Mountaineering Instructor, mad keen rock climber and internet sensation. Jez is one of a new wave of Mountain Training course providers. Most of his work now revolves around teaching and guiding climbing and running Mountain Training and assessment courses, but he’s also an internet sensation…

Steve and Helen run a business offering First Aid and other training courses for mountain leaders. Steve and Helen are very experienced mountain rescuers, search dog handlers, they have walked the Munros and most of the Corbetts too. They are both recipients of the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal for services to Mountain Rescue.

Graham is a lifelong hillwalker. This has led to a continuous crossing of the Welsh Hewitt’s, over 300 Scottish Munros and Corbett’s. He’s the author of the recently published and bestselling ‘Walking the Wainwrights’.

Graham has written several other books such the series Backpacker’s Britain, guides to walking in places as diverse as Cornwall and Shetland. Graham is also an ornithologist, photographer, horticulturist, ecological surveyor and counter of birds.

A former employee of the RSPB, a former Helvellyn Fell top assessor, a mountain rescue volunteer, Graham now runs Graham Uney Mountaineering providing a range of courses for hillwalkers and climbers. He’s lived in Wales, Scotland and England and is now based in the Lake District.

Russ is a climber and mountaineer who was a member of the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Team for twenty years serving as chairman for two years before retiring from the team. He’s climbed in the Scottish winter and the Alps as well as the greater ranges of Greenland, Alaska and Patagonia.

He says that whilst sitting in a hotel room once, playing with geo-location code ( as you do) he came up with a germ of an idea that became SARLOC. SARLOC is a technology which has been adapted by search and rescue teams around the World and is a standard part of UK practice, listen in and find out more ……

Richard Talbot is the Product & Marketing Director for Mountain Equipment. He’s a summer and winter mountain leader who dabbles in backpacking and mountain walking, climbing, mountaineering, fell-running and he occasionally ski tours. Richard is a lover of wild and mountainous environments, so so much so that he now lives on his own traditionally managed plot of land in the Yorkshire Dales and is as likely to be found reading a nature book as climbing guide. We ask him what he does, what it’s like to work with kit every day and what challenges the sector faces. We’re interested in how out kit is designed, how it performs, how it’s made and what its environmental impact is.

Be aware there was delay on our line whilst recording. We are blaming Storm Alwen, which visited the day before, sorry, bear with, we do get used to managing it as the podcast procedes. 

Pete Barron is the John Muir Trust Property Manager for the Glenridding Estate. He’s the man that manages Helvellyn. Pete worked for the Lake District National Park as a ranger for 23 years on everything from upland management and path maintenance to raptor protection, supervising volunteers and community engagement. He is now charged with looking after one of our favourite mountains. We find out what the JMT intends for Helvellyn and how they will achieve their aims.

In this episode Mike Raine, Nature of Snowdonia, chats to Carey Davies editor of TGO. Carey has made a successful career as an outdoor journalist. He has written for many outdoor publications and the Guardian newspaper. He has also had a stint as the BMC's Hillwalking officer. Carey remains a keen and committed hillwalker.

Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation provides a search and rescue service for the mountains and rivers of Northern Snowdonia. This area includes Tryfan. the little mountain that easily bites back. The team carries out about 130 operations per annum. A number of these are to assist North Wales Police, Welsh Ambulance Service and the Fire & Rescue Service. The fifty or so members are all volunteers who give of their time to provide this Search and Rescue service, as well as regularly train in numerous skills and manage and administer this charity.

Chris, a familiar face around north Wales, became a Full member of OVMRO in March 1977. During his membership, he has served as Communications Officer, Equipment Officer, Secretary and Chairman (twice). He’s been the Press Officer and Archivist for over 20 years. He’s currently involved with a national scheme to capture the heritage of Mountain Rescue in England and Wales. If history is not recorded, it is quickly lost. Today, is tomorrow's history.

Chris remains an active operational member as well as informing younger team members about the history of the team and Mountain Rescue.

Aside from using his limited spare time to run his own mapping business

Chasing Maps (https://chasingmaps.com), he spends his 9-5 working as a

geospatial consultant for the mapping and geodata heavyweight that is

Ordnance Survey, Britain's National Mapping Agency.

Here, his life as a geospatial consultant to the public sector combined

with his professional outdoor experience, provides him with a unique

perspective on the mapping of Britain historically and today.

Phil grew up in the lower Alps in the tri-border region of Germany,

Austria and Switzerland. Here, his love for the mountains was born, though

he didn't fully realise his passion in this area until studying in

England. By chance he was roped (no pun intended) into the University

Climbing Club and the rest, as they say, is history.

Unfortunately, Phil decided to throw in the towel with a part-time PhD

looking at geographical factors in risk perception a couple of years ago,

though his spare time and stress levels have thanked him for it.

In the past 7 years Phil has held a number of positions at Ordnance Survey

in a variety of departments. Through this he has gained a broad insight

into the inner workings and mechanics of OS, as well as the difference OS

makes to every British citizen's life on a daily basis - you just don't

know it.

During this time, the geospatial industry has changed rapidly and it is

ever accelerating. With this, demands on the data and on the people

working with the data are ever expanding and OS today is a very different

beast to where it was at the turn of the century.

With that, the once core business of "making maps" has long become a side

endeavour to a much larger geospatial data business. Unbeknown to many,

the orange and pink paper maps so many outdoor users love or love to hate

represent merely 5% of OS' annual revenue. So where does the remaining 95%

come from? What does OS actually do? Are there better maps that we just

can't get our hands on? And how does OS survey the country and make maps

today, surely it's all just satellites? Phil will answer all these

questions and more.

What could be easier than running an online subscription based website where the content is generated by the subscribers? Join me and let’s ask David and Chris how www.walkingworld.com  started, way back in the internet dark days of 2000, how it’s developed and where it’s heading next. What seemed like a good idea, in line with the ethos of the internet’s pioneers, that of sharing information as freely as possible, has certainly provided us all with challenges. Can subscription channels work or will advertising always be the beast that calls the tune? How did they get where they are today and where will they go in the future? Join me for a conversation with the team at www.walkingworld.com , for a conversation about using the internet, sharing and spreading good messages and helping people to get out walking, safely and within their comfort zones.