If you ask any of my climbing friends, most of them will know that I have been obsessed by one mountain in particular – the Piz Badile – lying on the border between Switzerland and Italy. It’s North Ridge is one of the most iconic and spectacular climbs in the Alps, but it doesn’t yield…
Ernest Shackleton was born in 1874 in the small Irish village of Kilkea in Kildare. He ultimately became one of the most iconic and charismatic figures of what’s known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. He was a participant on a number of expeditions to the Antarctic between 1901 and 1909. It’s for his…
I was travelling by train to London a number of years ago, and one of my friends said to me “Travel by Virgin – you’ll enjoy it”. I did- there was a real sense from the staff that they actually wanted me to enjoy my journey. Ever since then, I’ve found Richard Branson a fascinating…
I was walking with a friend of mine in the Wicklow hills a few years ago. I’m a regular hill-walker, and as a novice, my friend wanted to come out with me and gain the benefit of my mountain experience. It was a bright, clear Sunday morning, and we were walking somewhere above the Powerscourt…
