The Big Sell Out

November 26, 2008 05:27 PM

Just tried to order more books to sell at talks and via the website and told the’re having to reprint, which is great news.  So thanks to everyone who’s bought a copy (it’ll take a week to print more, so plenty of time le...

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Turd Eye

November 25, 2008 05:44 PM

Ian Parnell said that although I have moments on comic genius (like Andy Parkin the musical), I often fall back on more base comic tales of people crapping themselves - well at my Kendal show anyway.  To be honest I did have something a li...

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Taken to Boardman-Tasker

November 24, 2008 04:08 PM

When I used to stay at my dad’s house in Wales, every night I’d pick one of his climbing books and flick through it; Touching the Void, One man’s Mountains and The White Spider.  But of all these books the one that stood out, and the...

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North Pole race

November 19, 2008 12:52 AM

Read an interesting link from Ben Saunders site about a South Pole Tips PDF from the guys running the South Pole Marathon this year.  It’s short but interesting, and made me think again about mine and Karen Darke’s hopes to ski...

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Secrets

November 17, 2008 05:44 PM

Spent the last few months contemplating a big solo climb - without doubt the hardest route I’ve ever done.  It can’t say what it is because it’s a secret. It’s a secret for a number of reasons. If I tell people my secret they may...

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Germs

November 12, 2008 05:35 PM

It’s 10 am - Wednesday - and I’m sat sniffling on the settee. My daughter Ella’s laid in bed ill with cold, my recovering son Ewen packed off to school.  The house full of germs.  I’ve still half a dozen talks to do (includ...

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Stories added to site

November 10, 2008 10:44 PM

Trying to make this site more than just a business card, so added some past stories (inlcuding some A-Z pieces from Climb magazine).  Will add more as I dig them up!

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Music of the spheres

November 09, 2008 02:21 AM

People have asked - so here’s a little youtube vid of my end music from the show.  Hope you enjoy it!

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Una

November 03, 2008 05:11 PM

Met the amazing Mark Baument’s equally amazing mum Una last week at my talk near Perth.  They say behind every great man there’s a woman (“and behind her is his wife”).  Well in Mark’s case it’s Una, who helps organize and...

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The cupboard

November 01, 2008 08:56 PM

When I was a kid my brother once locked me in a cupboard in the kitchen, pulling out the cutlery draw so I couldn’t escape.  It was then that I saw that I wasn’t in there alone, seeing a rat skulking in a gap between the unit and t...

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Do Lecture lecture

October 29, 2008 05:12 PM

I had the pleasure of being invited by Howies to their inspiring and ground breaking DO Lectures last month.  If you don’t know what the DO lectures are, then check out their website and see how you can go next time round (either as a s...

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Help for Heroes

October 21, 2008 04:36 PM

The last seven days have been a bit strange.  Hearing about the assisted suicide of Daniel James while on the road touring my girlfriend Karen Darke was very depressing.  For those who don’t know, Karen’s in a wheelchair, parapl...

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4000 Pull Ups

October 21, 2008 04:15 AM

I’ve been getting quite a few requests about the technque Karen used to climb El Cap last year, so penned this short article called 4000 Pull Ups.  If you know anyone who may find this of help then please pass it on (you don’t ...

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Talking technology

October 09, 2008 10:04 PM

A few people have emailed asking how I do my show, as I mix video, still images and panning images with music.  Well I used good old fashioned Mac Keynote (a slightly better version of Powerpoint, and the same program used by Al Gore in A...

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Bottling it

October 06, 2008 07:00 PM

Four shows down and still over twenty dates to go I must admit I had a bit of a crisis of confidence last week.  You see what I say and do on stage is an ongoing process of finding out what doesn’t work, what does, and what would do...

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Mal weather on Mull

September 29, 2008 07:09 PM

Monday morning and the weather’s not great here on Mull.  Did my show on Saturday night in the soon to be finished Mull theatre (school chairs covered in paint, walls still bare board with ceiling beams still showing like ribs). ...

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The Kendal curse

September 26, 2008 05:02 PM

I knew it wasn’t going to be a good day when my kids woke me up at 8.30am to ask if they were going to school.  It was the first day of my tour, and I was due in Kendal that evening, but had a long list of jobs to do before I’d be a...

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Psychovertical finally hits the shops

September 23, 2008 04:26 AM

Well after a year of writing (getting through about 2000 cups of tea and one apple macbook)  my book Psychovertical has finally made it into the shops.  It’s number 1 in mountain books on Amazon as I write this, which seeing as...

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