Mountain Air

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 result of this sizeable life-shift was the founding, in 2018, of “Girls on Hills: the UK's only guided trail, fell and skyrunning running company, designed specifically for women”. Over the past four years, Girls on Hills has expanded from an idea shared between friends, to a multi-faceted guiding company where women can pursue a love of mountain running aided by some of Britain’s most dedicated female runners. It’s not just a business to Keri, but has become a positive force for empowering women in the outdoors and giving female runners the space to connect with nature, with each other, and to excel.

But that’s not to say that Keri herself isn’t a pretty inspiring figure (far from it). Keri’s outdoor CV includes a 10-day solo traverse of the “Big Three” hillwalking rounds of the Bob Graham, Paddy Buckley and Charlie Ramsay (she was recovering from a running injury at the time); posting a competitive time on the mammoth Gore-Tex Transalpine Run; and - perhaps most impressively of all - managing to take her two young daughters wild camping atop Glen Coe…

> Read more about Keri Wallace and Girls on Hills here: girlsonhills.com, and find them on Instagram here: @girlsonhillsuk

Listen, enjoy, tell your friends, subscribe to the podcast if you get and chance, and thank UKHillwalking.com for their kind support of this series!

> www.mountainairpodcast.uk

[episode recorded on 17/11/21]

00:00 - Introduction

02:15 -“Kids’ shenanigans” 

05:10 - All about Girls on Hills, transitioning from science communicator to business owner: “a bit of a leap, and a massive financial step backwards… but suddenly life got much simpler”

07:50 - “We saw that lots of women wanted to run”, opening up to each other in the outdoors

10:00 - “The things that you learn in the mountains, in terms of self-sufficiency and confidence, can be applied in your wider life”, running as an accessible, “low skill” sport, the appeal of a “women-specific” running experience

14:15 - Banter, the strengthening of mixed groups, bothies and camping, concerns about physical safety

22:40 - Leading runners in the Glen Coe environment, “… it just looks impenetrable!”

29:35 - A quick look at Keri’s running CV… “I think I’ll do a mountain marathon… how hard can it be?” … it turns out “really, really hard”.

37:02 - A solo, 10-day hillwalking trio of the Bob Graham Round, the Paddy Buckley Round and the Charlie Ramsay Round, raising money for the John Muir Trust and Water Aid (“it made me scared to do these things by myself, and that made me think that I ought to go and do it”)

40:46 - FACT CHECK: Keri is (of course) absolutely correct and the Bob Graham Round comprises the summits of 42 fells. 

44:00 - Reaching personal limits on the Gore-Tex Transalpine Run … “when you find it you always think it’s not your limit, and there’s some reason it’s not your limit” 

48:55 - Parenting tips: taking kids wild camping (build up to it, be prepared to carry them out, take sweets and give them one on each zig-zag, “we try really hard not to bribe them constantly”)

53:03 - Greatest Mountain Memory: a formative tragedy on “my first ever mountain, which was Ben Nevis”

55:25 - All the time, money, freedom… where do you go? “To apply myself to something, whether it be a race or a challenge… to throw myself into something and give it my best efforts”

58:08 - A final thought on safety in the outdoors. What can the world - and men in particular - do to help others feel safe?

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 for hillwalkers, climbers and anyone else venturing out onto the wintery fells. Winning this kind of role means you’re about as dependable on the hill as human beings get.

But that’s only a fraction of the story. Because the more you ask Zac about his career in the outdoors, the more amazing the tales become. He spent a month in Greenland helping to film base jumping barnacle geese chicks. He’s dangled down Alum Pot testing 5G broadcast equipment, he’s lived in vans in Scotland, ditches in the Alps, safety managed Kilian Jornet in Glen Coe, solo climbed Ama Dablam, guided tens of people to the summit of Everest, explored parts of Antarctica, lectured University students, and hallucinated on Wainwright’s Coast-to-Coast.

… and all of this whilst overcoming a fear of heights. If you’ve ever considered a career in the outdoors and are wondering where such a move could take you, Zac’s story could be exactly what you need to hear.

> Read more about Zac Poulton here: www.mtnsafety.co.uk, and follow him on Twitter here: @MTN_Safety

Listen, enjoy, tell your friends, subscribe to the podcast if you get and chance, and thank the excellent UKHillwalking.com for their kind support of this series!

www.mountainairpodcast.uk

[episode recorded on 25/11/21]

00:00 – Introduction

02:58 – Welcome, fell top assessing, safety work, high altitude guiding

04:52 – Recent activities: film safety, 5G testing and live broadcasts, Alum Pot

10:47 – Base jumping barnacle geese chicks in Greenland

16:20 – “… they get focused on what’s going on through the camera and forget about the polar bear that’s stalking them from behind…”

18:26 – The last 10 years: commercial guiding on big peaks, Scotland, life in a van, lecturing, training film crews

22:46 – “Keep saying yes, and keep doing a good job, and the doors will keep opening”

24:24 - Alpine memories: “living in a ditch in a field until the money ran out then hitching home again”, inspired by a being a Scout and reading mountaineering literature “even before I could read”

27:38 – Overcoming a fear of heights, and why it’s key to being an effective guide

36:50 – The pressure of expedition guiding, and learning to decompress afterwards, “I like to think that if they’re complaining about the food, then things are going well”

40:00 – Safety for mountain running events, Glen Coe Skyline with Kilian Jornet, personal running experience

45:40 – “I maybe slept for four hours or so… the hallucinations were quite good”

47:12 – Guiding on Everest, “It’s hurting, but I’ve got a job to do, and these people are probably hurting more. I need to support them”, 45-minutes alone on the summit “not a soul in sight, and looking at the view”

56:20 – Life as a Fell Top Assessor… and “informal, 20-minute crampon sessions”

62:00 – “Parenthood is another of those amazing experiences, so so ‘yes’ to that as well!”

63:00 – Greatest Mountain Memory: solo climb of Ama Dablam “so much of my work is with clients, which I love, but just to be out there by myself, able to move at my own pace and enjoy that environment…”

67:20 – All the time, money, freedom, where do you go? The Antarctic coastline, or explorations of Baffin Island and the Arctic territories

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 Everest, a phenomenal achievement given his impoverished roots and lack of mountaineering background, and one that earned him the attention and praise of Nelson Mandela and the wider world. But his story runs far deeper than that. His childhood was one of extreme poverty in apartheid Johannesburg, and later in Swaziland (now Eswatini). Hard work, dedication and the privilege of being able to attend school from age 10 eventually brought him a job as a tourist officer in a nature reserve, a position which made possible a chance meeting that would change the path of his life forever.

Consumed by a passion for mountains and physical challenges, his life story is one that involves continental summits, ultra running, humility, the responsibilities of being a role model, laughter, charity work, motivational speaking, multiple summits of Everest and historical partnerships with... Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

> Read more about Sibusiso Vilane at www.sibusisovilane.co.za

> Visit the podcast at www.mountainairpodcast.uk

Listen, enjoy, tell your friends, subscribe to the podcast if you get and chance, and thank UKHillwalking for their kind support!

[episode recorded on 11/11/21]

00:00 – Introduction

02:16 – Welcome, responding to the pandemic by running (“I ran a full marathon last weekend… it was just dreadful!”

08:30 – The rarest of all mountaineering backgrounds: growing up poor and black in apartheid Johannesburg, then Swaziland (“we never had clothes or three square meals a day”)

12:50 – Life as a “Headboy” in rural Swaziland (“I was 10 years old when I started school”), a multilingual upbringing

19:05 – First steps into the world of work: manual labour, writing letters, a nature reserve, natural knowledge, life as a tourist officer, and a fateful meeting

23:00 – Discovering the Drakensberg (“a vast mountain range, and a beautiful mountain grassland”), John Doble, waterfall scrambling, the start of mountaineering plans, why can’t black Africans do the same?

30:40 - “It will not make sense to my grandmother or my mother who are trying to fend through hardship to bring food on the table… why would I want to go overseas to climb a mountain?”

32:20 – Kilimanjaro: “I got as sick as a dog on day two, all the high altitude symptoms that you can get, I got all of them! But I summited on the most beautiful day, and I looked at that and thought that one day I would want to see the sunrise from the summit of Mt Everest”.

36:50 – “I want to do it for Africa. I want to show the world and Africans themselves that they can do these things.”

40:54 – Climbing Everest (“I can never deceive people that it was easy. It was physically tough. Mentally tough… it can never be explained in words how physically tough it is.”)

50:34 – Reaching the summit (“You are about to be proof that it can be done… you become overcome by your emotions and you don’t believe what is happening.”)

56:30 - “It took me a long time to realise how relevant it was going to be to any other young kid who grows up in Africa without a home”, meeting Nelson Mandela

58:50 – The first black African to climb the Seven Summits (“when you set a standard, how do you keep it as consistent? There’s no way I could be consistent as a role model by climbing just one mountain. I will keep on climbing as long as I live to be looked upon as an example.”)

68:50 – Being changed by mountain experiences (“I still regard mountains as the best ‘university’ I’ve ever attended.”), summiting Everest for a second time… with Ranulph Fiennes.

75:20 – Sitting in a tent with Ranulph Fiennes: “Well if there’s anything else you want to do it’s one of the polar walks” (“When I looked at his hands, which were frostbitten, I thought ‘well, not a good idea…’”)

76:38 - Greatest Mountain Memory: “I looked at this mountain and I just fell in love with it. I was disappointed to learn that it wasn’t Everest, it was Ama Dablam. This is the mountain that calls me to go back to mountains.”, similar experiences with the Matterhorn.

79:32 - *HONK HONK*

80:20 - All the time, money, freedom, where do you go?: “It depends on the season… on the slopes of an 8,000m mountain waiting to summit…  sweating profusely running a desert marathon… on a safari in the bush with the family…”

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 hillwalking website in the world”).

- the first episode is available via your browser on UKH right now, so you can listen to it straight away if you so desire.

- it will then be released on mountainairpodcast.uk and this podcast feed in two weeks’ time, on Wednesday 15 December.

- the same two week arrangement will be true for future episodes

- episode 1 features the truly inspirational Sibusiso Vilane!

That’s it. What are you waiting for? Get your sweet self over to www.ukhillwalking.com pronto.

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 descriptions of the UK’s most inspiring mountain adventures, and tirelessly reviewing reams of expensive kit so that you don’t have to. It’s a tough life, I tells ya.

Beyond this insight into one of planet Earth’s true “dream jobs”, Dan has enjoyed mountaineering epics from the Pyrenees to the Rwenzori (though he seems to enjoy an ice-clad Scotland best) and was once struck by lightning on the Cobbler. It’s every bit the anecdote that you would hope it to be.

You can see Dan’s Cicerone author page here: cicerone.co.uk/authors/dan-bailey and make sure to visit UKHillwalking.com to see the fruits of his daily labours too.

[episode recorded on 02/09/21]

00:00 - Introduction

01:44 - Welcome, guidebook writing

11:22 - Precious feedback, and being recognised on the hill

15:06 - “Over 10-15 years each book may have earned me a reasonable year’s salary”

16:50 - Struck by lightning on the Cobbler: (holes in boots, exploding mugs and “my whole body was buzzing, like when you bang your funny bone and you get that nerve tingle. I had that from head to toe”). Eventually being poked and prodded by doctors

26:43 - Outdoor journalism, editing ukhillwalking.com, “I’ve always understood how lucky I am to do that and call it work.”

35:42 - Exploring every part of the UK mountains, “there are hills and even whole ranges that I haven’t even visited yet, so there’s always more to do”

39:58 - Living remotely, “nine miles down a single track road from Gairloch… so a good 140 mile round trip on mountain roads in the winter to get the groceries in. We were menu planning quite closely.”

43:30 - Reviewing outdoor gear for a living “It’s a real perk to have all this free gear showered on us, but it’s a real job as well.”

47:06 - Calling all EU47 / UK12 boot-wearing hillwalkers

48:35 - A “power imbalance” between outdoor brands and outdoor media?

51:38 - An epic tale… climbing the three highest peaks in Africa, connected by public transport, “three weeks of manic bus travel”

57:00 - (from https://www.britannica.com/place/Margherita-Peak... “It was first climbed in 1906 by an expedition led by Luigi Amedeo Abruzzi and was named for Queen Margherita of Italy”)

61:00 - “We got into a little bivvy hut which is sort of like a metal coffin…”

63:53 - Greatest Mountain Memory - a youthful awakening in the Pyrenees “The feeling of freedom and limitless possibility that you get when this mountain world opens to you for the first time, and you’re there under your own steam with no particular agenda… this is it. This is the most in touch with the world, and peaceful and enthused I’ve felt. Ever. I suppose I’m always trying to recreate that youthful, wide-eyed experience of the mountains.”

68:48 - All the time, money, freedom, where do you go? “I like Scotland a lot, but I’ve never been to Scotland’s big sister, which is Norway… I’m going to drive from south to north over four months picking off mountaineering routes.”

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 in his teens/20s as a sponsored climber found energetically attacking everything from Cornish crags to the Eiffel Tower, with a brutal 2003 “502 routes in 18hrs” epic thrown in for good measure. Since then he’s turned to running for his kicks and - amongst many other mind-boggling achievements - has finished first in the 53-year-old epic OMM Elite three times (!).

The real questions are: does he feel fear while free climbing? Would he get on with his “brash, careless” 18-year-old self? And does he ever just sit on the couch eating crisps…?

You can find out more about Shane via shaneohly.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram. While you’re at it check out his company Ourea Events too.

[episode recorded on 28/04/21]

- See mountainairpodcast.uk for full description, pictures and more episodes!