Nepal has featured high on my list of destinations that I simply had to visit for many years now. A strange timeline saw me booking flights in April, just as the earthquake rocked the country. For the months prior to our November departure the earthquake dominated peoples discussions, with concerned questions relating to a country that had been toppled as seen through the media. Don’t get me wrong, there were signs of destruction that we witnessed but as a whole life continues moving forward with other challenges (at the time of visit India had stopped the flow of fuel into the country, crippling the infrastructure) now at the front of the mind.
Quieter than usual?
Having not visited the country before, I can only go off what we were told time and time again throughout the trip. The aftermath of the earthquake is not so much in the destruction it caused, but instead on the number of people who had cancelled or postponed trips to the country. The main tourist hub of Kathmandu, Thamel, was extremely quiet, and the trails in the Khumbu Valley were apparently 90 percent down on visitor numbers to previous years.
Gallery
I just uploaded a new gallery to my website showing some of the landscapes from the trip (that you can see here). Here’s a few more that I picked out for the blog. As I mentioned, this was my first trip to the country. It poses quite a few challenges and travel is not always comfortable but I simply can’t wait to go back. You should go there too.A big thanks to Rab & Lowealpine who I worked together with on this trip.
Kathmandu in all its chaos. two nights proved ample to arrange permits and flight tickets.
There’s something great about the domestic terminal at Kathmandu. I can only imagine how crazy it must be during the Spring expedition season.
Passing security, still wearing beanie and down jacket. “Do you have any guns or knives?”
The short, but well documented, 35 minute flight from Kathmandu to Tenzing-Hillary airport in Lukla.
This was my first trip using the Sony camera systems. Dust management is really key with these mirrorless bodies, but loved the portability of the cameras. The trip only made me want to explore more uses for the cameras and i’m currently buying more into the brand.
Having flown in the day before, we woke super early in Namche Bazaar to go exploring.
The earthquake had done quite a bit of damage to the town of Khumjung, with a lot guys working hard to rebuild.
At the lower elevations (under 4000m that is) clouds would roll through in the afternoon making for some atmospheric walks.
Early morning light on the approach to Namche Bazaar.
Almost everything in the Khumbu valley is brought in on foot. Here a porters load consists of some corrugated steel.
Our porter Bhagyaman had a less imposing load. At around 35kg though, it still packed a punch.
Early days in the foothills.
The landscape unrolls as you explore each valley. The walk from Pheriche up to Dzongla is right up there as one of my favourites.
Taking things higher and to the more barren landscapes as we looked to climb Lobuche East.
Lobuche East high camp and the only team on the mountain. It felt strange climbing a peak in such solitude.
Everyone else had left me so I waited for sunset by myself, well layered up.
Not a bad spot for a crampon point. Descending from Lobuche East on another beautiful day.
I can’t wait to go back.
The Freeride World Tour rolls into Chamonix every year to stage an event that all competitors, organiser and media look forward to. I feel like in Europe there’s no location quite like Chamonix, with imposing peaks of the Aiguille du Midi and Mont Blanc dominating the skyline above the town. Unlike other mountain resorts, these peaks jot straight up from town giving you an uninterrupted, and somewhat intimidating, view from wherever you might be in the valley.I’ve attended the Chamonix leg of the Freeride World Tour each year since 2011 and have become accustomed to the early morning gondola ride that working on the competition affords. This year I was determined to get up early to see how the sky was looking so i jumped onboard a 7am ride up to 2000m just as the morning light was starting to pop.
Pranplaz, situated at 1,999m, is directly opposite the Aiguille du Midi and Mont Blanc. As the sky starts to show signs of life, the sun initially illuminates the South face of the mountains where the Italian resort of Courmayeur is based. They take great pride in their location, marketing the town as, “the sunny side of Mont Blanc”.This selection of images were all captured between 7.15 and 8am as I stood and waited for the skiers and snowboarders to arrive. As they started to filter out at the top of the gondola the clouds were moving fast, washing out the skyline within about 10 minutes. it does give the sense of blink and you might miss it.
There were moments during the competition where blue skies flirted with us, but generally the day was now filled with clouds. Just before 10am the light popped once more, illuminating the summit of Mont Blanc that was now being battered by strong winds.It’s a rare treat when you can capture images own your morning commute to work. Chamonix has a habit of producing the goods, leaving smiles permanently etched on the people who visit. I love the area both in the winter and summer, with some of the most visually stunning running trails to look forward to once the snow melts.
My first ever night wild camping. I’d taken along Outside Magazine to read and hurriedly flipped past the article about double murder on the Appalachian Trail. The Aiguille de Midi and Mont Blanc offer a nice view for the first night. The headlamps of runner competing in the TDS race can be seen in the mountains far right.
A better view of the TDS race. I completed this race myself in 2013 and it’s truly an incredible course. With a 20km downhill followed by a 2000m ascent, this race gives it all. This image captured around 1am would be the runners coming in around 50th place.
Italy! Oh man, what a view. The second race of the weekend was the CCC. Again, I’ve competed in this race in 2012 and it kicked my ass. That year the course was shortened due to heavy snow. No such problems this year as I made my camp high above Courmayeur in time for sunset. A refuge was about 20 minutes walk away, so once pitched I grabbed a couple of beers for the night.
Just like sunset, sunrise was pretty epic too. The CCC started at 9am, giving me the chance to pack up slowly and hike a little into the course before the lead runners were due by.
Tour de Mont Blanc route markings on the Italian side. The UTMB is only for one weekend and the majority of people walk the 170km route. Having spent quite a bit of time over the last years on the route, I can’t recommend it highly enough. Its amazing.
Walking up to the CCC course, I could see a helicopter dropping off organisers at the high point of the race.
10:04am. Despite the CCC race having started at 9am, the runners had a big climb before they got to me. Plenty of time to grab some running self portraits.
10:45am and the lead pack come by flying. Nike Trail Running had brought along some athletes who dominated the event from start to finish. I like the track athletics feel to their kits, with short shorts and vests as opposed some of the tight fitting gear that’s loved in Europe.
10:46am and i’ve rotated my body 45 degrees since the last shot. The course that follows the UTMB races, especially around the Italian Val Ferret, is simply incredible.
The weather always plays a major role in the outcome of the UTMB races. As I just mentioned, we had heavy snow in 2012 and it was really tough going. This year it was the heat, with a period of high temperatures ready to greet the racers. Lots of unscheduled stops into pools of water and streams was the order of the races.
Racing towards the first aid station at the Italian Refuge Bertone, these runners still had to cross over into Switzerland and then into France before their race would be done.
Following the days earlier CCC, I had to head back to Geneva to pick up my girlfriend to join me on night 3. Our date night involved driving to Arnouva, at the end of the Val Ferret, grabbing dinner and hiking up towards the Grand Col Ferret with headlamps on. The peak marks the boundary between Italy and Switzerland and it’s one of my favourite places in the world. It’s also well placed at around 100km into the UTMB.
We pitched the tent on the side of the route and grabbed some sleep before the front runners came past at 5.45am. The first ten competitors were quite spread out and Julien Chorier (pictured here) made his way past us as the sun just started to rise. I’ve worked with Julien a lot now and I often use him for my French practice. Upon asking him how he was doing, he told me that he couldn’t put his full foot down anymore or do any running. Not quite understanding what he replied (his response was translated to me afterwards), I gave the standard “Super, allez, allez, bravo” encouragement that most French runners afforded. Poor guy. He was just trying to tell me how he was feeling. He abandoned the race at the next checkpoint.
Shortly after Julien passed, the light started to creep up and over the peaks to start warming the valley.
Our camp becomes apparent as the starts to brighten the valley, with the shadows of mountains showing how great this place is. Not a bad spot and right on the UTMB course too.
Joe Grant makes his way up the slopes of the Grand col Ferret, just as the light starts to touch the ridges of the mountain.
Shortly afterwards, an explosion of light wakens up the valley. Fernanda Maciel came past just after 8am, whereas the last runner wouldn’t pass through this area for another twelve hours. 
Having finished my days work, it was time to head back home. A quick google map search showed three possible routes, with me naturally choosing the shortest distance but longest predicted time. “Maybe it’s a mountain pass” I thought to myself. What followed was a 37km stretch of road up to the Passo Della Novena, which at 2478m is the second highest paved road in Switzerland. What makes this pass so special is that following a great day at work, I didn’t see a single car for the whole time. Incredible.
I’ve been using the range of bags from 
One week after this race I was set to head to Corsica to document a trail running project. Although I wouldn’t be running, I had to be prepared to move very quickly over very steep terrain with a couple of 1,000m climbs in order to get into shooting position. Having had the luxury of spending a summer using running bags, I wanted to make sure that I adopted a similar mindset towards choosing a camera bag for my time in Corsica. The guys over at f-stop had provided me with a 
Whats in my f-stop Kenti then?
As you can see in the above shot, compared with the traditional ICU format, the Kenti allows you to store a camera in one side along with a few lenses on the other. This has been designed with photographers who are using smaller bodied cameras in mind, although with a little customisation I was able to fit the Canon 1d attached with the 70-200 in one side, and my lenses (minus the 1.4x extender) in the other. If i’m honest, fitting a pro camera body into the bag was a bit of a squeeze but it still worked.
Taking up the additional space is a roll down top compartment, allowing for some clothing and other accessories to fit in. The role down aspect is great as it allows you to slightly increase or descries the volume of the bag depending on what is inside. Going back to talk of trail running, the clothing that outdoor companies are producing right now are so lightweight that they take up very little space in your bag. I found it little trouble to get the clothes pictured into the bag, along with the remaining items. For hydration, the bag does come with a compartment where you can store a water bladder, but like most of the running community i’ve ventured away from bladders to soft flasks. In the image with my running bag you can see where the soft flasks slot in on the straps around chest height. I’m able to drink without touching the flask and when empty they take up no space. I’d love to see this incorporated into future camera bags and for this trip I found that storing them in the roll down compartment was a little too nerve-wracking (with the fear of them leaking on top of my camera equipment).Once on, the bag feels really comfortable and you notice the smaller form factor almost immediately. The project I was on involved shooting over a period of 36 hours, climbing, running and generally being on my feet most of the time. Of course, this bag ladened with a bunch of lenses and a heavy camera body was not going to a dream to move quickly with, but the camera fitted snugly inside and I felt comfortable to run without any of my gear jumping around.
This image above shows the bag next to it’s much bigger brother, the 
Thanks to 
As a child I was lucky enough to spend a lot of my holiday time up in the Lake District, a beautiful part of the countryside just two hours north of the town that I grew up in. My sisters and I would be told tales of a mountain called Helvellyn just up in the valley from where we stayed. Too young and inexperienced to climb the peak, I never actually made it up there during those years and future visits to the area would also mark another trip where i didn’t quite make it. This made the mountain seem even more majestic to me as it was fast becoming the one that got away.All this was put to rest yesterday though, as a midweek family catch us brought us back up to this wonderful area for the night. Having logged an all day walk with my Mother and Sister, I set my alarm clock for 6am the following morning, woke up, checked the weather and duly set off with the aim of running up to the summit. My years of not climbing this peak became apparent as i found myself first on an adjacent peak having taken the wrong path 40 minutes earlier. A little bit of extra pace brought me to the summit where around 7am I captured this image (Sony RX100). It’s funny how a mountain that once seemed impregnable could actually be summited in a pre-breakfast run.As well as being a personal milestone, I also sensed the obvious changing of seasons. Having ran the previous week up in the Alps, it’s only too apparent how quickly the snow is melting with the signs of Spring everywhere. Last year took an awful long time for the mountain trails to open (into July for some of them), whereas it feels like we’re already on the cusp of a summer season.If that’s the case then i’m happy with that. Bring it on I say.