneuvers from a hotel perched on the diminutive runway, we pass the golden statues of Hillary and Norgay, and start down the trail. In Lukla, we spin the first of many ubiquitous Buddhist prayer wheels that we’ll encounter on the trek before passing through the Pasang Lhamu Gate, a tribute to the first Nepalese woman to summit Everest. Our adventure has begun.

I’ve spent the months leading up to the trek engaged in fairly serious preparation, racking up around 300 miles in the mountains which has got me in prime hiking condition, and allowed me to be certain my Lowa Renegade EVO boots are the right choice for the task ahead. But quickly, I realize that the trek to Base Camp is a bit like undergoing a routine surgery. Just because people do it all the time doesn’t mean it’s easy.

It’s not that the conditions are particularly challenging. We're lucky with the weather. Despite rainfall all around Nepal for the duration of our trek, my Rab Firewall waterproof pants, carefully selected for their light weight, never leave the bottom of my pack.

From the lush emerald terrain of the lower elevations to the stark glacial landscape at the end, the path is largely well-maintained, even if we frequently have to leap off it to allow a herd of yaks to pass. It’s amazingly well-serviced too, with lodges, restaurants, shops selling useful trekking gear, and public toilets everywhere. So much for that SheWee I packed.

Vibrant Namche is the bustling heart of the Khumbu region, and here you can order a flat white or a wood-fired pizza (we do), have a massage (also yes), and watch mountaineering DVDs at the Liquid Room (unwisely, we choose Everest, 2015). The beds in the teahouses are generally comfortable, with proper pillows and fluffy duvets to supplement the warmth of my Big Agnes sleeping bagin the absence of central heating.

As we ascend, the accommodations grow more rustic and the toilets tend to be of the non-seated, non-flushing and slightly scary variety, but overall, the whole experience is far more comfortable than I’d have predicted.

If you’re an experienced hiker – and you really should be to undertake this trek – it’s not the distance that makes things tough, though there’s often a deceptive amount of climbing with multiple ascents and descents in a single leg. The 40-mile approach takes eight days, including two acclimatization days. We spend about six hours a day on the trail, including stops for tea and lunch. Many trekkers opt for a helicopter ride out, and choppers buzz incessantly back and forth overhead, but after we reach Base Camp, we walk back to Lukla over three days.

My training pays off, and my legs feel fresh every day, but on the sixth morning, I wake up at 2am with the sinking knowledge that I’m going to spend the next few hours violently throwing up. Even with constant hand sanitizing and brushing my teeth with filtered water, bugs are easy to pick up in this environment. Within 24 hours, it’s passed, but it means the only way I’m getting to Base Camp is on electrolytes and sheer willpower.

Nepal is not for beginners

For most, including us, the primary foe on the trek to Base Camp is elevation. The trek begins 9,383ft (2,860m) above sea level, so day one is a bit like dropping into one of Colorado’s highest ski resorts from sea level – high enough to elicit some symptoms in those who are sensitive. Everyone in our group ends up taking Diamox, a medication commonly used here to help offset the effects of altitude sickness, for at least part of the trek.

The day before we reach Base Camp, we take one last acclimatization hike from Leboche. I’m still weak from throwing up, so one of our guides carries my backpack. It helps, but my heart is pounding violently as we reach the ridgeline and catch our first glimpse of the extraordinary Khumbu glacier. He offers me my water bottle and as I take it, I look down and see that he’s nonchalantly done the entire climb in flip-flops.

“Nepal is not for beginners,” he grins. This, I think, sums it up.

The power of the mountain

If you’re one of the unlucky ones who succumb to altitude sickness, your only option is to turn back, and when we reach Dingboche at 14,470ft (4,410m), we meet a fellow trekker who is doing just that, devastated after planning the trip for many months. Moore says the rates of clients not making it to Base Camp are low – only around five percent – but it’s a very real possibility for anyone who attempts the journey.

“This is the power of the mountain,” Sailesh tells us over and over, like he’s reciting a mantra, urging us to walk slower, drink more, and eat plenty despite the loss of appetite that comes at these heights.

The mountain, it seems, is on our side, and on day eight, our entire EverTrek team crunches across the glacier to Base Camp as waterfalls below us reveal the immense depth of the ice. It’s the end of May and we find the majority of summit teams have packed up, having either successfully stood on the highest point on the planet or given up trying. Still, a smattering of bright yellow tents remain defiant against the unforgiving landscape of rock and ice that makes us feel we must have taken a wrong turn and reached the moon.

During peak climbing season, hundreds of tents are pitched improbably here on the west side of the highest glacier in the world. It’s impossible to ignore the distant cracking and whumphing of an avalanche as we stagger up to a large boulder where the words “Everest Base Camp” spray-painted in red have since last season been changed to “Chomolungma Base Camp” – the Tibetan name for the peak.

For a day or two now, I’ve been plagued by the same worsening headache as my teammates and, as it turns out, even our seasoned Nepalese guides. The best way I can describe it is akin to the worst hangover you’ve ever had, where each beat of your heart echoes painfully in your skull, making it hard to even turn your head.

The air is so thin here at 17,598ft (5,354m) that the night before, I was unable to perform even gentle yoga stretches without running out of breath. But in the end, elation overrides elevation and we clamber up onto the boulder for a group shot, knowing that all that lies ahead of us now is descent, more oxygen, and better sleep.

An alpine start

If someone had warned me I’d feel even worse the following morning, climbing Kala Patthar, I might have stayed in bed, but a sense of adventure gets the better of me. Myself and Davies meet our guides outside the teahouse at 3:20am. It’s pitch dark, cold enough that our breath billows out in huge clouds, and overhead a billion stars pierce the velvety sky, clear for the only night of our trek.

The climb isn’t far – just over a mile – but it’s straight up, taking us even higher than Base Camp. Davies goes ahead as I struggle to the ridgeline but when I turn around and see the snowy summits of Everest, Lhotse and Ama Dablam catch fire with the first light of dawn, I forget about the pain and plop down on a frosty rock nearly overcome with the spectacle.

It’s pain, but it’s such sweet pain

That is the very crux of the trek to Everest Base Camp. It’s powerful precisely because it’s challenging, and every step seems to cement the knowledge that if it weren’t hard, we might not bother. Nepal’s very own Buddha taught that our attachment to pleasure and avoidance of pain is the source of all suffering. If we can embrace both suffering and joy without preference, he says, we’ll be free. Or as one fellow trekker put it as he limped into the teahouse after the gruelling second day, “It’s pain, but it’s such sweet pain!”

Around every corner is hidden magic – a Buddhist temple, a fluffy yak calf, a tumbling waterfall. Every afternoon, when we arrive at our lodge and flop down to hot tea and cookies, a persistent low low-hanging cloud obscures any hope of a view. But in the morning, we awaken to newly revealed delights – Themserku, Ama Dablam, Pumori, Lhotse, Makalu, Everest – suddenly impatient to be admired and glinting in the sunlight.

I mention this to my teammate Davies, who has a theory that I think perfectly sums up the way these peaks make you feel:

“I like to think it’s the mountain saying, ‘you’ve reached the goal for the day, so I’m going to hold the view. I don’t want to spoil tomorrow for you.”

Planning your own trek to Everest Base Camp?

Still to come are more features with my best takeaways and tips for your trek to Everest Base Camp, but if you're packing now, check out my kit list for all the best gear.

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Climbing has a well-earned reputation for community. Whether you're sending a tricky boulder problem or taking on a towering peak, climbers often talk of the connections they make along the way and the friends they find in the wilderness.

Accessible sport organization Anyone Can aims to take that inclusive spirit one step further by helping people living with disabilities achieve their climbing dreams, whether they're indoors or exploring their first mountains.

What is Anyone Can?

Anyone Can, which was started in 2019, runs indoor and outdoor accessible climbing sessions across the United Kingdom. Founders Chris and Vicky Binks use specialized equipment, often of their own invention, to help eager climbers achieve feats they may have once thought impossible.

How does it work?

To find out more, I caught up with Chris at Keswick Mountain Festival in the Lake District, where Anyone Can ran accessible climbing and canoeing sessions for adventurers living with disabilities.

"We’ve borrowed a climbing wall so we can run an accessible climbing session for whoever wants to come along and try climbing, that might have adaptive needs, or is living with disabilities or an impairment," explains Chris, at the foot of a large climbing wall with accessible equipment fixed to it.

Next to him is an adaptive climbing seat, designed for wheelchair users and other climbers with limited lower body function.

“We’ve got a supportive rig up so we can reduce a person's relative weight, we can make a person weigh half of what they weigh, so they can climb at whatever power they’re able to muster."

I don't live with a disability, but during a quiet moment, Chris kindly let me try the seat for myself to see how it works. I was strapped in, and several safety checks later, began scaling the wall.

The seat uses a pulley system to provide extra power and help climbers get to the top with less strength than would otherwise be required.

“We can get anybody to the top because we can take all the power out of it, and they can ride to the top, or they can moderate so they’re doing as much climbing as they want," says Chris.

With his help, I was able to climb easily and comfortably, without the use of my legs.

Along with the adaptive seat, Anyone Can has loads of equipment to help people living with disabilities hit the wall. Visually impaired climbers, for example, can wear an earpiece to receive instructions about their climbing route and upcoming holds.

There's also support for autistic climbers and those with additional sensory or cognitive needs.

Outdoor adventures

The help on offer at Anyone Can isn't just limited to climbing walls. Chris and Vicky run outdoor climbing, caving, sailing, and canoeing expeditions across the UK and abroad.

“We run days where you can try out something and see if it's for you, and weekends where you can do it for a bit longer, and check that works, and whatever the accommodation is that works for you," explains Chris.

“And then we try for week-long adventures. Where people can progress and embrace the sport, and become heavily involved in it.

"We run climbing trips to Spain most years. So we’ve got an extended thing where you can really go out and take part in that sport like anybody else would.”

Anybody Can hopes to create an inclusive sporting community where everyone feels welcome, and anybody can achieve their climbing goals.

"For us, it's about trying to get people to use whatever abilities they have and climb," concludes Chris.

Eager to try it out for yourself? Check out the Anybody Can website for a full list of upcoming taster days and longer adventures. Single day excursions typically cost around £100 per person or £330 for a group of five, while weekend trips, including accommodation are usually about £200 per person or £600 for a group of five.

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I have a dog who loves to run. I mean, really loves to run. He doesn’t need a ball to chase, a frisbee to catch or a fox to pursue, he runs purely for the fun of it. And we’re not talking about gentle ambling here – we’re talking Usain Bolt levels of speed.

Show Finley – a greyhound-cockerspaniel cross – an Olympic 100m sprint final and I reckon he'd show Bolt a clean pair of heels on the way to smashing his world record in half. This little chap flies – and he does it all with pure joy etched all over his soppy little face.

His running prowess isn't confined to sprint distances, either. Finley has a tracker that allows us not only to follow his movements when he’s off the lead, galloping with abandon through the Great British countryside, but also to record the mileage he accumulates while doing so.

A few weeks ago I went on a 10-mile fell run with Finley. Well, I did 10 miles… During the two hours or so that this run took me, Finley had casually knocked out a 31 mile (50km) ultra marathon. Yes, my dog is either completely bonkers or a physiological freak of nature.

This got me thinking. Other than keeping us entertained with his unbridled zeal and predilection for a damn good snuggle on the couch, Finley’s character could be employed for a greater good – namely to make me the fastest runner in Berkshire. Yes, I would quite literally harness his power and use Finley as my own personal locomotive.

I am of course talking about canicross, a relatively new athletic endeavor in which dog and owner run together with a view to the canine in question giving his human a helpful tow.

Here’s what I learned when Finley and I embarked on this new adventure...

Equipment

I researched the equipment and canicross basics. Finley is quite a small dog so a snug well-fitting harness was required. There are a huge amount of these products to wade through but we eventually found a good robust item that wouldn’t cause any chafing while he was powering us along on our (hopefully) record-setting runs.

Next on the list was a stretchy bungee lead. In order to mitigate the chances of Finley and I herniating a disc, a good medium-sized lead – some 12ft (2m) under tension – is a really important piece of canicross equipment. It also allows your dog a slightly greater sense of freedom, with a bungee lead somewhat less restrictive than a standard one.

The last piece of kit on the list was a waist belt for myself. Again, there are a heap of options to choose from and the more you spend the better the longevity is likely to be and the more features you get. I’ll admit to scrimping slightly here – a Three Peaks belt with a secured zip pocket is big enough for my phone and keys, while an open pocket accommodates a handful of treats and the inevitable poop bags.

Getting started

The internet is awash with canicrossing social groups. It was amazing to find so many runners who had not only taken up running with their dogs, but had also gone as far as to enter organised races. While canicross exclusive events are still fairly scarce, there’s a big number of running races that will allow canicrossers to take part too. It’s also very common to see dogs at parkruns, although there’s often a stipulation that prevents owners from using belts and bungee leads.

Before joining any sanctioned events, though, I decided it wise to give my equipment – and my dog – a test ride. Finley was super keen to get into his new harness. In fact Finley is super keen to do anything – and the prospect of ‘walkies’ combined with a shiny new harness set his tail off on such as frenzied bout of wagging that he pretty much levitated out of the door.

I was equally excited. Finley’s energy would be the start of a new and improved me – we’d reach the dizzy heights of five minute miles. Today would be the day that I (well, we) would find out what it was like to run a sub-20 minute 5km. Hell, we might even beat the canicross 5km world record which before our run is believed to stand at 12 minutes 24 seconds (spoiler: it still does).

Where to run

Trails in the UK haven’t been at their best lately. Bridleways have been bashed up by horses and mountain bikes; footpaths have been damaged by a thousand wellington boots. We wouldn’t be staying upright on these, let alone breaking world records, so I drove us to an old quarry site with tracks comprising hardpacked gravel. This would be the perfect proving ground for me and my pet.

With the harness now clicked into place, the lead carabiners secured and the waist belt firmly strapped on, I braced myself: “Finley,” I said. “I feel the need. The need for speed.”

The quest for speed

I’d like to have said at this point we zoomed off into the horizon at breathtaking speeds. But this did not happen. We just stood there staring expectantly at one another.

I started to jog. Finley followed beside me at heel. This was literally the first time he’s ever trotted loyally by my side. Was there a power switch on the harness I hadn’t read about in the instructions? His lack of urgency and our lack of speed continued as we negotiated the network of gravel tracks two abreast. It was all rather disappointing. I’d gone from Mo Farah to Moe from The Simpsons in less than 60 seconds.

It was time to seek assistance and advice from someone with a little more experience in the sport. Brian Slack, who set up the North Downs Canicrossers, has been running with his dalmatian and German short-haired pointer for eight years and was happy to tell me why we hadn’t got off to the flying start I’d envisioned.

“I would say most dogs won't run with individuals, but as soon as they get into a pack they have that pack mentality and will become quite competitive,” Brian explained.

“They don't want to be left behind. And you'll find that with a lot of dogs that come out they tend to be a lot more focussed on the running when there's a group of dogs.”

This, then, made absolute sense. Finley had no incentive to run with his human. He either wants to be gallivanting around the woods seeking out smells or running in a pack with at least one other dog.

I fetched Luna, our eight-year-old labrador-lurcher cross and headed out for round two. Would the presence of Finley’s sister elicit a more dynamic outing?

I didn’t have to wait long for an answer. No sooner had we stepped out of the car door than Finley took off at breakneck speed – he simply wanted to run. Luna and I were now passengers on the Finley Express – a tumult of dust and rubble in our wake.

But regardless of the speed at which you travel, there’s little that can compare with a few hours on the trails with one’s hound. Dogs are great companions, they love being outside, and more than anything they love being with you.

As canicrosser Peter Graham says: “Canicross is more than just running with your dog – it’s a shared adventure that strengthens your bond, fuels your fitness, and brings pure joy to both dogs and people. All you need is a harness, a trail and a spirit for fun. Lace up, leash up, and let the journey begin!”

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The name of Walter Bonatti first came to my attention when hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc, a 103 mile (165km) loop of the Mont Blanc massif that’s also the route of the famous UTMB. On a picturesque hillside, to the southeast of the mighty Grandes Jorasses, we found our lodgings for the night - Rifugio Bonatti, an endlessly charming alpine hut. It was easily my favorite hut we stayed at, perhaps because of its stunning location but possibly for the wealth of interesting images from mountaineering history on its wall.

If I’m honest, I don’t remember if I found out that much about Bonatti at that point. But in the years that followed I started devouring mountain literature at a fevered pace and stumbled across The Mountains of My Life, a collection of Bonatti’s writings, translated into English by Robert Marshall. The book revealed a remarkable career in the mountains, one that’s virtually peerless. He is, simply, one of the greatest mountaineers the Earth has ever seen.

From his heroic role in the first ascent of K2 to his staggering solo efforts in the Alps and the first ascent of Gasherbrum IV, Bonatti continually raised the bar, showing the world what was possible in the high mountains. His legacy, in mountaineering terms, is unsurpassed. It’s no wonder that he was the first ever recipient of the Piolet d’Or Lifetime Achievement Award, pretty much the highest accolade in mountaineering circles. Not only this, the award was henceforth named in his honor.

Here, I’ll attempt to do Bonatti justice in short-form, revealing the ascents that etched his name into mountaineering folklore and elevated his status into the upper echelons of the alpinist elite.

A prodigious talent

Bonatti was born in 1930, in Bergamo, a small city near Milan in the shadow of the Italian Prealps. A talented gymnast in his youth, at 18 he started using his physical prowess to climb on Grigna, a rocky mountain above Lake Como. He’d moved to Monza for work and fell in with colleagues who rock climbed in their spare time.

He forged a strong climbing partnership with co-worker Andrea Oggioni and it wouldn’t be long before the pair were measuring themselves against the toughest recorded climbs in the Alps on routes like the Cassin Route on the Walker Spur of the Grandes Jorasses.

Alongside Luciano Ghgo, he climbed the vertical East Face of the Grand Capucin, a staggering obelisk on the Mont Blanc massif. His star was shining bright, so when Italian mountaineering stalwart Ardito Desio began forming a team to take on the first ascent of the world’s second highest mountain, Bonatti would be an obvious choice.

The first ascent of K2

Bonatti’s high-altitude career began with a climb that would become a controversial epic and drastically alter the course of his life, as well as his standing among Italian mountaineers. Aged 24, Bonatti was one of the strongest climbers on the Italian 1954 exepdition to K2 and he was eager to be on the first ascent team.

Before the final summit push, his role was to deliver oxygen cylinders to Lino Lacedelli and Achile Compagnoni at Camp IX, the highest camp at around 26,574ft (8,100m), which he did. However, according to Bonatti, Lacedelli and Compagnoni purposefully moved the camp higher up. Bonatti’s Hunza companion Amir Mehdi was struggling by this stage, thus giving Bonatti no chance of joining them for the summit.

Bonatti and Mehdi were forced into an unplanned bivouac, without even a sleeping bag, high up in the Death Zone. Both survived, though Mahdi lost his toes. After they’d begun their descent, Lacedelli and Compagnoni returned to collect the oxygen and then completed their summit push. Compagnoni, who ran out of oxygen later in the day, even accused Bonatti of using some of it up. Bonatti’s version of events was largely ignored by the climbing community and he was ostracized by some.

Many believe Bonatti would have had the skill and determination to achieve the summit without oxygen and that Lacadelli and Compagnoni's actions were designed to stop the talented young alpinist from outdoing their own achievement. The whole affair affected him greatly.

He wrote in The Mountains of My Life: ‘Until the conquest of K2, I had always felt a great affinity and trust for other men, but after what happened in 1954 I came to mistrust people’. His version of events was eventually accepted in 2007 by the Italian Alpine Club, more than 50 years after the climb.

Staggering ascents

The Bonatti Pillar on the Aiguille du Dru, a breathtaking dagger of granite on the Mont Blanc massif, is the stuff of legend. For many years, the route was a benchmark for other elite alpinists to follow – that is, until the route collapsed in 2005.

In 1955, a year after the K2 ascent, Bonatti had figuratively etched his name into the mountain with his staggeringly bold, solo, six-day ascent. A masterpiece of alpinism, it was the climb that propelled Bonatti’s name into the general public’s consciousness, in Italy and France in particular, as mountaineering's rising global star.

In the years that followed, he continued to raise the bar in both the Alps and on expeditions to the Andes and Karakorum. He made alpine first ascents on the Grand Pilier d’Angle – the East Face with Toni Gobbi in 1957 and the icy North Face in 1962 with Cosimo Zappelli – as well as on the Red Pillar on Mont Blanc’s immense Brouillard Face in 1959 with Oggioni.

Between these were visits to South America. First, was Patagonia in 1958 to attempt the unclimbed Cerro Torre, an iconic spear of granite to the west of the Fitz Roy massif, one of the world's most beautiful mountains. However, he and compatriot Carlo Mauri found the climb to be too difficult.

It’s thought that the knowledge and equipment of the time would mean that anyone would have failed to scale the peak. It would be another 16 years before the first ascent, achieved in 1974 by Italians Daniele Chiappa, Mario Conti, Casimiro Ferrari and Pino Negri.

Gasherbrum IV

In the heart of the mighty Karakorum, rising high above the Baltoro glacier, is Gasherbrum IV, the world’s 17^th highest mountain. In 1958, it was still unclimbed and represented a glittering prize for the alpine elite. Bonatti was naturally first choice for an Italian expedition to the peak that year, led by the great Ricardo Cassin.

In mid-July, Bonatti and his great climbing partner Mauri fought their way up towards the summit ridge, battling technical climbing over a series of gendarmes, the like of which had perhaps never been seen at such altitude. However, they were forced into a retreat by the arrival of the monsoon. After a rest at Base Camp, the expedition gained pace once more, this time with knowledge of what awaited above.

On the August 6, Bonatti and Mauri tackled the pinnacled crest of the summit ridge, arriving triumphant at a staggeringly exposed summit. However, there was no way of knowing if this first summit was the higher of Gashbrum IV’s two, so they wearily continued along the ridge to the second. As it turned out, the first was the higher, but the plucky Italian pair weren’t to know. With time running low, they braced against savage winds during the descent, glad to arrive at the relative safety of Camp 5, before descending to Base Camp.

The scale of Bonatti and Mauri’s achievement is perhaps best underlined by the fact that no one would stand on the summit again for 28 years, until 1986 when American mountaineers Greg Child, Tom Hargis and Australian Tim Macartney-Snape managed to ascend the Northwest Ridge. To this day, the mountain is considered as the most difficult sub-26247ft (8,000m) peak in the Greater Ranges.

Tragedies and a change of direction

Bonatti encountered the bitter taste of tragedy during Christmas 1956 when difficult conditions disrupted an attempt on the Pear Route on Mont Blanc’s Brenva side. He and partner Silvano Gheser switched to the more technically straightforward Brenva Spur, where Frenchman Jean Vincendon and Belgian François Henry were climbing.

A storm arrived and the four teamed up in what was now a battle for survival, making it to the Brenva col where a decision awaited: descend to Chamonix via hazardous terrain, or continue on to Mont Blanc’s summit, a technically easier task but much more physically demanding. Bonatti and Gheser pushed on for Mont Blanc and eventual safety – though Gheser lost fingers to frostbite. Meanwhile, Vincendon and Henry eventually turned back to make for Chamonix. The pair became pinned down in a crevasse and, despite rescue efforts, died of exposure to the cold.

However, the events on the Central Pillar of Freney in 1961 were to leave an even bigger mark on Bonatti. A gargantuan monolith on Mont Blanc’s Italian side, the Central Pillar was one of the last great unclimbed challenges left in the Alps. Bonatti, alongside his favorite climbing partner Andrea Oggioni and a paying client, Roberto Gallieni, were approaching the objective and decided to join forces with a four-strong French team and all climb together.

Just 328ft (100m) from the top of the climb, the seven climbers became trapped by an unexpected summer snowstorm that lasted for days. Bonatti took the reins, realizing the deadly situation they’d found themselves in and directed the team to an improvised descent, though the odds were totally stacked against them.

Two of the French team died of exhaustion, as did Bonatti’s friend Oggioni. Within reach of the safety of the Gamba Hut, another member of the French team, Pierre Kohlmann, died of a heart attack. Bonatti arrived at the hut and was described by the rescue team’s medic as being ‘beyond any chance of survival’. Yet, survive he did, along with his client Gallieni and the sole French survivor Pierre Mazeaud. It’s thought that none would have survived the ordeal had it not been for Bonatti’s leadership.

Also in 1961, he released Le Mie Montagne, now thought to be the most widely-read mountaineering book of all time. It cemented his place as a household name and he’d continue to climb to an exceptionally high standard over the coming years, notably pulling off the first winter ascent of the Walker Spur on the Grandes Jorasses, with Michel Vaucher.

However, after the death of Oggioni, and well aware of the dangers of the kind of climbs he was undertaking, Bonatti started to eye up a different kind of existence. His relationships were suffering and it’s thought he was getting less satisfaction out of his daring ascents. So, in 1965, at the age of 35, Bonatti set about achieving one last great climb…

The North Face of the Matterhorn

Bonatti retired from high-stakes alpinism with a characteristic flourish, pulling off the first ever solo winter ascent of the North Face of the Matterhorn. It took him five days to scale the immense face to the breathlessly exposed summit. The North Face Direct route is one that sees few repetitions and it remains a challenge for even the greatest mountaineers. With the help of modern equipment and techniques, Swiss legend Ueli Steck managed the feat in 25 hours back in 2006.

Personal life and accolades

Following the controversy of K2’s first ascent and his subsequent successes, Bonatti has both enjoyed and endured a rollercoaster ride when it comes to public recognition. History would put his name on the right side of the K2 debacle and, in his prime, he was a bona fide celebrity in Italy, enjoying almost movie star status.

After the Matterhorn, he’d go on to travel the world extensively on far flung adventures, writing for Italian magazine Epocha. As a child, he’d dreamed not only of mountaineering adventures, but of expeditions to jungles and deserts around the globe. His status and talent for storytelling allowed him to live out this dream. Whether it was visiting remote tribes in New Guinea or exploring the source of the Amazon in South America, he became a fully-fledged adventure journalist. He still climbed, mostly in the Alps, but this was on his own terms and in private. He had nothing left to prove to anyone.

A self-proclaimed ‘loner’ for much of his life, Bonatti found love in 1980, when he met former actress Rossana Podestà. The two were together until his death from pancreatic cancer in 2011.

In 2009, Bonatti was presented with the ultimate honor – the first ever Piolet d’Or Lifetime Achievement Award. Not only this, but the then-new award was also named after him, a huge show of respect from the world’s mountaineering community. The Walter Bonatti Award has since been presented to some of the greatest adventurers of our time, such as Reinhold Messner, British mountaineering legend Chris Bonington and Catherine Destivelle.

I remember the first time I did a winter skills course. It was on a mountain called Helvellyn in the English Lake District on a bitterly cold February morning. I’d hiked on Helvellyn several times before, though this was the first time I’d approached the mountain carrying a helmet, crampons and an ice axe. After the long walk in and a little bit of practise of kicking steps into the snow with our winter hiking boots, we donned our crampons.

“What d'you reckon then?” asked our instructor, as we strode purposefully towards the meat of the mountain and into the jaws of a blizzard. “Have we gone from hiking to mountaineering?”

The insinuation was that we had. Perhaps it was because we were now all crunching along in our crampons, ascending into increasingly difficult winter weather. It all felt rather wild. However, I couldn’t help but feel that we were still hiking – difficult winter hiking yes, but hiking all the same. It wasn’t quite yet mountaineering. For that, surely we’d need to be using our axes in anger, climbing rather than walking?

When exploring the high places, particularly where steep or snowy terrain is concerned, you might wonder: when does hiking become mountaineering? At what point do you transition between the two, if there's even a point at all? When can you proudly call yourself a mountaineer?

What defines mountaineering?

Let’s kick things off by taking a look at what those boffins at the Merriam-Webster Dictionary have to say about the definition of mountaineering. They define mountaineering as 'the sport or technique of scaling mountains'. The word scaling implies climbing, but scaling can also mean to simply reach the top of something.

So, by this definition, can you can call yourself a mountaineer if you’ve hiked up to a summit, as long as it's a mountain rather than a hill? Well, I’m not convinced – besides, the distinction between mountains and hills is blurry at the best of times. We’ll need to consult a more dedicated authority on exactly what mountaineering entails.

The comprehensive Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills, is the classic mountaineering text, a 600-page instructional manual vetted by a squad of over 30 expert mountaineering and climbing instructors. It opens with: “Mountaineering is many things: climbing, breathtaking views, and wilderness experience." There’s that word climbing again.

Mountaineering is indeed many things. Fast and light alpinism on big, snowy peaks; technical big wall adventures on remote Patagonian towers; month-long siege-style expeditions in the Greater Ranges; winter mixed climbing in places like the Scottish Highlands; skimo or paralpinism in the Alps – all involve technical skill and equipment beyond what you’d need for hiking.

What defines hiking?

Ah, the English language. So many are the shades of meaning that a wordsmith can have their fair share of field days. For example, the full gamut of synonyms for walk is a delight: stroll, amble, march, saunter, plod, trudge, tramp and wander. Each has its own subtleties of meaning. Us outdoorsy folk are most concerned with a few of the others: ramble, trek… and hike.

Rambling has connotations of walking for pleasure, strolling along at an unhurried pace. A trek sounds more serious and purposeful, usually taking the walker over long distances and across rugged terrain, perhaps to a peak or an alpine hut. Somewhere in between these two is the broader and ubiquitous term, hiking.

It’s a word that covers all manner of adventurous walks, from something like a few hours spent exploring a small section of coast path to a multi-month traverse along a nation’s mountainous spine. So, back to the Merriam-Webster. The verb hike means 'to go on a hike'. How very useful. We clearly need the noun: 'a long walk especially for pleasure or exercise'.

I’d assert that the key word here is walk, something that any able-bodied individual can do naturally and without additional equipment. Whereas definitions of mountaineering veer towards technical skills, climbing and gear. Herein lies the dividing line.

When does hiking become mountaineering?

Having considered the definitions of both pursuits, it’s obvious that a mountaineering approach involves technical climbing skill and, often, additional equipment in order to tackle terrain like steep rock steps, gullies and narrow, snowy ridge lines.

The distinction between the two is easier to define in summer conditions. If technical climbing skills and equipment are involved to climb the mountain, then you can reasonably assert that you’re mountaineering, even if there’s no snow and ice for miles around.

With this in mind, the point at which hiking becomes mountaineering is arguably akin to the point at which scrambling becomes climbing, only in this case we’ve also got the seasons to consider.

Some summer scrambles that would usually be considered hikes definitely become mountaineering objectives when plastered with snow and ice. So, the line between hiking and mountaineering seems to shift with the coming and going of the seasons.

In essence, what would be considered a difficult hike – and therefore not a climb – in summer can become an easy mountaineering route in winter.

In the UK, the terms winter walking and winter mountaineering co-exist and, actually, the line between them is relatively clear. Winter walks tend to be straightforward hikes done in winter conditions. I’d assert that these don’t fall into the realms of mountaineering, even though mountain summits may be involved and equipment like crampons and an ice axe may be required for the steeper slopes. Winter walks are not given an official, widely accepted grade as such, though individual guidebooks often provide their own ratings in terms of the overall level of challenge.

On the other hand, winter mountaineering routes in the UK are given a grade – the Scottish Winter Climbing Grade. It’s not an exact science, but typically the kind of terrain that would be at least a scramble in summer becomes a graded mountaineering route in winter conditions. These tend to be routes that involve at least some climbing and a certain amount of exposure, where you’d need to use your axe more than just for balance.

The edge between the two

And so, I come back to the question posed by our instructor on Helvellyn as the group progressed along the snowy trail: had we gone from hiking to mountaineering? I was inclined to say no at that point but I was also aware that all of that could change based on the terrain ahead.

Our planned objective that day had been Striding Edge, a notorious and popular arête that’s sometimes cited as one of the most dangerous hikes in the world. In truth, it's merely an exposed ridge walk. While there have been fatalities on the ridge, this has more to do with its popularity than its objective dangers – in summer, at least.

However, after hunkering down in a group shelter for lunch, conditions only worsened. Plans for Striding Edge were aborted and we had to make do with practising ice axe arrests on the steep slopes of the cirque. In doing so, we’d flirted with mountaineering, rehearsed a few key skills, yet the day had still felt more like a winter walk.

I’d return to Helvellyn and Striding Edge the next winter to tackle the traverse, a UK Grade One scramble in summer and a supposed ‘mountaineering objective’ in winter. Now THIS is mountaineering I thought, as I negotiated its narrow ledges, little rock steps and the occasional downclimb, using my axe to climb and not just as a glorified trekking pole.

I'd assert that Striding Edge is a good example of the line between hiking and mountaineering. In summer, it’s an exposed hike, an easy scramble, nothing more. It contains terrain that any hiker with decent fitness and a head for heights should be able to manage. There is no requirement for technical climbing skills, no need for a harness or rope.

In winter conditions, it’s a whole different kettle of fish. It qualifies as an easy mountaineering objective. To safely and competently traverse Striding Edge in winter, you’ll need to be proficient with an ice axe, be able to assess snow conditions, read and interpret an avalanche forecast and know how to perform an ice axe arrest should you slip on a steep slope. While a rope and harness aren't necessarily required, the experience of traversing the ridge is serious. In short, it feels like mountaineering.

Simon Ingram, in his excellent book Between the Sunset and the Sea, said something similar on the distinction between a hill and mountain. "If it looks like a mountain and feels like a mountain, then it is one."

At the end of the day, if what you're doing feels like its mountaineering, then you could probably argue that it is mountaineering.

If you’ve looked down in the last couple of years, you’re bound to have noticed a lot of Hoka shoes on a lot of feet.

Hoka shoes are everywhere, from town to trail and from street to summit, and while you might be accustomed to outlandish color schemes and midsoles thick enough to rival your favorite camping mattress these days, this brand’s distinctive shoes looked pretty far out when they first burst onto the trail-running scene.

The year was 2010. Instagram had just launched, Apple released the very first iPad and running shoes were having a minimalist moment. Barefoot shoes with zero drop were in, and the prevailing philosophy was that cushioning would destroy your body from the feet up. Some of us were even going so far as to hit the trail in Vibram Fivefingers shoes, designed with an individual pouch for each of your precious toes.

In Annecy, France, a revolution was quietly brewing. Two former Salomon employees named Nicolas Mermoud and Jean-Luc Diard had an idea for something different: an oversized shoe that would offer protection, cushioning, and bounce in a lightweight design.

Together, they formed Hoka and released the Hoka One One Mafate trail running shoe. It featured a thick midsole and rocker geometry that probably looked a little out of place next to the Brooks Cascadia 15 and Salomon XT Wings that came out the same year. But fast forward to today, and Hoka's influence over the trail running market is undeniable.

Now the fastest-growing running brand in the world, Hoka is the title sponsor of the world’s biggest ultra marathon, the UTMB, and an official heavyweight in the trail world. If you love hitting the dirt when you’re running, or are thinking of trying trail running this year, at some point you’ll want to test out some Hoka shoes to see if you vibe with them.

Now they've been making shoes for 15 years, there are plenty of different models to choose from, so we reached out to the brand to ask which Hoka trail running shoes are best for different types of run. Here’s what they told us.

Race day: Tecton X3

If your goal isn’t just to cruise through the hills but rather to set a PB at your next trail race, you might want to take a leaf out of ultra runner Jim Walmsley’s book. Recent years have seen the Arizonan establish himself as one of the fastest long-distance trail runners on the planet, and he’s laid down some impressive course records at the UTMB and Western States sporting the Hoka Tecton X 3s.

These shoes will have you race day ready if it’s long distances and rough terrain you’re looking at. They do look a little futuristic, but that’s down to the knit collar that extends up from the tongue like a gaiter to mitigate trail debris, and it’s a feature we’re seeing pop up in other trail shoes from brands like Salomon and even Arc’teryx.

With a 38.5mm stack, you’ll have plenty of padding as the miles go by, and the X in the title denotes a carbon plate for added propulsion, which has added wings for stability. The rocker sole is built for speed and grippy 4mm lugs help you keep up your pace like Walmsley on the downhills (well, probably not quite that fast). Despite the plate and added frills, these shoes aren’t super heavy either.

Mountain running: Mafate Speed 4

Not all trail running is mountain running, but when your fast-paced adventures include climbing and descending, you’ll want shoes designed for alpine conditions.

For mountain runners, the brand recommends the Mafate Speed 4. The Mafate family of shoes exhibits the brand’s pinnacle of technical shoes for negotiating tricky terrain, and this iteration took everything that was great about the EVO Mafate and Mafate Speed and made it more breathable, lighter and more responsive.

With deep 5mm lugs, you can confidently navigate scrabbly, slick and steep slopes while a relatively low stack (33mm) and 4mm drop keeps you stable when the ground beneath you is anything but.

There is, of course, plenty of reinforcement around the toe box to protect you from rocks on the trail, and a sturdier foam in the midsole better holds up against hard terrain.

Long runs: Speedgoat 6

For those long days when you’re putting in training miles at low speed, you need a few things from your shoes: comfort, durability and lightweight nimbleness.

Enter the Hoka Speedgoat 6, which demonstrates all of those characteristics in a technical shoe that can handle all kinds of terrain. These aren’t the cushiest shoes you’ll ever wear, but you can stay comfortable for hours thanks to 40mm of foam under the heel, a foot-hugging internal chassis and a breathable upper.

They’re also rugged. I’ve run hundreds of miles in my Speedgoat 6s and they still look nearly new (when I clean them anyway). The woven uppers are really robust and additional overlays add protection for your toes while the outsoles give loads of coverage.

They’re not featherlight, but they are a couple of ounces lighter than the other shoes on this list, so they won’t start to feel like lead weights by mile 10.

Easy runs: Torrent 4

Not every run is a race. In fact, most training happens during much easier runs – and it’s silly to beat up your pricey race day shoes for these outings. Get yourself a pair of Hoka Torrent 4s for shakeout days and short runs and enjoy a balanced ride.

Compared to a lot of other models (in Hoka’s catalog anyway), these shoes scream both moderation and 'in it for the long haul'. After all, these are the shoes you’ll wear most frequently, so you’ll likely appreciate that the stack isn’t too high (33mm) and the drop pretty neutral (5mm).

Without prescriptive technologies to help with stability, you can run more naturally but you’ll still be able to benefit from enough cushioning when you decide to go further, and a responsive toe-off if you want to pick up the pace. These versatile shoes wrap your foot in the Active Foot Frame and are robust enough to hit the trail time after time.

Gravel and mixed terrain: Challenger 7

If your local trails tend to involve more grit than slick rock, the Challenger 7 , with a grip pattern inspired by the tread on gravel tires, are a good choice. Just like on a truck's tires, the outsole on these shoes features smaller, tightly spaced lugs in the center, and larger, more aggressive lugs around the edges, a design that improves traction on uneven terrain and allows the shoes to shed debris easier.

If you’ve tried other Challengers and weren’t so keen, this seventh edition has been completely reimagined from the ground up. The mesh upper is simpler, the foam midsole lighter and plusher.

This shoe is designed to take you from the street all the way to the summit and therefore it’s also the model the brand recommends when your runs involve a mix of tarmac and trail.

Muddy trails: Speedgoat 6 GTX

Some of us love running on muddy trails (and some of us just don’t have a choice), but either way, sticky, slippery conditions require special hooves.

We’ve already mentioned the Speedgoat 6s as great for long runs due to their comfort, durability and light weight, but they have one other super power. The revised lug orientation on this edition is inspired by (what else?) the hoof of a goat, and it really does lend impressive traction during mud season.

For truly wet and muddy conditions, grab the Speedgoat 6 GTX and the Gore-Tex Invisible Fit waterproof membrane to protect your feet from blisters and swamp foot.

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If you're into trail running, chances are you've heard of Strava. The fitness tracking app launched 15 years ago to immediate success in the US and abroad, giving users a quick and simple way to record their runs and share stats with their friends.

Today, more than 120 million users use Strava to monitor their runs and other fitness activities. Along with tracking your progress on your phone, the popular app is now available on smartwatches, including all the best Garmin watches.

Like Strava, Garmin boasts a long history of reliable health monitoring, with more than two decades of experience crafting high-tech wearables that monitor your exercise.

It's also got a stellar reputation for GPS tracking, boasting super-smart models like the Garmin Fenix 8, that can accurately monitor your progress wherever you are in the wilderness.

By syncing the two, all data recorded on your Garmin watch will be immediately available on your Strava account.

Interested? Read on for our guide to using Strava with your Garmin watch.

What is Strava?

The Strava app is an exercise tracker and social platform that allows you to record your workouts and share them with your friends. It collects GPS and health data from your smartphone or wearable to paint an accurate picture of your performance and wellbeing after an activity.

Although it's primarily used for running and cycling, Strava has plenty of modes for other sports like swimming, basketball, and tennis.

After exercise, Strava provides a handy round-up of your activity, which includes stats like your distance, moving time, and average pace. It also compares your workout to previous exercises, so you can track your improvements and find out when you achieve a PB.

There are plenty of in-depth health trackers on the Strava app, but you'll need to fork out for a subscription for a really detailed analysis. Scroll to the bottom of this article for more details.

Perhaps the best thing about Strava is its community feel. Via the app, you can share your workout info, statistics, and pictures with friends and groups. Others can share 'kudos' and comment on your posts to congratulate you on a job well done.

How to access Strava on your Garmin watch

Plenty of Garmin watches support Strava, which you can download to your device in a few simple steps.

You can connect the two using the Garmin Connect app or website.

Connecting via the app

• Open the Garmin Connect app on your smartphone
• Select More at the bottom right of the screen
• Select Settings
• Select Connected apps
• Select Strava
• Select Agree
• Select Organize

Connecting via the website

• Sign in to the Garmin Connect website
• Select the option to add a widget at the bottom of the main page
• Select Segments from the Add to Dashboard menu
• Select the settings icon
• Select Use Strava Options
• Select Connect with Strava
• Select Agree and follow any further prompts

It will take a few minutes for your Garmin watch to sync with Strava. Once it's done, your past 90 days of recorded Garmin activity and all future workouts will be visible on your Strava account.

How to use Strava

Once you've connected your Garmin device to your Strava account, it's time to hit the trails.

If you're just getting started on your Strava journey, its wide range of features and modes might seem a little overwhelming. But don't worry, each function has its purpose, and Strava's intuitive interface is easy to use once you get the hang of things.

First things first, you'll need to create a profile and follow some fellow fitness enthusiasts. These can be friends and loved ones, but you can also take the opportunity to follow some of the world's best athletes, like trail running superstar Killian Jornet.

You can also follow brands like Nike and Hoka to see what their high-level athletes are up to.

You'll see posts from whoever you follow on your feed. And they'll be able to see yours if you follow them back.

Once you're onboard and following a few people, it's time to expand your community by joining a club. This can be a local or international sports club, where you can see what fellow members are up to.

With over 5 million members, Strava's own Strava Club is the largest club on the app. Along with the standard stats, it posts coaching and inspirational content that you can access to up your game on the trails.

As you use Strava more, you'll unlock achievements and 'silverware' to commend you on your progress. Achievements can be community-based, like the fastest run of a local route, or they can be personal, like a new PB or record distance covered. You can share these achievements with your followers, so everyone can see your progress on the trails.

Is a premium subscription worth it?

Strava is free to download and use, but you'll have to fork out $11.99 (£8.99) per month, or $79.99 (£54.99) annually for the premium subscription. This isn't essential, but it does include a few handy features if you want to map your runs with pinpoint accuracy.

With the premium subscription, you can plot a route to follow ahead of time, access offline maps while you run, and benefit from advanced analytics after your workout.

These analytics include Strava's Perceived Exertion tool to see how much energy you've used and custom heart rate zones, for an in-depth look at your ticker.

There's also a range of additional coaching tools, which you can use to set personalized goals and access training plans.

These features can be fun and helpful, and are worth considering if you're serious about fitness tracking, but they're certainly not essential.

If you have a Garmin watch, you likely already access many of them on the Garmin Connect app. Connect has plenty of training plans and in-depth health analysis, so there's no need to fork out the extra money.

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Around 800 people attempt to climb Mount Everest each year, braving extreme conditions for the chance to say they've stood on top of the world.

Along with rigorous physical and mental training, hopefuls need to prepare for the harrowing effects of altitude atop Earth's tallest mountain, where the amount of oxygen taken in with each breath is drastically lower than at sea level.

Traditionally, climbers have acclimatized by spending significant time in the mountains, heading up and down to prepare their bodies for the dizzying heights, and reducing the impact of altitude sickness. This tried and tested method has proven effective for the past 70 years of Everest expeditions, but comes with one major drawback: time.

Without four to six weeks to dedicate to acclimatization, many Everest hopefuls are now turning to modern technology to help them prepare, sleeping and exercising in specialist acclimatizing 'hypoxic' tents, which do away with the need to spend months in the mountains.

As alien as it may sound, hypoxic tents, otherwise known as altitude tents, have become increasingly common in recent years, used by alpinists and climbers to prepare for harsh conditions.

This year, a group of British veterans in their forties and fifties used hypoxic tents in combination with controversial Xenon gas to speed-climb the mountain, summiting a record four days after arriving in Nepal and effectively going from sea level in London, to the highest peak on the planet in 5 days.

The very next day, US-Ukrainian climber Andrew Ushakov claimed to have broken their record, after spending over 400 hours acclimatizing in a hypoxic tent. Ushakov says he went from New York to the Everest summit in just 3 days, 23 hours, and 27 minutes.

So what are hypoxic tents, and how can they help climbers achieve these once-unthinkable feats? Read on for everything you need to know.

What is a hypoxic tent?

Put simply, hypoxic tents mimic the low oxygen levels of high-altitude environments.

The air at sea level contains 20.9% accessible oxygen, a number that drops dramatically the higher you get. At Everest base camp, it falls to around 10.4%. By the summit, it's down to just a third of the accessible oxygen quotient at regular sea-level.

In healthy individuals, blood oxygen saturation levels sit around 98% to 100% at sea level. At altitude, that number drops to roughly 87% to 92% This has a weakening effect and can cause altitude sickness.

Hypoxic tents simulate this mix with a generator or pump, which removes oxygen and replaces it with nitrogen, reducing the amount of oxygen in the air to high-altitude levels.

Sleeping in the simulated altitude conditions of a hypoxic tent triggers your body to saturate your blood oxygen levels, releasing red blood cells and ready your system for conditions at 20,000ft (6,096m).

Why do climbers use hypoxic tents?

“As you expose yourself to altitude, your kidneys release EPO [erythropoietin], which starts this physiological change that leads to an increase in red blood cells, but more so into a better ability to transport and utilize oxygen,” Brian Oestrike, CEO of Hypoxico Altitude Training Systems tells us.

Climbers like Ushakov use hypoxic tents to ready themselves for the unforgiving mountain conditions atop the globe’s tallest peaks. Saturating your blood oxygen levels can be beneficial in several ways, reducing the risk of altitude sickness and preparing your body for the tiring effects of altitude.

“You improve your comfort and safety margin as you’re ascending up through the mountains,” Oestrike explains. “You sleep like garbage if you’re not acclimatized, you lose your appetite, so you wither away as those things happen. By acclimatizing beforehand and using this equipment, you can offset your expedition, it improves your safety and your comfort margin.”

By mimicking arduous alpine conditions, hypoxic tents can reduce the time it takes to acclimatize.

“Most people, if they’re going to the Himalayas, historically have a six to eight-week expedition itinerary,” continues Oestrike. “It takes that long for your body to slowly adapt and build the red blood cells that carry oxygen and allow you to climb safely."

Ultra-running superstar Kilian Jornet slept inside a hypoxic tent for eight weeks before his maiden ascent of Mount Everest, mimicking altitudes of 13,000ft (3,962m) to 16,000ft (4,877m) without leaving sea level.

He then became the fastest man to climb Everest alone and without oxygen, summiting the 29,000ft (8,850m) behemoth in just 26 hours.

The limitations of hypoxic tents

Although they're becoming increasingly popular with climbers and other extreme athletes, hypoxic tents do have their limitations and experts say they cannot be trusted as the sole method for acclimatization.

"It's not the full acclimatization. I would say it's the first step," says Grégoire Millet, Professor of Exercise Physiology at the Institute of Sport Sciences in Lausanne, France.

He explains that, even after months of sleeping in a hypoxic tent, "you will use some acclimatization, but not the full spectrum. You can be fully acclimatized in the tent, and not acclimatized to the real mountain".

In other words, hypoxic tents cannot fully prepare the body for the rigours and difficulties of climbing at very high altitudes. In the Himalayas, elite climbers (and paying clients) on expeditions aiming for the highest peaks enter what is known as the Death Zone, an extremely dangerous zone above 26,247ft (8,000m), where besides having to deal with temperatures potentially tumbling to -31°F (-35°C) and highly technical terrain, the oxygen in the air is so low it's impossible for humans to survive for long.

"You have to go to the real mountain for at least a few days before you travel," advises Millet, an expert in acclimatization technology.

He advises climbers to use the tents in combination with traditional acclimatization methods, like sleeping atop smaller mountains, before tackling any major peaks.

"It's better to use the tents, and then before you go to the Himalayas, it's recommended that you go for at least a few days to the Alps," he says.

He says your body acclimatizes differently at real altitude and, despite their many benefits, hypoxic tents cannot fully replicate the tough conditions and and lack of oxygen in the mountains.

Who else uses hypoxic tents?

It's not just mountaineers who put hypoxic tents to good use. All manner of sports people, from swimmers to footballers, use simulated altitude environments to expand their physical capabilities and access the benefits of altitude training.

“If you can transport and utilize oxygen better, that leads to better performance benefits, and literally just more ability to consume oxygen,” says Oestrike.

"Most of the elite athletes, they have a hypoxic chamber at home," adds Millet.

"It's not a tent, but it's a real chamber. It's the same idea, you decrease the oxygen concentration in the room."

By training and sleeping at altitude, athletes can increase what's known as their hemoglobin mass, which boosts the amount of oxygen they can utilize during exercise.

As Millet explains, this requires considerably more time than mountain acclimatization: "Every 100 hours sleeping in the tent, you will increase your hemoglobin by one percent."

Every member of the US Olympic rowing quad who won gold at the Paris 2024 games reportedly slept in hypoxic tents for six weeks before racing.

Do you need a hypoxic tent?

Although they’re designed for elite athletes, hypoxic tents can be useful to outdoor enthusiasts of all abilities, helping to build fitness and intensify workouts.

When it comes to climbing, Oestrike suggests that hypoxic tents are even more useful to amateurs than professionals.

“Most people who are committed to an 8,000m (26,247ft) peak know what they're getting into, they know what the training looks like, and they know what it takes to prepare.

“High-level athletes are already training super intensively. So the person that's more modest and maybe needs to lose a little weight, they're going to see a greater upside.”

Of course, hypoxic tents are not required for easy-to-medium-difficulty ascents. Nor are they absolutely essential to climb giants like Mount Everest. Traditional, slower, acclimatization has proven itself as an effective, stress-tested method of alpine preparation.

Rather, hypoxic tents are an additional and convenient method of acclimatizing, to be used along with high-altitude climbing and intensive training.

You can read our exclusive interview with Andrew Ushakov here.

For more on climbing preparation, check out our expert guide.

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In a year that will go down in Everest history, Ukrainian-American climber Andrew Ushakov became the fastest person to reach the top of the world's tallest mountain from sea-level, completing the mega-ascent in just three days, 23 hours and 7 minutes.

While all eyes were on a team of four British ex-special forces climbers who had drummed up publicity with their charity bid using Xenon gas, Ushakov quietly completed the ascent just after them, beating their time. What's more, he did it using only supplemental oxygen.

Even more impressive than the fact he completed the expedition while recovering from a broken hand, the time-poor father and engineer did it without acclimatization rotations in the mountains.

We caught up with him to find out the key to his success and his thoughts on the advantages and risks of 'accelerated ascents'.

Congratulations on your incredible Everest summit! How are you feeling?

Thank you, I’m good now! The expedition wasn’t as long as traditional 45 to 50-day ones, so I recovered pretty quickly.

You attempted a record-breaking summit in 2024 but were forced to turn back just 300m from the top when you lost your vision. How does it feel in 2025 to have finally succeeded?

I’m thrilled to have achieved what many people in the mountaineering world said was impossible, especially after my 2024 attempt.

I hope it shows that you don’t have to be a professional athlete or a full-time adventurer to do something extraordinary. You can hold down a job, raise a family and still accomplish something that pushes the limits of what you thought was possible.

It’s true, I did it despite having a broken arm – I broke it seven places during a recent avalanche. However, I had been signed off by doctors.

When did you first consider attempting to break the record for fastest sea-level to summit ascent?

It was in July, 2023. After climbing Denali, which took 20 days including the commute from New York where I live, I realized that to be absent from my family and work for 50 days for Everest would be too much.

I started to research and found a story about Roxanne Vogel from California, who did the round trip in 14 days. So I started to work with Dr Irina Zelenkova [a sports medical doctor based in Barcelona] on how to ascend Everest faster than 50 days.

Her initial idea was to do it in three to four weeks, she wasn’t sure if it was possible to do it faster. Roxanne’s accounts say that she used an altitude chamber for preparation on top of a hypoxic tent and mask.

I suggested we should test the methods with a lower mountain – Aconcagua in Argentina, which is 22,841ft (6,962m) in January 2024. I thought that if I could climb it way faster than usual, we would try to attempt the sea-to-summit Everest in 12 days.

So, we started to train, and I climbed Aconcagua in just four days (including the commute from New York). After that, I got a green light from Irina.

The Nepal Department of Tourism is investigating the ascent before verifying it as a record. Are you confident it will be verified?

Yes, I am confident they will be able to verify it as I am able to provide all proof.

You’ve spoken about the advantages of training using a hypoxic tent. We’d love to know more about your experience

Dr Irina Zelenkova helped me along the way. This year, I spent approximately 400 hours in the tent, mostly sleeping in there and working out on a treadmill and StairMaster.

These were my methods:

Sleeping: I put a thick mattress inside the tent, so it was quite comfortable to sleep there.

Working out: To climb a high mountain, you need to do workouts anyway, the only difference with a usual workout was that I wore a mask connected to a generator. I wore the mask at the same time as doing my seven to nine workouts a week. All it takes is just an extra 10 minutes to set things up.

I would compare it with techno-diving [a more challenging form of scuba diving in which you can explore greater depths]: you need some experience prior to diving, but then you can dive way deeper and longer than with a traditional diving approach. It's the same here – a little work prior to climbing, but way faster and safer on the mountain.

What other training did you do?

As well as sleeping in a hypoxic tent and doing workouts on a treadmill, StairMaster and muscular endurance exercise with a mask to simulate altitude, I focused on regular things like diet, sleep, water, fresh air, vitamins.

What would you say to those who are skeptical of training using hypoxic tents, who say they don’t work or that they pose health risks?

Hypoxic tents work – the main goal with this project for me was to show other climbers, that if I, a non-athlete with a broken arm and a shoulder, was able to climb Everest in less than four days, including travelling all the way from New York, other people could climb similar mountains in 10 to 15 days instead of 40 to 50 days.

Regarding health risks, I would say it does the opposite. Rather than posing a risk, sleeping in a tent before going to the mountain is a great health check. If you have hidden health issues, you can discover them at home and can deal with them before you are on the mountain. You can decide to cancel the expedition, instead of risking your life up the mountain.

What’s your response to critics who say your achievement is setting a dangerous example for climbers, or that exploiting the science takes away from the sporting achievement?

I 100% agree, it could be dangerous for other climbers if they want to achieve the same results without putting in the same efforts as I did. I climbed Everest in under four days to demonstrate that this is possible – mostly to myself. In my mind, the safe zone is 10 to 20 days, with six to eight weeks of preparation.

What I have done is to demonstrate that it is possible to avoid spending 40 to 50 days on the mountain, thereby staying away from family and work, by pre-acclimatizing at home.

Why did you choose Elite Exped as your expedition company?

This was my first time with Elite Exped and I highly recommend the company. I am delighted with them. Nimsdai Purja inspired my project with his Project Possible – the quest to summit all 14 peaks over 8,000m (26,247ft) in seven months. He showed that it was possible – the previous record before him was seven years. My project is first of all about showing the way, not setting the record. I climbed without Nimsdai, but with another guide from his team, TJ.

On your return trip you were stopped and arrested at Tribhuvan International Airport for carrying a large amount of undeclared US currency. Can you tell us more about this incident?

I can’t say too much about this. However, I am cooperating fully with all authorities and hope it will be resolved soon.

What's next for you?

Nothing major for now – I need to recover and reflect on what happened first. Probably K2 in 2026. You can follow me on social media and through my website, www.everestseatosummit.com.

Altitude simulation training systems

Andrew Ushakov revealed after his summit that he'd used altitude training technology from specialist company Hypoxico. He said that “the ability to acclimatize at home allowed me to attempt and complete this climb in a fraction of the traditional time.”

We spoke to Hypoxico CEO Brian Oestrike on the realities of training in simulated altitude.

Did you have expectations that such an incredible feat such as Andrew Ushakov's could be achieved using altitude training systems?

We were not aware Andrew was attempting to break a record like this, but we had an inkling based on the protocol and usage questions he was asking that he was working towards something significant. We definitely had the expectation this would happen, the limiting component is how fast you can get to the mountain logistically.

When it comes to preparation, how long before an expedition should a climber start using a hypoxic tent?

This really depends on what the goal is, how high and how long an expedition. It's pretty standard to train and sleep with our systems for about six weeks before a climb, but for taller mountains like Everest it makes sense to go longer. Many of our clients and athletes use our equipment for endurance training. We have olympic level athletes that sleep in our tents around 9,000ft (2,740m) and they do this as long as it's practical, which for many of them, is years. For those training for something like Everest, we usually recommend eight to ten weeks.

Are there negative side effects?

Side effects are pretty similar to real altitude sickness, so if you sleep too high too quickly you basically won't sleep and can even get mild headaches or dehydration.

When did mountaineers first start using hypoxic tents for acclimatization training?

When I was at basecamp in 2008, no one at the time was using hypoxic tents. Everyone was acclimatizing on the mountain. We really didn't see this take off until Adrian Ballinger pioneered the use of the technology to pursue rapid ascents beginning around 2012.

You say there are probably up to 250 clients climbing Everest this season who have trained using hypoxic systems – is this more than ever?

It may be more than 250. The growth in usage has been extensive in the past decade and this is likely the highest rate we've seen on Everest, but the numbers continue to climb.

How will this growth the scene on Everest and other great peaks?

We will see more hypoxic tents in the future and my suspicion is this trend towards shorter expeditions will continue.

• Train indoors or out with the best climbing shoes
• Take your hike to new heights with the best approach shoes

Guide books at the ready – the highly anticipated movie adaptation of Raynor Winn's inspiring tale, The Salt Path, hits movie theatres tomorrow (May 30). It's a story of love and resilience set on England's iconic coastline and recounts the true story of Raynor and Moth Winn - played by Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs - who desperately hike along a 630-mile trail, the South West Coast Path, in search of solace and healing.

With stunning locations that include dramatic cliffs, vast beaches and tranquil villages, there's hope from local tourist firms that the film will revive interest in Devon, Cornwall and Dorset, and the path that winds along the coast from Minehead to Poole Harbour.

“It is a joy to see the South West Coast Path depicted in all its breathtaking beauty as Raynor Winn’s breathtaking memoir is adapted for the screen," Julian Gray, director of South West Coast Path Association, said. "The film captures the healing power of connecting with nature, the sense of freedom and the restorative impact that walking has on both mental and physical health.”

What is The Salt Path about?

In August 2013, Raynor Winn and her husband, Moth, set off from Minehead in Somerset to walk the 630-mile South West Coast Path. Though a series of unlucky events they had lost their home and all their money. Moth had been diagnosed with a neurodegenerative illness that would impact his strength and mobility.

They bought a tent and started walking as a way of coping with their circumstances. Miraculously, the more they walked, the more Moth's condition improved; he got back more control of his arms and legs, so they kept going, surviving on small tax credit payouts from the government.

The story explores themes of survival and hope, and the power of the human spirit when faced with adversity.

Where is The Salt Path filmed?

Set against the stunning landscapes of the South West Coast Path, the film adaptation of the book beautifully captures the rawness of nature, the challenges of the journey, and the connection between people and the natural world.

The path was designated a National Trail in 1978 and is now Britain’s longest National Trail. It is a 630m (1,014km) walking route that starts at Minehead in the county of Somerset, runs along the Devon and Cornwall coastlines and finishes at Poole in Dorset.

It is freely accessible and can be walked as a whole or as shorter sections. It passes through a National Park, five National Landscapes, two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, a UNESCO Geopark and a UNESCO Biosphere.

Key filming locations along the path include Minehead, Porlock, Hartland Peninsula, Clovelly, Newquay, Padstow and Rame Head. Find out more about them below:

Minehead

The coastal town of Minehead, on the edge of the Exmoor National Park, is the point that marks the official start of the South West Coast Path, and it's where Ray and Moth begin their trip. It has a sweeping beach and promenade, and the South Coast Path Monument - a sculpture of two giant hands holding a map of the Coast Path, which is featured in the film. Ray and Moth set off on the path, part of the Minehead Maritime Mile Trail, then up to Culver Cliff.

Porlock

Picture-perfect coastal village Porlock Weir with its quaint harbor, charming cottages and stunning views is a highlight in the film's locations. It is positioned on the Exmoor coastline and the old-world charm captures the essence of the area. The views over Porlock Bay are unforgettable.

Clovelly

The iconic sloping streets of quaint fishing village Clovelly are where Ray and Moth take a detour from the path to hunt for food. Today, it's a privately owned heritage estate where the cobbled streets and traditional architecture draw thousands of tourists each year. You have to pay to enter the village and no cars are allowed within its limits.

Hartland Peninsula

Around Hartland Quay, a former harbor, and Hartland Point, a rocky outcrop, the coastline is dramatic, made up of high, jagged cliffs and huge rocky beaches. There are incredible coastal panoramas, and the area is rich in wildflowers and wildlife, making it a destination for nature lovers and photographers. Challenging gradients make this part of the trail an exhilarating walk.

Padstow

Padstow is another village where Ray and Winn take a break to immerse themselves among people in a bustling holiday destination, this time treating themselves to the British classic meal, fish and chips. The fishing village boasts tons of traditional charm with mesmerizing views of the estuary, and as they leave, rural Harbour Cove with its wide golden sands can be seen.

Newquay

Newquay's world-famous beaches make an appearance, with their crashing waves and golden sands. Fistral Beach and close-by Watergate Bay are meccas for the surfing community, but Ray and Moth don't stay long in the bustling holiday destination, preferring to head back to the solitude of the coast path.

Rame Head

Rame Head, otherwise known as Cornwall's ‘Forgotten Corner’ is the last location in the county of Cornwall before the couple head back into Devon. Rame Head, the beach of Tregantle, which is part of Whitsand Bay, and medieval Rame Chapel are all seen in the film. The dramatic headland once doubled as a hermitage and lighthouse and gives views of the sweeping coastline for miles in both directions. It's a great place for bird spotting, so bring your binoculars.

How can I walk the South West Coast Path?

The South West Coast Path is a freely accessible walking trail that you can join from lots of different points along the route. You can walk small sections at a time or circular walks that link in with public transport. If you want to hike the whole trail in one go, The Official Guidebook to the South West Coast Path recommends a 52-day itinerary.

There are lots of affordable campsites on the path, where you can pitch a tent and meet fellow hikers. Visit the accommodation section of the South West Coast Path website for more information.

• Fuel your thruhike with hearty meals cooked on the best camping stoves
• Travel light with a one-person tent
• Carry your gear in comfort with the best hiking backpacks

Wild swimming conjures up images of gleeful adventurers taking refreshing dips in cool, clear waters in beautiful locations. In the USA, the UK and beyond we're blessed with breathtaking swim spots – lakes, lochs, rivers, coastal bays – where tranquil waters offer solace from frenetic everyday life.

However, the health risks that swimming in poor-quality water poses means the pastime is not always the antidote we would like it to be. In the UK, pollution levels have rocketed in recent years, and swimmers are increasingly abandoning wild water due to safety fears.

Now Thames Water, which is responsible for water treatment in much of southern England, has been fined almost £123m ($166m), after years of criticism for polluting rivers and lakes with sewage overflow. The move comes just days after company bosses admitted they planned to use part of a £3billion bailout loan to pay huge bonuses to top execs.

It's the largest penalty ever issued by Ofwat, but it does not magic away the issue of the UK's polluted waters.

Here, we take a look at the campaigns calling for safer outdoor swimming conditions – and find out more about a new AI-based water quality monitoring system that is being used in southern England to offer real-time updates to swimmers at several popular swim locations.

AI innovation

In the south of England, UK, a new water-quality monitoring program that uses artificial intelligence (AI) is being hailed by water companies as the way forward for keeping swimmers safe.

A pilot study at Warleigh Weir on the River Avon near Bath – carried out since 2021 by Wessex Water – demonstrated an '87% accuracy rate in predicting high bacterial levels'.

Sensors were installed at the freshwater swimming spot and for six months water samples were repeatedly tested for bacteria levels. AI programs learnt to correlate these readings with patterns in the sensor data, which measured pH, temperature, turbidity (cloudiness), dissolved oxygen and ammonia. Following this period of learning, the AI could reasonably accurately predict when levels of E coli or enterococci were going to be high.

This real-time process is of much greater use to swimmers, who have previously had to rely on water samples that need to be sent to a laboratory for testing, which creates a delay in results. With moving water like rivers, the resulting information can be out of date by the time it's available.

The AI research has formed the basis of a program of installation of sensors at three freshwater sites in Dorset, Somerset and Hampshire, as well as two coastal locations in Bournemouth.

Southern Water is also testing an alternative monitoring approach at two other UK sites.

Real-time reports for swimmers

Wessex Water partnered with the London company UnifAI Technology to develop the software (a webapp), which swimmers can access to get information on bacteria levels, as well as temperature, water level, water flow and rainfall.

Although still in the development phase, Ruth Barden, Wessex Water’s director of Environmental Solutions, has stated: "The webapp is potentially a major breakthrough, giving people near real-time information about river water before they decide whether or not to swim.

"Bacteria will always be present in rivers due to wildlife, run-off from agricultural land, regulated storm overflows and treated sewage discharges. But we want to help the increasing number of wild swimmers and recreational river users make an informed choice.”

Subsequently, one technology observer described the results as a breakthrough that showcases the potential of AI technology in revolutionizing water quality management.

However, there are others who believe the monitoring does not go far enough.

Johnny Palmer, one of a group of guardians who manage Warleigh Weir, and owner of the private land surrounding it, said: “While Wessex Water says it has risen to demands for better water quality information, it really only amounts to a step in the right direction. I believe they are doing the minimum of what we have been campaigning for.”

He said that the information supplied by the AI-assisted real-time monitoring allows swimmers to make the decision about whether they are happy to swim, but added: “I would like to see the monitoring offering a lot more information on water quality.

“Really, I would much rather see much less sh*t being pumped into our rivers. The water and sewage companies are meant to follow regulations on what they are allowed to discharge into water systems but there is not enough being done to ensure they are sticking to these regulations. Much more needs to be done to improve water safety for swimmers.

“The new AI monitoring system might be seen as a great leap forwards for wild swimmers but it’s not really addressing the root cause of the issue of too much sh*t in our waterways.”

Jail time for water bosses

Alarmingly for swimmers, in July 2024 it was revealed that all water firms in England and Wales were under investigation for sewage spills by the UK’s water and sewage regulator Ofwat.

Another report revealed every English water company has reported data suggesting they have discharged raw sewage when the weather is dry – a practice that is potentially illegal.

UK lawmakers are now taking action and, under new powers that came into force in April 2025, water bosses who cover up or hide illegal sewage spills could face prison sentences of up to two years. However, CEO of campaigning organisation River Action, James Wallace, believes jail time for water bosses remains highly unlikely.

“It’s good to see the government finally taking water pollution seriously, but the law only applies to cover-ups – and there’s no need to hide what’s already happening in plain sight, week in, week out," he said. "Criminal prosecutions under the current legal system take five years or more. What will companies like Thames Water be doing in the meantime? Business as usual: yet more pollution for profit.

“Criminal investigations are welcome, but regulators need urgent access to courts and if the upcoming Spending Review slashes Environment Agency funding, how will it sustain the level of enforcement needed to hold polluters to account – from water companies to factory farms? Tough talk needs backing with real resources.”

Why are swimmers worried?

Standing at the shore of a natural lake or peering into a river from bank, the water might look clear, clean and inviting. But lurking below the water’s surface, there may be a range of nasties that could lead to ill-health for swimmers.

According to the European Environment Agency, one issue for swimmers can be that the water is polluted by bacteria Escherichia coli – or E. coli – and intestinal enterococci that may cause illness. The result could be sickness, nausea, stomach bugs, gastrointestinal illness, as well as respiratory, skin, ear and eye infections.

An expert writing for the The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine added there is also a risk of more severe infections caused by organisms such as drug-resistant strains of E. coli or other pathogens, which can be harder to treat. In some severe cases, E. coli can be lethal.

It’s documented that these bacteria often stem from faecal matter that gets into the water from sources such as untreated waste water, manure, poorly managed septic systems, storm water run-off from land with wildlife and pet droppings, or direct contamination from waterfowl or livestock.

There are a number of other potential water pollutants, too, including parasites, fertilisers, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, nitrates, phosphates, plastics and even radioactive substances.

So, it’s easy to understand why swimmers may be concerned about getting into the water, especially if they end up accidentally ingesting it.

A public health article in December 2022 revealed that a Water Quality Report from marine conservation charity Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) showed the number of swimmers who fell ill after spending time in recreational waters had doubled in the year to September 2022, compared to the previous year.

More recently, there have been a number of reports of suspected pollutants causing illness after people have spent time in, or on, open water. Last April a rower who was taking part in the Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge claimed that he became ill due to E. coli in the River Thames in London. The rowers – and general public – had been previously warned of high levels of E. coli in the river.

Two months later, another report claimed that poor water quality in the Thames was the cause vomiting and diarrhoea among competitors in a triathlon.

Last year, it was reported that England iconic lake Windermere, was allegedly being regularly blighted by raw sewage from a nearby works, causing what campaigners describe as toxic algae, and killing fish.

Water companies can release untreated sewage into rivers and seas when it rains to prevent it flooding homes, but such spills are illegal when it is dry.

More recently, worries over water quality in southern England have grown as it was announced that the British Government was seeking administrators for Thames Water, the company responsible for water treatment and services across London and the Thames Valley.

What's being done about water quality?

There are regulations that operate in England – and also in Wales and Scotland – with the aim of ensuring that designated 'bathing waters' pass water quality standards set by various environment agencies. The regulations first came into force in 1976, following the introduction of the EU Bathing Waters Directive. The water is tested for both E. coli and intestinal enterococci.

However, campaigners, including those from SAS, claim the safeguards do not go far enough. They would like to see regulations extended across the year and not only in the summer months. They are also calling for testing for a greater range of pollutants; more 'real-time' testing; and more designated 'wild waters'.

The aforementioned Warleigh Weir Project is another campaign initiative. Project leaders make the point that, while the UK currently has more than 600 designated locations with Bathing Water status, few of these apply to rivers.

The Outdoor Swimming Society (OSS) agrees, saying that 'UK designated Bathing Waters are mostly coastal, with only a score of lakes and very few rivers'.

Reassuringly, campaigners have made a difference to the situation in the past year and, in May 2024, 27 new bathing water sites were designated in England, including 12 inland rivers, six tidal rivers, and four lakes. Although, many do not believe this has gone far enough as the UK, lags behind many countries in Europe, and they would like to see the UK aiming for more.

How to avoid swimming in contaminated water

Swimmers in England can check to see if their chosen swim spot is on the list of designated bathing waters. They can also make use of water quality monitoring systems where available.

In addition, there are some common-sense tips, including those from the Outdoor Swimming Society that include: Don’t go in if the water looks like it is not clean – and think about going somewhere else; be more cautious about swimming after heavy rain; don’t swallow water and avoid wearing contact lenses; don’t swim if you have major wounds and cover any cuts or grazes.

Another expert suggests swimmers minimise how much water they swallow, shower soon after swimming and wash their hands before eating if they have been swimming in open water.

No one should be put off reaping the joys of wild swimming, but it clearly pays to be cautious about the water quality.

• Wrap up warm after your wild dip with the best changing robes
• Protect your feet from injury with the best water shoes
• Access safe drinking water during all kinds of adventures with the best water filters and purifiers

By the time you read this, I’ll be high in the Himalayas, trekking to Everest Base Camp. The 80-mile trek takes 11 days and gains around 8,000ft (2,438m). There are a lot of unknowns to venture into with this next chapter in my storied hiking career, but one thing is for sure: the air will be thin.

As we climb higher, air pressure will go down, and that means the oxygen particles in the air are spread more diffusely, which means I get fewer in each breath. This induces a state known medically as hypoxia, and ideally, my body will increase hemoglobin levels (red blood cells) to help deliver more oxygen to my muscles to offset the effects. If it doesn’t, I’ll suffer the effects of altitude sickness, something I’m eager to avoid.

High altitude and I do have plenty of history. For over a decade, I lived in a Colorado ski town at 8,000ft (2,400m) above sea level and my adventures there frequently saw me venturing higher than 14,000ft (4,267m).

At that elevation, I know that regular hiking feels harder. My breath is more labored even when the trail doesn’t seem all that demanding. My fingers swell up. Living, working and playing at altitude for such a long time meant I became well-adapted to it. But that was then.

A flatlander once more

For nearly five years now, I’ve been living back in Scotland, which, mountainous as it may be, caps out at a measly 4,413ft (1,345m) above sea level on the summit of Ben Nevis. High enough to have big adventures? Sure. But no training ground for serious altitude.

At 17,598ft (5,364m) above sea level, Everest Base Camp is some 3,000ft (914m) higher than I’ve ever been in my life, and we’ll spend just two nights in Kathmandu before flying to the mountains to begin our trek. There is no magic pill for altitude adaptation (well actually, there is, it’s called Diamox, but according to the pharmacy I’m not eligible for it) so I need to look elsewhere for help.

Early on, when I was invited to join EverTrek on the trip, there was talk of me preparing sleeping in a hypoxic tent, but I share a bed with someone I like. And besides, when I asked mountain guide Jon Kedrowski about them, he told me they may make no difference.

“I’ve seen people use hypoxic tents, and they come to altitude and they get sick anyway, and it doesn’t work,” says Kedrowski, who’s been guiding treks to Base Camp for 10 years.

The best thing I can do, he says, is get myself back to Colorado. Kedrowski has just finished guiding a group to Base Camp, and tells me several of his participants from the East Coast spent 10 days out in Colorado with him beforehand, climbing 14ers to prepare. It worked, but sadly, a trip to Colorado was impractical for me this spring, for various reasons.

I sighed. And that reminded me – could breathwork help?

Just breathe

Last year, I interviewed a mountaineer named Umer Latif, who climbed Khusar Gang, reaching nearly 20,000ft (6,096m), after only three days of acclimatization. His secret weapon? A five-week High Altitude Breathwork Training program developed by a US-based company Recal Travel, during which Latif performed short breathing exercises to try to improve his VO2 max.

It may sound unlikely, but this approach is backed by some science – a 2012 study found that slow deep breathing improves oxygen efficiency and reduces systemic and pulmonary blood pressure at high altitudes.

As a long time yoga practitioner, this sounds more like it, and fortunately, this is a practice I’m already experienced in, so I've been implementing ancient deep breathing practices regularly for the past six weeks in the hopes of priming my cardiovascular system for what's to come.

Turn up the heat

Just when I was wondering if breathing deeply will be enough to fuel me as I head towards cruising altitude without a pressurized cabin, I remembered an article I wrote about heat training.

Brian Maiorano, an endurance coach who trains people in using the Core Body Sensor, told me that just like training at altitude, training at a warmer core body temperature increases hemoglobin, and that helps deliver more oxygen to your muscles.

“With altitude training, you obviously need to go somewhere where you're about 2,000 meters. With heat training, you can do it in your own garage no matter what the temperature is. If it's winter, you just overdress."

So a couple of months ago, I fired up my Core Sensor, synced it with my Coros Pace 3 watch, pulled on my Columbia Omni-Heat base layer and Montane Fireball Lite jacket, and hit the trail. It was early spring, so the outside temperatures were mild, and within 20 minutes, my watch told me my core body temperature had reached 101.8°F (38.8C °C). Rather than stripping off, I kept my layers on, and I’ve tried to train (hiking or trail running) in that zone for one hour, three times a week for the past six weeks.

For good measure, I’ve been putting in 15-minute sauna sessions several times a week as well. One 2022 study found sauna use had no additional benefits for hematological adaptations but a 2021 study found that it improved heat tolerance among middle distance runners, so I decided that, since I like saunas and have access to one, I might as well throw it in.

Will heat training help me handle the effects of high altitude? Only time will tell, but if nothing else, at least I’ve been slowly increasing my tolerance to discomfort, and I expect there to be some of that on the trail.

Ultimately, though, Kedrowski’s advice for handling altitude is probably the best answer:

“Really, just slow trekking, not rushing yourself, not carrying a heavy weight can be helpful. And hydrate a lot.”

• Best hiking boots: hit the trails
• The best hiking backpacks: from the lightest daypacks to sturdy alpine haulers

Despite the name, camping coolers didn’t actually used to be cool – until the Yeti brand came along and turned the industry on its head with its sought-after cool boxes that are now the envy of every camper.

In the 19 years since Yeti was founded in 2006, it has easily surpassed its competitors in the field, and while we’re sure that branding played a big role in its success, we also can’t deny that the Yeti coolers we’ve tested are seriously tough, verging on bulletproof.

It’s no surprise that Yeti coolers are exceptionally high performing – the brand was born out of a need for serious protection against the blazing hot sun. Brothers Roy and Ryan Seiders are keen fishermen from Texas who needed something to protect their catch from the scorching heat.

Much like Tim Leatherman designed his own multi-tool to deal with gear issues in the field and John Burroughs engineered the first Therm-a-Rest camping mat to get a better night’s sleep in the mountains, the Seiders brothers took things into their own hands and came up with the now-legendary Tundra cooler.

The Tundra used what's called Rotomolded construction – a method that creates a seamless piece of plastic, eliminating weak points where heat could penetrate. In addition to three inches of insulation, the result was a seriously rugged and high-performing cooler.

Less than two decades later, Yeti now makes coolers of all sizes, from soft backpack-style to behemoth wheeled ice chambers. If your old cooler has finally seen its last camping or fishing trip, there's a good chance you’re thinking about upgrading to a Yeti, so we asked the brand which models are best for some of our favorite activities. Here’s what they recommended:

Car camping: Yeti Tundra 45

When you’re loading up the car for a night or two at camp and you want to keep all your food plus a few brews ice cold, Yeti recommends the cooler that started the whole story. The Tundra 45 is a solid all-purpose size that holds overnight camp provisions for four people if you’re camping with your family.

It comes with a removable dry goods basket so you can keep your snacks separate from melting ice and has a bearproof design to keep you and your food protected if you’re camping in bear country. Though it fits a whopping 54 cans (without ice) or 37lb of ice, you can still grab it by its handles when it’s full and easily transport it from trunk to camp kitchen.

Festivals: Yeti Roadie 32

If you’re heading to a music festival or tailgating at a concert, let’s be honest, you’re probably looking at more drinks than food, and you’ll be glad for a wheeled cooler that lets you easily trundle along over rough ground without messing up your carefully curated distressed denim and Uggs outfit.

The Yeti Roadie 32 is just what the doctor ordered, letting you roll up to 50 cans into the party zone without so much as breaking a sweat. This cooler has the same cold-holding power and durability as the Tundra for sitting out in the baking sun, but with the added portability of a telescope handle and the brand's NeverFlat wheels.

You can even pay a little extra for the Roadie Wheeled Cooler Cup Caddy, which attaches to the cooler and holds two beverages. This one isn’t bearproof, but if you want to safeguard your goods from other festivalgoers, it is compatible with the Yeti Security Cable Lock.

Beach days: Yeti Hopper Flip 12

Heading to the beach for a few hours of wild swimming or surfing and just want to bring lunch and a few cold ones? You'll be glad to know that not all Yeti coolers are mammoth-sized.

The Yeti Hopper Flip 12 is a soft-sided cooler made of seriously tough closed-cell rubber foam. It’s lightweight enough that you can easily tote it over one shoulder using the carry strap, so you don’t need to worry about getting sand in the wheels or hinges, but it still holds up 24 cans and you can easily brush it clean.

If you’re hauling refreshments for two, or the whole family, check out the larger Hopper Flip 18.

Short day hikes: Yeti Hopper M12

Yeti is known for its beefy, robust coolers so you might be surprised to learn that there’s a model that’s suitable for short day hikes. We’re obviously not talking about mountain summits here, but if you’re taking a quick walk to a scenic spot and want to bring a more extravagant lunch than a simple sandwich, the Yeti Hopper M12 boasts a unique backpack design that delivers extreme portability.

You can load up this cooler with a bottle of bubbly and your favorite snacks, seal it using the strip of ultra-strong magnets, and throw this cooler on your back. The soft Dryhide Shell is built to withstand punctures on the trail, and there’s a kangaroo pocket so you can pack essentials like your phone and keys, a first aid kit and sunscreen.

If you’re feeling strong, it also comes in a larger M20 design that fits up to 36 cans.

Road trips: Yeti Roadie 15

Taking to the open road? You can save money on pit stops and bring healthier food options along with a Yeti cooler that doesn’t take up your entire trunk.

The Roadie 15 easily fits in the wheel well or behind the driver’s seat of a small car, and even though it has a decent capacity at up to 20 cans, it’s easy to take to and from the car thanks to the super comfortable carrying strap.

This compact cooler has a drain plug for easy drainage by the side of the road, and we gave it super marks in our field review. If you need a bigger capacity for a longer road trip, go for a Roadie 24.

Water sports: Yeti Tundra 35

Whether you want something to keep your daily catch cold or you need to bring along enough food and drinks to keep the crew happy on the water, you need a rugged cooler that can handle being hauled in and out of a boat. Enter the Tundra 35.

Like the 45, this cooler is built to withstand practically everything you throw at it, and it’s a bearproof design if you’re fishing out west. Non-slip feet prevent it from sliding around in the boat if you hit some bumps or want to pick up the speed and as an added bonus, this cooler fits in an inner tube if you want to go floating. Most importantly, it features the brand’s legendary insulation to keep ice cold for days.

Hunting: Yeti Tundra 125

If outdoor adventure for you looks like setting up camp for the week during deer or elk season, you’ll want a lot of room inside your cooler. Not only will you need to cart in multiple days' worth of food and drinks, but if you get lucky, you’ll benefit from being able to keep a carcass fresh till you get it home.

The beefy Tundra 125 is built for exactly this kind of pursuit, as well as deep-sea fishing and even cross-country road trips. This massive cooler fits nearly 200 cans and is packed with PermaFrost insulation to keep your catch or kill cold. It’s bearproof, of course, and so big you can use it as a card table in the evenings.

• The best camping coolers: keep food and drinks delightfully chilled
• The best camping tables: for backcountry vacations and garden BBQs

Every year, hundreds of climbers attempt to summit Mount Everest. It's a feat seen by many as the ultimate mountaineering challenge but it's high-risk and difficult to complete alone.

While some experienced climbers go solo, the majority use mountain guides called sherpas. These tough local climbers will scout and prepare routes, fix ropes ahead of climbers and carry essential kit, making the ascent as safe and as straightforward as possible.

In the past, these guides, who are exposed to enormous risk and receive salaries that are only a tiny fraction of what climbers pay for Everest expeditions, have often remained faceless. While one-third of those who die on Everest are sherpas, very few are mentioned in Western media.

With new regulation coming into force this year meaning everyone on the mountain must be accompanied by an expert guide, demands on sherpas may grow. And with education and awareness, the importance of these unsung heroes is being recognized and more are achieving worldwide appreciation.

What does sherpa mean?

The word 'sherpa' is often used interchangeably with 'mountain porter' or 'mountain guide'. However, 'Sherpa' (with a capital 'S') is actually the name of an ethnic group of mountain dwellers who live in Nepal, central Asia.

Sherpas are of Tibetan descent and speak a language called Sherpa, which is closely related to the main form of Tibetan. Most Sherpas live in Nepal and speak Nepali, too, and often the language of their climbing clients.

The name Sherpa means 'easterner' and makes reference to their origins in Khams, and area in eastern Tibet. These people began to migrate west from the 15th century, trekking up into the Himalayas to establish settlements in the high-altitude terrain.

Today, the word sherpa is used (by Westerners) as a generic term to describe mountain workers from one of many ethnic groups who live in the Himalayan area and are skilled at climbing.

Why are sherpas proficient climbers?

Sherpas living in the Himalayas have a natural aptitude for climbing that comes from two main things: adapted physiology that makes moving at high altitude easier, and a deep knowledge of the landscape and weather conditions.

Researchers have discovered that sherpas' bodies have adapted so oxygen is transported around their system more effectively, and used much more efficiently, than in the general population. People who usually live at low altitudes find it difficult to access oxygen in their blood when they're above 8,000ft (2,400m), and will start to suffer from symptoms such as headaches, low appetite, nausea, dizziness and sleep disturbance. Severe cases of mountain sickness can cause swelling in the brain and fluid in the lungs. Both conditions can quickly become deadly.

When it comes to the landscape, sherpas know from hard-earned experience how to negotiate icefalls and fix ropes. Having climbed sections of the mountain multiple times, they have also learned the best way to ascend and descend tricky sections, and where the best places to camp are. They have great local knowledge about the way changing weather patterns can affect visibility and access on routes.

Famous sherpas

Despite their natural propensity for climbing, Sherpas did not start scaling the world's biggest peaks until the 20th century. They viewed them as places to revere and respect – the home of the gods. While today they have accepted mountaineering as a way of life, they still have great respect for the mountains. Before an ascent begins, climbers and sherpas take part in the Puja ceremony, a Tibetan Buddhist ritual conducted by the head Lama to ask the mountain’s permission to climb, and give blessings for safety.

While Western mountaineers used guides for expeditions from the 1920s, it wasn't until Edmund Hillary and sherpa Tenzing Norgay successfully summited Mount Everest in 1953 that the role of the sherpa shot into the limelight.

Tenzing Norgay (1914-1986)

New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary and sherpa Tenzing Norgay completed the first confirmed summit of Everest on May 29, 1953. Norgay was Nepali-Indian and has become known as the hero of Everest and the most famous sherpa of all time.

Not much is known about his early years, but at age 19 he completed his first expedition as a porter. In 1935 he accompanied English mountaineer Eric Shipton’s reconnaissance expedition of Everest. He was attached to many more expeditions in the following years.

Following his summit with Hilary, he was awarded the George Medal by the British government along with the Nepal Tara (Star of Nepal) and the Padma Bhushan from India. He died in 1986.

Apa Sherpa (1960-present)

This Nepali mountaineer and guide set a record for most ascents of Mount Everest (21) in 2011. It was surpassed by Kami Rita (below) in 2024. He started working on Everest expeditions in 1988 and first summited during a trip with Peter Hillary, son of Edmund Hillary.

Kami Rita (1970-present)

Kami Rita is a Nepali guide who holds record for most ascents to the summit of Mount Everest. On May 22, 2024 he scaled the mountain for the 30th time.

Lhakpa Sherpa (1973-present)

Lhakpa Sherpa holds the title of most Everest summits by a woman, which stands at 10. Besides scaling the mountain more than any other woman in history, in 2000 she was the first Nepali woman ever to reach the summit. She’s the subject of Netflix documentary, Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa.

Nima Rinji Sherpa (2006-present)

At just 18, record-breaking Nima Rinji Sherpa became the youngest person to summit all 14 of the planet's 8,000m peaks. He broke the record of his uncle, Mingma Gyabu Sherpa, who held it for completing the challenge at the age of 30.

What is the role of a sherpa?

Foreign mountaineers chose sherpas for a number of reasons, but ultimately they rely on them to make give their Everest expedition the biggest chance of success possible.

Sherpas have developed strong mountaineering skills. They are physically strong and naturally adapted to trekking at high altitudes, so can carry camp kit at a fast pace ahead of clients. They have a deep knowledge of the Himalayas and know the best routes through high mountain passes.

When it comes to safety, sherpas are highly respected for their ability to keep calm when others around them are struggling physically and mentally. On countless occasions they have gone the extra mile, searching for climbers who have gone off course and rescuing those in danger. With clear heads they can make critical decisions in crisis moments.

Mountaineering roles

• Climbing guides: Sherpas lead climbers up the world's tallest mountains, finding the safest routes and helping climbers use gear.
• Fixers: They carry out the high-risk jobs of setting up ropes and ladders to help foreign climbers cross treacherous parts of the route.
• Porters: Sherpas often work as porters, using their extreme fitness to carry heavy gear, supplies and oxygen. They will usually set up camp for climbers at the end of the day so they can get a good rest, and prepare food for them.
• Search and rescue: Sherpas play a crucial role in search and rescue missions, often acting as first responders.

Other roles

Following increasing global recognition for their skills and knowledge, plus improved access to education, sherpas are more frequently taking on roles such as mountaineering instructors and environmental experts. They have also been able to set up their own businesses – tour companies and hospitality outlets.

The ethical debate

In September 2014, an avalanche in the dangerous Khumbu Icefall killed 16 sherpas. It was the deadliest single loss of life during an Everest expedition, and subsequent expeditions were cancelled for the season. The disaster sparked greater debate on the working conditions of sherpas, who have to repeatedly climb up and down through the most dangerous parts of the lower route to transport gear and supplies to the higher camps to make progress easier for visiting climbers.

The aftermath of the disaster – when tensions between sherpas who had just lost friends and colleagues and Western climbing companies who were making huge amounts of money from wealthy clients (many of whom wanted to continue climbing) boiled over – is shown in extraordinary and shocking real footage in the brilliant film Sherpa, directed by Australian filmmaker Jennifer Peedom (a must-watch movie for anyone interested in the culture of climbing in the Himalayas).

While certified sherpas can earn between $4,000 and $10,000 per climb, each expedition can take up to two months. The wage is high compared to that of the average Nepali, but just a fraction of the price tour operators charge foreign mountaineers, which can reach $76,600. Prices are set to rise too, as a 36% increase in price of permits for the popular South Col route will come into force from September 2025.

There is often little financial compensation offered to families of sherpas who lose their lives on the mountain, while tour operators still profit from expeditions that go wrong.

When it comes to recognition, sherpas have historically been the invisible heroes. While being labelled as 'support' they often do the hardest graft – guiding, carrying and taking the greatest risk scouting and securing safe routes for their clients who often take the international glory when they summit.

Today, the role of the sherpa is becoming more recognized and with that has come an increase in respect and understanding of their social circumstances and what they risk with every expedition.

Sherpas in the media

More recently sherpas have become the subject of documentaries and books that have gained critical acclaim:

• Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa (2023)
  This Netflix documentary follows the only woman to have climbed Everest 10 times.
• The Wall of Shadows (2020)
  Documentary about a sherpa family who risk a lot to take part in an expedition to holy mountain Kumbhakarna to earn money for their son's school.
• Sherpa (2015)
  Documentary from an Australian director that tells the story of Himalayan guides who risk everything to support climbers on Everest.
• Everest (2015)
  A film depicting the 1996 disaster on Everest, including the experiences of sherpas. 

The future for sherpas

An increase in tourism in the Himalayan area means there's more demand for experienced mountain guides and more job opportunities in hospitality and logistics. The government is regulating the industry and there are more calls for improved wages, insurance and working conditions.

Sherpas are now seizing opportunity to start their own businesses, establishing guiding companies, gear shops or guest houses and cafes along popular trekking routes. This means more of the tourism revenue can stay in the local economy.

However, climate change is severely affecting the way of life of the sherpa. Rising temperatures causing melting ice is leading to unstable ground and larger and more frequent avalanches. Snow bridges and ice ledges are more likely to collapse. Melting glaciers are putting more pressure on natural infrastructure leading to flash flooding. Dwindling water resources are impacting agriculture and animal herding – traditional livelihoods that supplement the sherpa climbing income.

Technology is also having an impact. While advancements such as drones and improved communication systems reduce risk and are improving efficiency, they could also take away opportunity and jobs.

For now though, the appeal of summiting Everest seems more popular than ever and with our increasing respect for sherpas and awareness of their role our view of them as essential partners rather than support staff can only improve.

Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson’s free climb of the Dawn Wall on El Capitan in 2015 was one of the most seismic achievements in rock climbing history. For 19 days, the pair grappled with this most iconic of big wall climbs, the first of its kind at the 9a (5.14d) grade. The climb and subsequent film captured attention way beyond the climbing world. Then, one year later, a 23-year-old Czech climber repeated the feat, free climbing the Dawn Wall solo in just 8 days. His name? Adam Ondra.

A prodigy widely held to be the finest climber of his generation, Ondra’s list of achievements is staggering. No one in the world has sent as many almost impossibly hard sport climbs, including Silence, the 5.15d (9c) route that may be the world’s most difficult. He’s simply prolific. Yet, Ondra doesn’t just dominate the world of sport climbing, he’s also one of the world’s best boulderers, as one of a handful of people who have climbed at the V17 grade, and one of the most decorated competition climbers too.

Here we delve deeper into his many remarkable achievements, highlighting his pivotal climbs and trying to put his many sends into some form of context. If you don’t know your Yosemite decimal system from your Font grades, check out our guide to climbing rating systems in order to make sense of the astounding difficulty of Ondra’s climbs.

Early life

Ondra was born in Brno, the Czech Republic’s second largest city, in 1993. His parents were both keen climbers and he began his acquaintance with the pursuit aged three, becoming enamored with technical sport climbing at a tender age. By eight, he’d onsighted his first 5.12c (7b+), a remarkable achievement. Onsighting is when a climber completes (or sends) a route at the first time of asking and without any prior knowledge.

He emerged as a rock climbing prodigy and by 13 had redpointed his first 5.14d (9a): Martin Krpan in Misja Pec, Slovenia. This grade is a significant milestone for climbers, one that was famously first achieved by the legendary Wolfgang Güllich on Action Directe in Germany’s Frankenjura in 1991. That Ondra was able to climb at this level, at just 13 years old, underlined his immense talent.

A sport climbing sensation

Ondra developed into arguably the greatest sport climber in the world. Since his first at the age of 13, Ondra has climbed more than 200 routes at the 5.14d (9a) grade or higher, more than anyone else in history. His ability to onsight or flash hard climbs is unrivalled, making short work of routes other climbers spend weeks or months on. In terms of grades, he’s broken new ground repeatedly, most notably on three specific occasions.

The first was when he redpointed Change in 2012. This 148ft (45m) overhanging route is found in the spectacular Hanshelleren Cave in Flatanger, Norway. It’s an area that Ondra has made a second home – he’s established several projects and sent a raft of impressive climbs in this magnificent, silent arena. When Ondra sent Change in 2012, it was the world’s first 9b+ (5.15c) and it has only been climbed three times since, by fellow elites Stefano Ghisolfi in 2020, Ondra's oft-climbing partner Seb Bouin in 2022 and Alex Megos in 2024.

The second major breakthrough was in 2013 in Oliana, Spain. La Dura Dura was a project of Californian sport climbing royalty Chris Sharma, a man who’d dominated rock climbing for decades. However, he was close to giving up on the route before a timely collaboration with Ondra. Together, they pieced together the puzzle of the 164ft (50m) limestone cliff and Ondra sent the route on February 7 – a true passing of the torch moment between the 31-year-old legend and the 20-year-old prodigy. It’d be another month and a half before Sharma achieved the climb, on 23 March 2013. The pair agreed on a consensus 5.15c (9b+), making it the hardest climb in the world at the time. It has not been repeated since.

Silence

Perhaps Ondra’s most important climb – arguably the hardest rock climb in the world – was in 2017 with Silence, a 148ft (45m) overhanging route that, like Change, is located in the granite Hanshelleren Cave in Flatanger, Norway.

Silence is a route up an almost impossibly steep section of the cave, with three difficult boulder problems at its crux. The sequence demands extreme precision, upside down climbing and an extreme drop knee to overcome it. To rest before unlocking the rest of the route, Ondra had trained his muscles to allow him to literally bat-hang. In fact, Ondra had parts of the climb replicated in a gym he had built nearby, just to train for the route.

Silence has yet to be repeated, though Italian climber Stefano Ghisolfi has repeated the crux. At the time of Ondra’s climb in 2017, it was the world’s first 5.15d (9c). He named the route Silence for the inner calm he felt while climbing it and for the vivid emotions he felt when he finally sent it.

Competition climbing

Ondra is one of the world’s most decorated competition climbers in terms of World Cup and World Championship wins. Only Austrian contemporary Jakob Schubert boasts more male titles on the competition circuit.

Ondra’s first adult gold came in 2009, when he won the Lead World Cup at the age of just 16. A year later, he became the first person in history to win the World Cup in both the Boulder and Lead disciplines. Through his career to date, he’s won seven World Cup golds and five World Championship golds, the latest coming in 2019 – a mightily impressive haul.

Ondra competed at both the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympics, finishing in sixth place both times in the Boulder and Lead Combined events. Changes in competition bouldering since his World Cup victories in 2010 haven’t played to Ondra’s style and it’s thought that athletes who’ve developed alongside the new style are better suited to it.

It’s possible that, had climbing been an Olympic sport at London 2012 and Rio 2016, Ondra would have had a very good chance of winning some gold medals. Indeed, after the 2024 Games, Ondra admitted that he felt ‘bitter’ that his generation weren’t given the chance to compete on the world’s greatest stage back then.

Bouldering exploits

The hardest boulder problems in the world are graded at V17. Less than ten of these masterpieces of climbing have been successfully sent. They’re the preserve of only a handful of elite climbers. Among them, Adam Ondra.

In February 2025, after five days of effort, Ondra sent one of the original V17s, Soudain Seul, in the forest of Fontainebleau, the French region that’s thought of as bouldering's spiritual home. He’s since been back to this hallowed ground, flashing a number of impressive boulders and even attempting what might be the world’s first V18: Imothep Assis. This problem is a longtime project of local Bleausard (Fontainebleau climber) Camille Coudert.

In his Boulder Tour de Fontainebleau film (which you can watch below), Ondra had this to say of Imothep Assis: "I absolutely love it. I think it's the most motivating boulder I've ever seen."

Everest is growing, they say, and so is the mountain of gear in my living room as I prepare to trek to Everest Base Camp. Now, the trip is nearly here, and it’s time to make the final decisions about what’s coming with me when I board the flight to Kathmandu.

When I arrive, I’ll have two nights to recover from the flight and explore by day in 80°F (26°C) weather before I’ll pack everything I need for the trek into a duffel bag and board another flight to Lukla, where it will be significantly cooler – in the 50s (low teens in celsius) – and perhaps drizzly, and I’ll begin the 11-day trek.

If all goes well, I’ll arrive at Base Camp eight days later, where it will be below freezing during the day and sub-zero at night. So, do I just pack every piece of kit I own? Since I'm only allowed 33lb (15kg) for my flight to Lukla, that's a definite no.

The trek will be the longest and highest altitude adventure of my life, and I want to get it right. Luckily for me, the company I’m going with, a Welsh outfit called EverTrek, has furnished me with an elaborate kit list.

In examining it, you could walk away with the idea that you need a lot of gear for the 80-mile trek, but EverTrek Director of Supplier Relations Dave Carpenter warns me this isn’t totally true.

Keep it light

“When it comes to kit, the biggest piece of advice is to pack light,” says Carpenter.

Instead of worrying about bringing two fleeces or three jackets, he advises me to “keep it streamlined.”

“The truth is, you don’t need much. Life in the mountains is simpler, and your kit should reflect that. Focus on staying warm, cool, and dry and leave the extras behind.”

Warm and cool? Yep, I’m going to need layers. I’ve been whittling down my mountain, and here’s where I’ve landed for my clothing:

• Fjällräven Abisko Hybrid Trail Shorts: early on in the trek, it might be warm enough for shorts, and these proved stretchy and comfortable during a mountain hike last week, and like everything from the Scandi brand they’re pretty rugged.
• Patagonia Terravia Peak Pants: as we go higher and the weather cools, I’ll need good leg protection and I don’t know about you, but I prefer to have options for my lower body, adding thermal underwear and rain pants if I’m cold rather than risking overheating with fleece-lined pants. But knowing that I’ll also want something robust, I’ve opted for the new Patagonia Terravia Peak Pants, which are built specifically for multiday trips.
• Fjällräven Abisko Trail Fleece: I’m packing a couple of T-shirts and long sleeved base layers, mostly made from Merino wool, but one of the most important pieces of kit on a trek like this is a mid layer, which provides valuable insulation in cold temperatures, and can double as a light jacket when it’s mild. This jacket combines two different fleece fabrics to add warmth where I need it, but keeps weight and packing volume down, which ensures it wins out over my beloved Houdini Power Houdi. And not that I'll be thinking about this at 17,000ft, but it looks awesome, tailored to fit my body and not a cereal box, for once.
• Fjällräven Expeditions Pack Down Anorak: I’ve got my light and packable Rab Microlight Alpine jacket for when it gets cooler, but after hearing about the -10°F (-23°C) lows at Base Camp, I realized I need something built for polar conditions. This awesome anorak comes down lower than my bum and has a brilliant hood to shelter me against the wind. Despite how luxurious it feels on, it packs down small and even stuffs inside the kangaroo pocket to make a camping pillow, in the unlikely event my Big Agnes Rapide SL pillow isn’t enough.
• Arc'teryx Beta AR Jacket Stormhood: Living in Scotland has taught me just how important a weatherproof layer is, and it can be a constant balancing act to find a jacket that’s really durable but still quite light and packable. The Arc'teryx Beta AR Stormhood holds a lot of promise, using Gore-Tex Pro for rugged protection, plus a StormHood that adjusts to move with your head and maximize peripheral vision, and an embedded RECCO reflector for emergency situations.
• Rab Firewall Waterproof Pants: We’re likely to meet with some rain in lower altitudes and as we get higher, a cold wind can rear its head at any time, so for rugged leg protection which provides all the weather protection I’m likely to need, I went with these awesome lightweight pants. Thanks to the 3-layer Pertex Shield fabric, they’ll breathe when we’re climbing and are a bit of a workhorse in terms of durability.

Obviously, there’s more to add, but I consider the above to be the bulk of my layers, and together it all weighs around 2kg, leaving me plenty of wiggle room.

One exception

I’ve been focused on light layers, but one notable exception to my lighter-is-better approach is my sleeping bag. When my friend and fellow Advnture writer Jack McKeown warned me about how cold it can get at night, I hauled out my Big Agnes Torchlight EXP 0 sleeping bag.

It’s not my lightest or most packable bag, but with Sherpas (blessedly) carrying our gear, leaving me just to carry my daytime essentials in my Osprey Tempest 33 pack, I decided it was the best option. This toasty bag, from a Colorado brand I’ve known and trusted for years, can be expanded with an added zip, which means more options for sleeping positions and something I think is vital when I’m going to be using it for 11 nights straight.

Boots on the ground

The piece of kit I’ve spent the most time agonizing over is, of course, my hiking boots. As an outdoors journalist, I’ve got a pile to choose from, but unlike my hiking shorts, this is a choice that could easily make or break my entire trek. Blisters on a day hike are already insufferable, but on an 11-day trek? No thanks.

I want something protective but not too heavy, waterproof, and with enough cushion for long days. Needless to say, I’ve been doing a lot of hiking to prepare my body for the journey, and that’s given me time to test out different boots. I’ve finally settled on the Lowa Renegade Evo GTX Mid, which I’ve now put about 100 miles in. This is the newly updated version of the light, synthetic bestseller from the German brand.

They’re actually not the cushiest boots I own, and even provide a little trail feedback, but I’ve been able to put in back-to-back long days in them several times this spring without foot fatigue. Add to that the fact that they have a roomy toe box, and I might even get through the hike without losing too many toenails, plus with a mid-height cuff, they offer good protection.

Also on my feet, I’m taking the advice of my sister-in-law, who has historically suffered from bad blisters on long walks and I’m armed with several pairs of Injinji toe socks to cut down on rubbing (I’ll bring plenty of vaseline for that too). I’ll start in the lighter Injinji Liner Crew socks and work my way up to the Injinji Outdoor Midweight Crew Wool when it gets cooler. Thanks to the wool content, I won’t have to worry about smelly feet.

Here comes the sun

The thought of being cold is the one that keeps me up at night, and I’ve been hyper-focused on staying warm, but having lived in the Rockies for many years, I’m also preparing myself for how intense the sun can be. Long sleeves and sunscreen are of course a crucial start, but I also want to protect my skin from sunburn and my body from additional dehydration with a hat and sunglasses.

Last year I received the Columbia Bora Bora II Booney sun hat for a trip to the Swiss Alps, but it was a little too safari for my liking, so I put it aside in favor of a ball cap. Now that I’m seeking to really maximize sun protection, however, I’m appreciating the merits of a brim that goes all the way round, plus it has a chin strap so I don’t have to run back down to Lukla chasing it on a breezy day.

Since I’m now resigned to looking decidedly uncool in this hat, I’m just going to complete the look with the new SunGod FORTY2s sunglasses, which are actually trail running shades but I like that they provide all-day comfort, lots of crucial eye protection and a fair amount of coverage.

A secret weapon?

I’ve spoken to a few friends and colleagues about gathering kit for my trek, and each one has a “secret weapon.” For Carpenter, it’s a knee brace – like me, he’s been the recipient of a new ACL, but I find my awesome Leki Skytera FX Carbon SL trekking poles provide me with all the support I need.

Mountaineer Tracee Metcalfe, who recently became the first American woman to summit all 14 of the 8,000m peaks in the world, had a secret weapon idea that sounds like it could improve the quality of my experience:

“I would recommend hiking with a buff around your neck as much as you can, as it helps protect your throat and lungs from all the dust on the trail.”

When I speak to Jon Kedrowski, who’s been leading treks to Base Camp for years, he echoes this sentiment, explaining that the yaks along the trail are what can make the “dust” quite harmful.

“That livestock is pooing all over the trail, and that dust gets kicked up, and then you’re breathing that dust in and you’re breathing in feces, basically.”

Eager to protect my nasal passages and lungs from it all, my Buff Thermonet Multifunctional Neckwear is likely to be a permanent fixture around my neck.

A line to the outside world

I won’t lie, I’m looking forward to a bit of a digital detox on the trek, as signal is said to be spotty, but being away from my family for so long in a remote area, I do want to be contactable – and be able to get a message out if I need to. So I have a Garmin inReach device for this trek, which is a satellite communicator that allows me to send and receive messages.

Hopefully, I’ll just use this to keep in touch and won’t have any emergencies that can't be solved with Imodium, but I have some peace of mind knowing that it’s safely in my pack.

• The best trekking poles: take the pressure off when you're out on the trails

I recently had the opportunity to road test a rooftop tent, and the thought of sleeping on top of my car got me childishly excited. It wasn’t until I was in the tent, laying there in a pre-slumber contemplative state and staring at the stars through the mesh roof, that I started to question why. What is so appealing about camping out in such an unusual and elevated position?

Over the last three decades I’ve used and tested dozens of tents and camping set-ups in a personal and professional capacity, from lightweight solo backpacking shelters and minimalist bivy sacks, tarp rigs and hammocks, through to behemoth family tents with multiple rooms and a bigger footprint than Godzilla.

I’ve seen the technology and materials used evolve, and come across some truly impressive designs, but never before have I been quite so enthusiastic about testing a tent as I was at the prospect of putting the TentBox Go through its paces.

I wasn’t alone in this reaction either – everyone I sent a photo of the rig to started raving on about wanting one. (Well, everyone except my wife, which was disappointing, since I was already formulating an argument for buying one.)

Is it the thought of transforming your boring everyday vehicle into a virtual campervan that makes it seem cool? Undoubtably, part of the appeal is the novelty factor. Sleeping on the roof of anything feels more fun than being on ground level to me. Given the option, I’ll always choose top bunk over bottom. And what would you rather have in your garden: a shed or a treehouse? I’d pick the latter every time. (Again, my wife feels differently about this.)

Maybe I’ve not quite grown up yet. Or perhaps I’ve got a thing about ladders. (And the TentBox Go does come with the most amazing Inspector Gadget-style telescopic ladder, which I wanted to keep regardless of how well the tent performed.)

A few hours later, when I had to locate and negotiate said ladder, to clamber down from my car-top nest and make a call of nature, I started to see some downsides to my upstairs abode. And then I got to wondering whether the novelty factor would wear off after the first few outings. Some cracks started to appear in my purchase plan, and I’d never get it past the boss if I couldn’t convince myself.

So, silencing my inner child, I decided to properly assess the real practical pros and cons of camping in a rooftop rig, as opposed to a more traditional terra firma-hugging tent.

Rooftop tents vs ground tents

Speed and ease of pitch

There are some excellent pop-up tents on the market these days, and if you’ve weighed-up the pros and cons of pole tents verses airbeam shelters, then you’ll already know that speed of pitch is one of the most compelling answers to the question why buy an inflatable tent?

However, none of these options can really compete with the quick and easy convenience of setting up a rooftop tent. There are some larger and more complicated rigs out there, but most rooftop tents can be assembled in seconds after you have pulled into your pitch, leaving you free to get the camping chairs out, fire up the stove and get some coffee brewing (or grab a cold can from the cooler).

Staying warm

Obviously you are a long way from the floor in a rooftop tent, and there are several benefits to this. The ground is very often lumpy and frequently wet and cold.

Quality tents will have good groundsheet with a high Hydrostatic Head to keep you dry. Using a footprint can further mitigate against moisture seeping through, but no matter how expensive your tent is, cold will permeate the floor during the early hours, and unless you have a decent sleeping pad with a high R number, paired with a high-performing sleeping bag, you will feel the chill.

In a rooftop tent you are protected from all this, although cold winds whipping between the roof of the car and the bottom of the tent can create a chill factor, and you will still require a sleeping mat to stay warm and comfortable (most manufacturers produce tailor-made inflatable mattresses that fit the inside of the tent perfectly, but they’re not always included in the purchase price). And at the other end of the scale, be aware that the high tent will get steamy hot if you park and pitch somewhere that receives the full blast of the sun.

Comfort

Unless you are using a thick camping mattress, your comfort levels in a ground tent are dependent on how level and lumpy the terrain beneath your groundsheet is. Wisely choosing where, and more importantly where not to camp, is the only way to ensure a good night’s sleep.

If you’re using a rooftop tent, you still need to park on reasonably level land, but it can be covered in holes, puddles, rocks, sticks, spiky thistles, thorny scrub and scratchy weeds, and you won’t feel a thing. Typically the floor of a rooftop tent is stretched taught across slats, so it works a bit like a hammock and is very comfortable to lay on. When two or more people are sharing the space, you usually have to install a divider so you don’t both roll into the middle.

As per above, I still strongly recommend using an inflatable mat inside the tent, for comfort reasons.

Space

So far roof tents seem to be coming out quite literally on top, but when it comes to living space, these lofty eyries simply can not compete with large ground-based tents.

Although there are some bigger, more complicated roof rigs out there for families, which unfold like a Transformer to create a couple of bedrooms, the TentBox Go (and many of its close cousins) only have as much floor space as the average vehicle’s roof will allow, so they are typically about the size of a generously proportioned 2-person tent, or small 4-person tent.

While this is fine for sleeping, when the weather is bad and you want to eat under cover or sit around playing cards, reading or just chatting, there is no sheltered communal space for doing this. Also, there is precious little room for organising your gear – although you can of course stash kit and clothing in your car.

More annoying is the lack of a porch or awning area, where you can take walking shoes and hiking boots off, and keep wet-weather gear out of the sleeping space.

Convenience

OK, so the rooftop tents win when it comes to ease of set-up, but as much as I like having a ladder, it’s impossible to deny that it is much easier to get in and out of a ground-based tent, and this is an extra important consideration in the middle of the night.

For starters, you need to remember that you’re 6ft or more up in the air when you sleepily exit the tent (otherwise you’re going to wake up with a proper jolt), and then you need to locate the ladder and get up and down it, hopefully using a headlamp. Furthermore, if you want to head off for the day, or even drive to the store to restock on supplies, you have to drop the tent and take everything with you.

Versatility

On the face of it, this is a no brainer. Obviously you can only take a rooftop tent as far into the wilds as you’re willing to drive your car. If you’re roaming around in a monster truck or at least a decent 4WD, that might be quite far, but many people are effectively limited to using roadside camping spots and drive-in areas of national parks and nature reserves, whereas with a lightweight backpacking tent you can explore much further, go thru hiking and wild camping wherever the hell you feel like it.

However, in terms of price point and target demographic, a rooftop rig is more akin to a car-camping tent so that’s a fairer comparison, and you are equally restricted with a large, heavy ground-based tent, which you won’t be able to drag far from your vehicle.

Some campsites might struggle to decide whether to put you with the tents or the campervans, but generally speaking rooftop tents are a godsend for everyone, because they take up much less room than a vehicle parked next to a palatial ground tent.

Durability

Like any piece of equipment that comes in constant contact with the ground, a traditional tent will show signs of wear and tear after a while. Groundsheets can be torn and holed by sticks, stones and abrasive terrain, tent pegs get bent and left behind, poles weaken after repeated use, and flysheets can tear.

We have a whole guide to tent repairs, and strongly encourage you to try and rescue kit before binning or, infinitely better, recycling it, but in reality, most people will simply replace compromised equipment.

Rooftop tents are obviously not immune to damage, but being off the floor eliminates the risk of puncture from below, there are no pegs to worry about losing or bending, and the design of the rigs tends to be very robust, with thick poles and hardwearing canvas.

Elevation and views

No contest here – a rooftop tent offers that extra bit of elevation that lifts your shelter above obstructions such as bushes, scrub and hedges, often gifting you great views through the doors and mesh windows. The slight downside to this is that rooftop tents do get buffeted by the wind, and if you are sleeping atop a 4WD vehicle with soft suspension (as I was), then the whole shebang wobbles around and it can feel like you’re on a ship. I quite liked this, but it’s possible some people might get a bit nauseous).

One other important tip: either double lock your car, disable the alarm or leave the vehicle open, because movement (you tossing and turning) can trigger car alarms, and that is a nasty way to wake up, for you and everyone else in the vicinity.

Storage

One of the benefits of having a rooftop tent is that it goes straight on your roofrack, leaving you with plenty of room inside the vehicle for all your other gear, from tables and chairs to camp cooking burners and much more. However, you also need to decide whether you’re going to keep the rig on your vehicle all the time – so you can take off and go camping at the drop of a hat with minimal kit preparation required – or only attach it when you’ve got a trip planned.

There are pros and cons for both: leaving it on increases your fuel consumption slightly (or more than slightly with bigger models) and potentially subjects the tent to more weather damage (although most have a protective cover). It also impacts where you can park (because of height restrictions) and what else you can carry on your roof (like bikes and kayaks).

But if you take it off, you have to find somewhere safe and dry to store a large piece of equipment, and go to all the effort of installing it every time you want to go camping.

Safety and security

Being elevated off the floor has other benefits. It keeps occupants safe from the threat posed by other vehicles moving around in the area, which can be a serious concern in a ground tent in some scenarios. And, depending on where you are, extra height can offer some welcome protection from animals ranging from ants and other insects to free-roaming cattle and even wild beasts.

Originally developed for people driving across the plains of Africa, rooftop tents can deter (if not entirely shield you from) animals such as snakes, bears, big cats and crocs. Arguably rooftop tents are a little more secure too, since it’s harder for people to access them sneakily, but we still wouldn’t advise leaving valuables in them when you’re not around.

Price

Rooftop tents are typically a big-ticket investment. The TentBox Go I have been testing is a relatively affordable model, however, and doesn’t cost much – if any – more than a large tent, but remember it only fits two people and doesn’t offer enough room for doing anything other than sleeping.

Conclusion

I absolutely loved testing the TentBox Go, and I’m keen as mustard to try out some more rooftop rigs. I think this set-up is perfect for solo travelers and camping couples who spend a lot of weekends going on impromptu adventures, visiting festivals and going on extended road trips where they’re only staying in one place for a night or two.

For families, groups and people who like to set up a base camp for a week or so, going out for the day to explore the surrounding area, more traditional ground tents will work better (and there are so many to choose from you will definitely find one that ticks all your boxes). For me, as usual, I’m left greedily wishing I could have both…

If you're keen to get your hands on a high-quality smartwatch, the best Garmin watches are probably at the forefront of your mind, but there are plenty of other brands to choose from.

Alongside big names like Apple and Fitbit, Samsung's range of high-tech smartwatches aims to rival Garmin with plenty of sleek features and sports compatibility.

Both brands have a long history of crafting fitness wearables. Garmin GPS watches have been on the market since 1989, while Samsung released its first 'watch phone' a decade later.

Samsung watches are typically built for everyday use, while Garmin excels in sports performance and fitness tracking.

If you just can't choose between a Garmin or Samsung smartwatch, look below for all the key information to help you make the right decision.

The Verdict

Garmin and Samsung both produce high-tech smartwatch ranges, capable of tracking your health and performance in the wilderness. The model that's right for you depends on what you're going to be using your watch for.

Top-end Garmin devices are hard-core health trackers that monitor every aspect of your fitness to paint a vivid portrait of your overall health. If you're after a super-detailed tracker, which measures everything from your skin temperature to heart rate, then a well-rated Garmin watch like the Fenix 8 is the one for you.

Samsung, on the other hand, excels in handy everyday smartwatch features, like call, text, and email compatibility. Super-smart Samsung devices like the Galaxy Watch Ultra are still great fitness trackers, but don't offer the same in-depth analysis as the best Garmins.

Garmin devices are also generally extremely reliable in the field, whereas Samsung users have reported a few issues with key tracking features like GPS.

Price is another key area, and Samsung watches are generally cheaper. You can find the latest Ultra watch for $649.99 (£599.99) online, while a top-end Garmin is likely to cost $300 (£224) to $350 (£261) more.

Pros and cons

Both brands have strengths and weaknesses, which set them apart in different areas.

Garmin Pros

• Typically rugged and durable
• Long-lasting battery lives
• Reliable GPS tracking
• A wide variety of accurate fitness trackers
• Multiple training modes
• Some models can make and receive calls

Samsung Watch Pros

• Bright OLED and AMOLED displays
• Compatible with iPhone
• Competitive pricing
• Plenty of handy fitness features
• Long battery life

Garmin Cons

• High-end options are very pricey
• Susceptible to bugs and can occasionally crash
• Complex user interface

Samsung Watch Cons

• Some models are big and bulky
• Some models have GPS accuracy issues
• Some heart-rate tracking issues

Price

• Garmin is more expensive throughout the price range
• Samsung Galaxy has very cheap budget options

Top-of-the-range Garmin sports watches are far more expensive than their Samsung counterparts. The brand new Fenix 8 watch will set you back roughly $999 (£949.99) while Samsung's flagship model, the Galaxy Watch Ultra, costs $649.99 (£599.99).

While the $350 (£350) price discrepancy is certainly sizable, it seems about right considering the many more sports modes and health trackers available to Fenix 8 users.

Samsung's lifestyle-oriented model, the Galaxy Watch 7, is comparable in price to Garmin models like the Venu 3 and Venu 3S, which place a greater emphasis on everyday use rather than sports compatibility. You can find most of these watches for around $300 (£224) to $350 (£261).

At the bottom of the price range, budget Samsung devices like the Fit3 are far cheaper than the least expensive Garmin watches.

You can find a new Fit 3 watch on Amazon for about $50 (£37.28) while Garmin's dependable budget option, the Forerunner 55 is triple the price at around $150 (£118).

Like the top-end models, the Forerunner 55 has far more to offer than the Fit 3, but Samsung's ultra-budget wearable still has a great selection of sports modes and features for its generous price.

GPS

• Garmin wearables have accurate and dependable GPS
• Some Samsung models have GPS accuracy issues

Garmin watches are renowned for their excellent GPS tracking, offering an accurate, easily understandable picture of your whereabouts at all times. Most Garmin watches have GPS, and accuracy issues are rare, especially with top-end and mid-range models.

The latest Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra also has super-dependable GPS tracking, which our sister site T3 found to be just as reliable as the Garmin Forerunner 965 - a model designed for wilderness exploration.

There are, however, a few accuracy issues with other Samsung models like the Galaxy Watch 6 and 7, which have reportedly overestimated running distances in testing.

Health trackers and sports modes

• Garmin watches tend to have more advanced health trackers
• The Samsung Galaxy Ultra has a decent selection of functions for measuring wellbeing

Garmin's high-tech range of smartwatches leads the market in health tracking. Up and down the price range, Garmin devices measure a handy range of health metrics to paint a vivid portrait of your health and performance in the wilderness.

Top-of-the-range models like the Garmin Epix (Gen 2) track all manner of metrics from your hydration levels to jet lag, while budget options like the Forerunner 55 measure the essentials with accuracy and insight.

They also feature a diverse range of sports modes to help you train for myriad athletic pursuits.

Samsung watches don't boast the same pedigree, but still include useful health trackers and fitness insights.

The Samsung Galaxy Ultra watch is built for fitness fanatics and covers the basics well. Along with essential measurements like your heart rate and blood oxygen levels, there are a few unique trackers like the FDA-approved sleep apnea detector and ECG (Electrocardiogram) feature, which checks for heart rate and rhythm issues.

There's also an insightful energy score, akin to Garmin's body battery feature, which measures your tiredness and estimates when you can get back in action.

These health monitors are generally accurate and dependable.

Like Garmin models, the Galaxy Watch Ultra is great for training thanks to its diverse range of sports modes, which measure your performance with precision.

Ultimately, Samsung's top-end fitness-focused watch is a competitive health monitor, with a little less variety than the best Garmins and plenty of handy sports modes.

Other Samsung models, like the Galaxy Watch 7 and Fit 3, are less suited to exercise and include fewer fitness features than the Ultra.

As the Fit 3 is a basic, budget model, it only measures a few fitness metrics, like your daily activities, sleep, and heart rate.

Both brands boast useful smartwatch apps that show your fitness information and workout data. These easy-to-use apps can be downloaded to most smartphones.

Display and design

• Both Garmin and Samsung devices use AMOLED and OLED displays
• Both brands use the same sturdy glass
• Not all Garmin watches are touchscreen

Both Garmin and Samsung use bright and easily visible OLED and AMOLED displays. These screens offer a vivid, clear image that you can make out in pitch black or bright sunlight.

A few budget Garmin watches use MIP screen displays, which are still clear and visible but a little less shiny and high-tech. In comparison, the budget Samsung Fit3 uses an AMOLED display.

Not all Garmin devices are touchscreen, whereas all modern Samsung watches, even the budget Fit 3, are.

You can still access a wide range of features on non-touchscreen Garmin models, such as the Instinct 2 or Forerunner 255, but you'll need to use the buttons on the side.

The Samsung Galaxy 7, Galaxy Watch Ultra, and Fit 3 all feature the same Corning Gorilla Glass used in Garmin devices. This sturdy, scratch-resistant glass is designed to survive heavy wear and tear in tough environments.

Smartwatch features

• Both brands offer plenty of everyday features
• Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 is built for everyday use

As they're designed for everyday use, watches from Samsung's Galaxy watch series, including the Galaxy Watch Ultra, feature a greater variety of smartwatch features than some fitness-focused Garmin models.

You can use the latest Galaxy Watch 7 to make and take phone calls, send and receive text messages, and access your emails. You can also control your watch using Samsung's voice assistant, Bixby, or download the Google Assistant or Amazon's Alexa from the Google Play Store.

Garmin devices have a few similar smartwatch features, but generally prioritize health modes. Top-end models like the Venu 3 and Fenix 8 can make and receive phone calls, but only when paired with a compatible nearby phone, while text messages are chosen from a pre-determined selection.

Garmin devices throughout the price range can also connect to Bixby and other voice assistants like Google Assistant or Apple's Siri, depending on the phone your device is connected to.

Top-end and mid-range models from both brands can download and store music. They're also Bluetooth compatible, so you can connect your watch to a pair of headphones and listen on the go.

Battery life

• Some Garmin and Samsung devices have comparable battery lives
• The Galaxy Watch 7 falls well short of its Garmin counterparts

Adventure-oriented Samsung and Garmin devices like the Galaxy Watch Ultra or the Fenix 8 can last for days on end, especially when battery-consuming modes like GPS tracking are turned off.

Some Garmin devices can even run indefinitely due to a handy solar-charging feature. The Instinct 2 Solar edition, for example, needs just three hours of sunlight per day to achieve its 'unlimited' battery life.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra doesn't have solar-charging but will still last a long time, with up to 100 hours of battery life in smartwatch mode and 48 hours of working GPS tracking.

Samsung's budget Fit 3 device also has a decent battery life. Without the bells and whistles of its high-tech counterparts, this affordable fitness tracker usually lasts around 6 days, depending on its usage.

The battery life of Samsung's everyday smartwatch models isn't as dependable. The latest Galaxy Watch 7 lasts between 22 and 28 hours on one charge, which pales in comparison to similar devices.

Garmin's budget Forerunner 55, for example, has up to 20 hours of battery in GPS mode and can otherwise last for up to two weeks.

• The best GPS watches: feature-packed timepieces to keep you on course
• The best cheap GPS watches: log your adventures without depleting your savings

There’s an old mountaineering joke that says the Himalayas make great training ground for the Scottish Highlands, so it stands to reason that the opposite is true. Next week, I’ll get to put that theory to the test.

I’m joining a small group from the Welsh trekking company EverTrek for an 11-day trek along the classic route from Lukla to Everest Base Camp. The journey covers a distance of 80 miles round trip and climbs to more than 17,000ft above sea level.

I’ve previously trekked across Lapland, hiked the 96-mile West Highland Way, and run a 40k circuit in the Swiss Alps, but this is the longest hike I’ll ever have undertaken, and I’ve spent the past three months trying to make sure I’m in the best shape of my life. Here’s what I’ve been doing physically prepare for trekking to the base of the world’s highest mountain:

Walking on tired legs

I recalled something ultra runner Lucy Sholz told me when she was getting ready to do the Speed Project, a gruelling 300-mile race across the desert from LA to Las Vegas: “I’m just trying to get used to running on tired legs.”

In recent years, I’ve got into a pattern of following bigs days in the hills with rest days to recover. There’s plenty of research supporting this approach, and it keeps my general fitness up, but means my legs pretty much always feel fresh for a summit or long run. But on my Base Camp trek, there won't be much opportunity for recover.

I'm not running 300 miles in a competitive environment, but I want some advice on this, so I talk to mountaineer Tracee Metcalfe. She's the first American woman to climb all 14 of the world's 8,000m peaks, and she says getting used to being tired and hiking anyway is the number one thing I need to focus on in my training.

"You should be prepared to do back-to-back days of hiking without proper recovery. The trek itself is amazing, and I am sure you will love it, but the hard part is you have to keep going day after day without a break or proper recovery."

So for the past couple of months, I’ve been reorganizing my training into consecutive long sessions whenever possible so that on day two, I can train myself to keep going when I'm fatigued. That might mean double-day backpacking escapades, doing two long hikes in the same area with a hotel stay in between, or even putting in a long trail run after work on a Friday, followed by a big hike on Saturday. The first time I did it, my legs felt a little heavy on day two, but I’m amazed at how quickly I’ve gotten used to walking on tired legs.

Pulling back on pace

You might think that when you’re training for a big effort, the goal is to learn how to go faster, but when I spoke people who’ve done the trek before me, everyone agreed that slow and steady is best.

Dave Carpenter, Director of Supplier Relations and Product Development at EverTrek, recalled a fellow who’d wanted to challenge himself by storming ahead, and very nearly didn’t make it as a result.

“The poor guy was really struggling on the last day,” he says.

Going slow doesn’t just help conserve energy, it’s important on a practical level too – the slower I go, the more time my body will have to adapt to altitude and the lower the likelihood I’ll struggle with altitude sickness.

Luckily, my training has coincided with a lot of GPS watch testing, and on every hike I’ve had my Coros Pace 3 on my left wrist and the watch du jour (the Garmin Fenix 8, Coros Pace Pro, Amazfit Active 2 or Suunto Race S) on my right wrist, which has made it easy to keep an eye on my pace and heart rate and remind myself to cool it.

With the exception of a recent experiment where I practically flew up Ben Nevis aided by an exoskeleton, my training hikes have mostly entailed multiple, languid hours to stroll a many-mile circuit, taking in lots of new Munros in a day. They’ve been thoughtful, challenging, and helped me get used to spending a lot more time than normal on the trail.

Racking up the miles

Instead of maintaining my fitness with daily short sessions and squeezing in longer hikes when I feel like I have time, I’ve started prioritizing big days in the hills. Walking isn’t the only way to get fit for hiking, but it’s a good start, and I’m generally a big believer in the idea that whatever you’re doing more of is what you’re getting good at.

That means doing mountain rounds where I tackle several peaks that are close together in one go, instead of just picking one peak, and choosing mountains with a long approach rather than those I can tick off in a morning. I’ve also switched from running on rolling trails to mountain running, where I hike the uphills, and make sure I’m out for two hours in the evening instead of one.

It’s taken a little more of my free time than usual, but without quitting my job, somehow I’ve managed to rack up nearly 300 miles (500km) on the trails this year and I’m starting to feel cautiously optimistic that I can manage to stave off foot and leg fatigue for the first 4 to 5 hours of each day in Nepal.

This has also given me plenty of time to decide which hiking boots I’ll be wearing – I’ve settled on the Lowa Renegade Evo GTX Mid for their awesome comfort, breathability and wide toe box – and thoroughly break them in.

Am I ready for Everest Base Camp?

I’ve got two weeks left and I plan on two more long hikes this week, then I’ll make like a marathon runner and start tapering. Altitude, Delhi belly, blizzards and sprained ankles could fell me without warning, but one thing’s for sure – if I don’t make it to Base Camp, it won’t be because I’m not fit enough.

• The best hiking backpacks: from the lightest daypacks to sturdy alpine haulers
• The best base layers: the foundation of your hiking garb

May 29 1953 is arguably the most important date in mountaineering history. At around 11:30am, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and New Zealander Edmund Hillary became the first people to stand on the summit of the world’s highest mountain, Everest.

It’d be 22 years before Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei would become the first woman to stand on the summit, which she achieved on May 16 1975. Three years later, Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler became the first people to summit without supplemental oxygen, on May 8 1978. Fast forward to 2019, and it’s thought that a record 358 people reached the summit on a single day alone: May 23.

You don’t need Sherlock Holmes’ knack for deduction to figure out that May is obviously a good month to try your hand at ascending the world’s tallest mountain. In fact, according to the Himalayan Database, around 80% of the approximately 13,000 successful summits has occurred in May.

To get to the bottom of why this is, we asked one of our mountaineering experts to delve a little deeper into why May is such a favorable month to climb Everest and to see if there are any other good times. Naturally, we also couldn’t resist revealing when the worst times to climb Everest are.

When is the best time to climb Everest? And why?

Mid-May is the best time to climb Everest, during the pre-monsoon ‘summit window’. This is thanks to the movements of the jet stream, which drifts north during this time, bringing calmer winds and warmer temperatures to the mountain. This window, which usually lasts between a week and about 10 days, closes with the arrival of the Asian monsoon. If you were to bet on the best day, it’d be May 19, with 13% of all successful summits, more than any other.

At 29,030ft (8,849m) tall, Everest extends beyond the upper troposphere and into the stratosphere, a place where wind speeds in excess of 100 mph are common. It's only when the jet stream shifts that extended periods of relative calm can be expected. May also experiences less rainfall and better visibility than other months. All of this means that climbers have better odds of succeeding during May – it’s as simple as that.

However, it’s likely that critics of the rampant adventure tourism present on Everest today, such as the great Reinhold Messner, would refute the claim that May is the “best” time to climb Everest. One only needs to think of Nims Purja’s viral photo of queuing mountaineers from 2019 to be reminded that climbing Everest during this popular summit window is far from a solitary adventure experience. Plus there’s the fact that slow moving human traffic in the thin air of the death zone could be a cocktail for disaster.

So, are there other good times to climb Everest?

Post-monsoon season

A similar summit window exists in autumn, between the departure of the monsoon and the colder temperatures and stronger winds of winter. During this time, the weather is more stable, the temperatures are moderate and visibility better. This is known as the post-monsoon season.

The first post-monsoon ascent of the mountain was achieved in 1975, when the British Mount Everest Southwest Face expedition, led by the great Chris Bonington, saw Dougal Haston and Doug Scott summit on September 24, and then Peter Boardman and Sirdar Pertemba Sherpa two days later. Most post-monsoon summits thereafter would occur in October, including by the likes of Kurt Diemberger, the only person in history to have recorded first ascents on two 8,000m peaks (Broad Peak and Dhaulagiri), in 1978, and American great George Lowe, along with Dan Reid and Jay Cassell in 1983.

However, successful climbs are still much more of a rarity during this second window. The mountain is much more popular in the pre-monsoon, particularly with guides taking clients to the roof of the world. This is due to the post-monsoon season’s increased snow fall, which creates unstable slopes that are more prone to avalanche. However, these conditions can also attract elite skiers and snowboarders to Everest.

When are the worst times to climb Everest?

The height of summer and the depths of winter are the worst times to tackle an ascent of Everest. Winter may seem like the obvious worst time but the summer monsoon season sees heavy rainfall and high humidity conspire to create the ideal conditions for avalanches, rockfall and landslides. Visibility is also worse during the monsoon, with low cloud being a much more common occurrence. In fact, Himalayan records suggest that there have been more successful summits in winter than in summer.

Of course, winter is also the preserve of only the most ambitious mountaineers. Temperatures plunge to -22°F (-30°C) at base camp and thanks to windchill the summit can feel as low as -112°F (-80°C). The jetstream is also back in action, bringing extremely strong winds and heavy snowfall. In fact, Everest’s summit is the windiest place on Earth and record speeds recorded here in February 2004 were in excess of 175mph.

The first winter ascent occurred on February 17 1980, when Polish alpinists Leszek Cichy and Krzystof Wielicki made to the top. Along with an expedition team of more than 20 climbers, they battled the ferocious elements, having to continuously rebuild even the lower camps, which were regularly getting destroyed by the high winds, with some as high as 125mph. However, the gusts started to subside and, with their permit window about to shut, Wielicki and Cichy hopefully moved up to Camp 4 on February 16. Their summit day was ‘unimaginably cold’ and the pair still had to battle strong winds to make the top. However, they’d proved climbing Everest in winter was possible.

German mountaineer Jost Kobusch is currently training to become the first person to summit Everest solo in winter, without supplemental oxygen. However, new rules requiring all climbers to have at least one Sherpa with them from September this year have thrown the future of his attempt into question.

To this day, only 15 people have made it to the summit during the cold season. It’s thought that around 34 expeditions have tried, with only five succeeding. The extremely challenging mix of ferocious wind and even fiercer cold make Everest in winter an undertaking only for those willing to risk all and suffer very profound discomfort for the glory of the summit.

After wearing the Coros Pace 3 sports watch for the past 18 months, I recently got the chance to test out the newer Coros Pace Pro. For a side-by-side comparison, I spent three weeks wearing one watch on each wrist during every hike, trail run, pool swim and yoga session I did to see how the two measure up.

Compared to Coros’ Apex watches, which are specifically for mountain athletes, the Pace series from the Orange County-based brand comprises watches for multi-sport users. While neither watch could exactly be described as “budget”, both are a lot more budget-friendly than watches from competitors like Garmin, but still make really great training companions.

The Coros Pace 3 launched in August 2023 and is Coros’ entry-level watch. The Pace Pro launched in October 2024, boasting a bright AMOLED screen and offline maps, and the brand says its for those seeking precision in performance.

So the Pace Pro is more high tech and featured, but does that automatically make it the better choice? In this article, I’ll guide you through the key similarities and differences between these two sports watches to help you decide which one is right for you.

The Verdict

First and foremost, both of these watches are built to be training tools and probably won’t satisfy a thirst for smartwatch functionality.

They’re lighter than many of their competitors and, though made from cheaper materials, they're both robust enough to handle outdoor adventures. Using the Coros app, you’ll be able to access a large suite of training tools, from training plans to recovery estimates and sleep tracking.

The main difference between the two watches is that where the Pace 3 is low profile and simple, the Pace Pro is big and bulky, with a bright AMOLED screen and proper maps. Though those functions are definite upgrades, they do make for a more burdensome watch and in my tests, I found the heart rate sensor wasn’t always the most accurate.

If you seek a bright screen that you can view in all conditions and you want to use your watch to navigate, the Pace Pro is the better option, but if you don’t really need those things I’d suggest the Pace 3, which packs a lot of punch for a more pleasing price and is a great training tool.

Pros and cons

These watches are probably more similar than they are different, but they each have their strengths and weaknesses depending on how you plan to use them.

Pace Pro pros

• Bright AMOLED display
• Reliably accurate GPS
• Great battery life
• Proper maps with turn-by-turn navigation
• Easy-to-use
• Responsive touchscreen
• Lightweight
• 5 ATM water resistance

Pace 3 pros

• Impressive battery life
• Straightforward to use
• Great metrics
• Lightweight and comfortable
• Stays put when you’re on the go
• Low profile design
• 5 ATM water resistance

Pace Pro cons

• Heart rate monitor can be unreliable with silicone band
• Bulk and button placement means you can accidentally press Start/Stop button during workout
• Only one size available
• Plastic case looks a little cheap
• Mineral glass not as rugged
• Strap is fiddly and uncomfortable
• Limited smartwatch functions

Pace 3 cons

• Limited smartwatch functions
• Looks a little cheap
• Screen can be hard to read on sunny days

Price

• The Pace Pro is more expensive, and has more features
• The Pace 3 is very budget-friendly and great value

Both of these watches fall into the “affordable” category when compared to major competitors.

The Pace Pro is the more expensive of the two watches, costing $349 / £349. At $229 / £219, the Pace 3 is cheap enough to have made our list of the best cheap GPS watches.

Of course, the Pace Pro gives you the AMOLED screen and offline maps, but that’s only of value if you need them. Otherwise, you’ll get almost everything else with a smaller price tag in the Pace 3.

Design

• The Pace Pro is bigger than the Pace 3
• Both watches use mineral glass in the screens, which isn’t as tough as sapphire glass
• The watches share an identical design, with touchscreen capability

If you already own the Pace 3 and are considering upgrading to the Pace Pro, the good news is that the two watches have an identical design with two buttons to operate: a rotating Start/Stop button to scroll through options and select features, and a Back button that can cycle through data like sunrise and sunset times and heart rate or access system settings and additional features like alarm and stopwatch. The watches are intuitive and easy to get your head around quickly.

Both watches have optional touchscreen which can be turned on and off and works well. The big difference in design of course is that at 46mm, the Pace Pro is significantly bigger than the 41.9mm Pace 3. It’s also much bulkier in design and it is more difficult to wear with long sleeves.

As for build, both of these watches use mineral glass, which is easier to scratch than the sapphire glass preferred by brands like Garmin, and a fiber-reinforced polymer bezel, which looks and feels cheaper than stainless steel, but is also considerably lighter and arguably just as functional.

My Pace Pro came with a silicone strap that’s a bit uncomfortable and fiddly, while my Pace 3 has a nylon strap that’s both comfortable and easy to adjust to the perfect fit. You can select either a nylon or silicone strap at checkout, and I strongly recommend you go with nylon. It might look cheaper, but you’ll be more comfortable and potentially get better readings.

GPS

• Both models feature reliably accurate GPS

Both watches take only a few seconds to pick up my location and lock in on GPS coordinates when I get to the trailhead. They’ve proven themselves reliable in terms of tracking my movements and recording my overall distance, always within only a few feet of readings from other watches.

The Coros Pace Pro has color maps, so it’s reasonable to assume that you may want to use it for navigation, and I’ve found it to be accurate when following a GPX map that I’ve downloaded from AllTrails and sent to the watch. On a long, six-hour hike over four Munros, I was able to follow the map the entire way. I did find that the Pro quite frequently chirped at me to say I was a few feet off course when I wasn’t, but I really mean just a few feet, and it’s only in comparison to something really high-end like the Garmin Fenix 8 that I’d even bother mentioning this.

The Pace 3 only has line and pointer breadcrumb navigation, so while it’s not impossible to send a GPX file to it, it wouldn’t be as useful for navigating in the backcountry, and you’d want a backup device or a good old-fashioned map. That said, I’ve worn it on one wrist while testing the Garmin Fenix 8, Amazfit Active 2 and Suunto Race S, and it always records my adventures perfectly.

Health trackers and sports modes

• The main benefit of the Coros Pace Pro over the Pace 3 is the addition of an Electrocardiogram Sensor

Both watches will track your heart rate of course, using an Optical Heart Rate Monitor. Coros says this has been improved for the Pace Pro but in my tests, I’ve actually found the Pace 3 to be more accurate (except during swim workouts, where it’s consistently off). However, after some trial and error I believe this may be down to the awkward strap on the Pace Pro which means the watch might not fit correctly on some wrists, mine included.

In addition to common metrics like active calories and sleep tracking, both watches also give you insights into stress levels, recovery estimates, and overnight HRV as well as your weekly Training Load and Training Status (which is either decreasing, performance-ready, maintaining, optimized or excessive). As you can see, the health trackers are entirely focused on training and not the overall wellness trackers you might find on a smartwatch like the Amazfit Active 2.

Both watches have an Optical Pulse Oximeter to measure the saturation of oxygen in your blood, which could be useful when you're at altitude, training hard or have certain health conditions. The Pace Pro is also equipped with an Electrocardiogram Sensor, which it says helps provide a more accurate HRV reading. Personally, I’m not sure this is a metric I need, but if you’re really focused on improving your performance or setting a PB, it could prove useful.

Like any watch today, both Coros models have more sports modes than you could ever need. These two watches feature the same sports modes, with various disciplines in running, cardio, biking, winter sports and water sports including open water and pool swimming and rowing. Both have triathlon and multi sport features, but neither has a climbing mode, which you can find on the Coros Apex 2 Pro. Neither has a yoga function, but I got around that by creating my own as a Custom Sport.

Display

• The Pace Pro is the first watch from Coros to feature an AMOLED display

The biggest difference between these two watches is that the Pace Pro is the first watch from Coros to feature an AMOLED screen. That means it's bright, sharp, and easy to see in all conditions, including bright sunlight, which becomes very important when you’re using the watch to navigate.

In comparison, the Pace 3 has an LCD screen which looks a little dark, and can be difficult to see in sunny conditions. With more and more cheaper smartwatches using AMOLED displays, including the Amazfit Bip 6, it does look a little dated, but it does the job.

Smartwatch features

• Both watches have limited smartwatch functionality

If you’re looking for a smartwatch that lets you answer phone calls and chirps at you to stand up when you’ve been sitting too long, the honest truth is that you should probably look elsewhere. The Coros Pace watches are true training watches, and while they have tons of great features like pacing and running form tests, they’re both seriously lacking in smartwatch functionality – and to be clear, I’m not saying that’s a bad thing.

What these watches will do is give you a preview of a text or other message, and alert you to an incoming call, but you won’t be able to read a long text in its entirety, reply or answer a call. You can play offline music if you pair either watch with a supported Bluetooth headset, which is a bit of a hassle, but a good option if you want to run with tunes and without your phone.

Other than that, you can expect basic functions like an alarm clock, timer and stopwatch plus find my phone and a weather report, but don’t expect either watch to be a replacement for your phone.

Battery life

• Both watches boast phenomenal battery life

I’ve been wearing Coros watches for the past year and a half and the battery life is envy of my Apple Watch and Garmin-wearing friends. On paper, the Pace Pro advertises 20 days in Daily Use and 38 hours in GPS mode. In practice, I used it in GPS mode every day for three weeks and only charged it twice, with the first charge lasting me 12 days.

The Pace 3 claims 15 days in Daily Use and up to 38 hours in GPS and even though I use it for every activity, I probably only charge it twice a month at most.

So, the price to pay for limited smartwatch functionality is that you can expect really impressive battery life from both watches, which is nearly on par with solar watches.

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