Writing

I've been writing articles about trips, techniques and gear for quite a while now, for magazines such as Climb, Climbing, Climber (mmm - that sounds like I've got a stutter) and Alpinist, along with long dead mags like One the Edge and High.

I loved making a living as a journo - even though I can't spell and have no clue about proper grammar, or English like (my daughter is old enough now that I can ask her what an adverb is), and miss having the hit a deadline and the stamp money you got in return for your labour.

Unfortunately once you bang out a book I guess editors think you're a bit up yourself and stop calling (they used to call a lot - but primerly asking "did you know the deadline was yesterday!").

Anyway here's a repository/dump for much of that work, and I hope you enjoy it (please ignore the spelling mistakes!).

You can look at a list of available articles and stories via these links

Gear Technique Stories

Andy Kirkpatrick

The US magazine Climbing once described Andy as a climber with a “strange penchant for the long, the cold and the difficult”, with a reputation “for seeking out routes where the danger is real, and the return is questionable, pushing himself on some of the hardest walls and faces in the Alps and beyond, sometimes with partners and sometimes alone.”

More succinctly, Metro magazine claims that he “makes Ray Mears look like Paris Hilton”

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Latest blog
Nice little film about Vanessa François, who wants to climb El Cap this year (I lent her the gear that Karen and Phil Packer used on their climbs).  If you want to help her then send any dontions via paypal to francoisvanessa00@gmail.com. ... Read more
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El Cap with Phil Packer

In 2009 I helped Major Phil Packer climbed El Cap, helping him to hit his target of one million pounds for Help for Heroes.

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