> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk “I want to help people and I want to be useful, and that’s the main reason for doing it all” Episode 3#08 meets Claire Maxted, who was forced to run at school. She hated it. Yet, just a couple of decades later the recently appointed BMC Summit editor can count Trail Ru…

Visit: https://mountainairpodcast.uk/ Bonus episodes don’t come more exciting than this. To accompany a written interview on UKHillwalking, here’s the audio of my conversation with Shane Ohly following his stunning continuous completion of the Dragon’s Back Race route from 15-19 August 2024. Thanks to Steve Ashworth for use of the accompanying pict…

> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk “My strength is my curiosity, and being pretty good at suffering” Episode 3#07 sits down with mountaineer, therapist and motivational speaker Maria Granberg, whose achievements so far include: climbing Manaslu (8,163m), and becoming only the second Swedish woman to sum…

> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk “Once you slow down you see it all” Interview recorded 24/01/24 On the latest episode of Mountain Air, Dan catches up with Patrick Davies, a writer, long-distance walker and charity fundraiser whose latest book “Where Skylarks Sing” recounts a 2250km walk across the UK…

> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk “It’s about being prepared for what nature throws at us” Interview recorded 27/09/23 Since 2009, Mark Diggins has been the coordinator of the Scottish Avalanche Information Service (SAIS). This valuable role means overseeing hazard forecasts for Lochaber, Glen Coe, Cra…

> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk “It sounds a strange thing to say about a 400 million year-old mountain like An Teallach… but it’s fragile” Interview recorded 06/07/23 Dougie Baird has spent his working life building and repairing mountain paths. That makes him the the perfect person to help protect …

> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk “Underpinning it all was this ridiculously amazing team behind me… two years of planning was spent gathering an army of friends and strangers.” Episode 3#03 meets Jamie Aarons, who on 26 June 2023 became the fastest person ever to have completed a self-propelled round …

> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk “There’s no greater feeling than finding people alive in the mountains.” Episode 3#02 meets a legendary figure in Search and Rescue circles. A member of RAF Mountain Rescue for 37 years, David “Heavy” Whalley has attended more than a thousand call-outs, and saved the l…

> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk “I get excited about something and I say yes, and then I do it. And I enjoy doing it, so I keep doing it.” Episode 3#01 of Mountain Air stars Steph McKenna, winner of the fabulously titled 2023 Fort William Festival “Scottish Youth Award for Excellence in Mountain Cult…

> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk “I love being able to share what I experience… taking folk to places they wouldn't feel confident to get to by themselves.” Episode 2#10 is thrilled to meet Kirsty Pallas, of Oban in the West Highlands. Kirsty is an outdoor instructor of more than a decade’s experience…

> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk “You’ve got to acknowledge that you’re just a fragment in time.” Episode 2#9 settles down with Doug Bartholomew, a man who has the dream job of managing one of Scotland’s great landscapes. Seek him on a weekday, Saturday or Sunday and you’ll find him and his team of fe…

> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk Episode 2#08 sits down with the charming and disarming J.R. Harris. Since 1966, J. Robert Harris has undertaken more than 50 multi-week trips into the world’s wild places: “all unsupported and most of them alone”. He’s driven to where the US road systems end (or did in…

> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk Episode 2#07 gets to know none other than multi-talented photojournalist David Lintern. Based in Kingussie in the Cairngorms National Park, David is an outdoor writer and photographer of high reputation. You’ve likely seen his images and read his words across many diff…

> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk Episode 2#06 welcomes a man that may be the most prolific hillwalker in history. That’s because Rob Woodall has spent the past 40 years systematically completing every list of peaks, tops, prominences and trig points in existence. Putting to one side the popular lifeti…

Episode 2#05 cosies up with the irrepressible Sarah Jane Douglas. In 2019 Sarah published her first book: Just Another Mountain, an autobiographical story of loss and grief, but ultimately joy, love and empowerment found in the wild beauty of the Scottish Highlands. It was a huge success. So much so that it saw her lauded across the national press …

Episode 2#04 is thrilled to sit down with Colorado-based Renan Ozturk to discuss his latest film “The Sanctity of Space”. A climbing film at heart, it not only celebrates the stunning landscapes of Denali National Park, the Alaska Range and the film-makers’ carving of a new skyline route across the “Moose’s Tooth” peak (3,150m)… but a…

A very quick update about the next episode in the series… > visit thesanctityofspace.comPar Daniel Aspel

Episode 2#03 hears all about a big decision. Exhausted by commuting, frustrated by inflexible work and desperate to spend more time pursuing her love of the outdoors, Keri Wallace stepped away from a 10-year career in science communication and moved with her husband and two young daughters to Glen Coe. She’s never regretted it for a second. The res…

Episode 2#02 is in awe of Zac Poulton. Zac is one of the Lake District’s three “Fell Top Assessors”, which means that today, yesterday, tomorrow and every day of the winter season, there’s a 33 per cent chance that he’s walking to the summit of one of England’s highest peaks. The resulting pictures and written reports provide an invaluable resource…

Hello! And welcome to series two of Mountain Air! It’s an absolute pleasure for this episode to be supported by UKHillwalking.com, and an equal pleasure to be bringing you 87-minutes of conversation with Sibusiso Vilane - an inspirational man with an inspirational story to tell. In 2003, Sibusiso he became the first black African to summit Mt Evere…

Series 2 is here! And it requires a small amount of introduction. All of which you’ll find in the audio file you're currently browsing. However, for those of us that prefer the written word, here’s a précis: - there will be another 10 fantastic interviewees to look forward to. - it’s proudly sponsored by www.ukhillwalking.com (“the fastest growing …

Episode #10 stars guidebook writer, website editor, mountaineering journalist and all round outdoor adept Dan Bailey. When not researching and writing up gleaming new guidebooks to his adopted homeland of Scotland, London-born Dan lives the life of a professional outdoor scribe, managing a popular hillwalking website, publishing intricate route des…

Episode #9 welcomes a man who’s not only a living legend in the worlds of climbing and mountain running, but also the organisational driving force behind the Dragon’s Back Race, the Cape Wrath Ultra, Skyline Scotland, and the Great Lakeland 3Dday. That means that we could only be talking about one person: Shane Ohly. Shane first entered the scene i…

Episode #8... is delighted to meet Dr Hannah Lock! Currently a General Practice Speciality Registrar (i.e. a junior doctor) based at the mountaineer’s choice of hospital in Bangor, she’s also an expedition medic whose adventures have taken her to destinations as dramatic as Ecuador and Nepal, and peaks as coveted as Kilimanjaro and Stok Kangri.Hann…

Episode #7 welcomes a guest who’s not just a travel writer, an author of fiction, a chronicler of histories, an editor, and a passionate student of people and landscape… but an accomplished singer-songwriter too. So perhaps “wordsmith” doesn’t quite encompass everything that makes Malachy Tallack tick (any more concise single-word summaries gratefu…

Episode #6 manages to make mention of both Nanga Parbat (8,126m, home to the towering four-and-a-half-kilometre tall Rupal Face), and the exquisite Roseberry Topping (320m, 16th highest point in the North York Moors). That’s because the man doing most of the talking is Alan Hinkes: acclaimed climber, photographer, author, motivational speaker, envi…

If episode #5 is going to teach us anything, it’s what Ross Worthington has “triple bagged and buried” in his back garden. But don’t just stay for that tantalising snippet, because Ross, along with Kate “off-of-episode-4” Worthington, is a co-founder of RAW Adventures. That means there’s much to be said about living below and working on Planet Eart…

Episode #4 says hello to Kate Worthington. In 2008 Kate and her husband Ross* founded the outdoor activities company RAW Adventures. Based beneath the shadow of Snowdon/Yr Wyddfa they’ve spent the past decade-plus helping people discover the challenges, beauty, and excitement of the North Walian hills. When not leading clients up Britain’s busiest …

Episode #3 welcomes Nina Schlesener to the podcast. Born and raised in the Berchtesgaden Alps of Bavaria, Nina was until recently the youngest female Mountain Guide in the whole of Germany. She’s written the only summer guidebook to her home region which has been translated into English, can climb The Nose on El Capitan in one go, is used to headin…

Episode #2 is here, and it's all about photographer, writer and Mountain Leader Nick Livesey. Nick grew up in the city of Peterborough, a place he has little love for and where - despite carving out a career for himself as a musician - he was "going nowhere, fast". Rather than live a life of "self-medication" and frustration, he escaped to the moun…

Episode #1 kicks off the podcast with Mountaineering Instructor Rob Johnson. Based in Snowdonia, he’s spent the past 20 years guiding clients across the mountains of Britain, amongst the European Alps, and onto the peaks of Norway, Nepal and Peru. He’s taught outdoor skills and Mountain Leader courses to many hundreds of clients (including your hos…