Enjoying solitude and pristine early-season conditions on the 3308m Pico de la Maladeta (Chapter 6)
Windswept in the Pyrenees – Alan Payne and I first shared a rope in the Atlas Mountains in 1965 and subsequently made numerous expeditions to the Alps, Pyrenees and Himalaya over the next 40 years (photo: Peter Smith)
The Arrémoulit refuge nestles in a Pyrenean landscape of granite and water (Chapter 11)
Hugh Walton emerging from a hidden crevasse on the Vignemale’s glacier (Chapter 16)
Dawn light on the north face of the Vignemale, one of the most imposing of Pyrenean walls (Chapter 16)
With the ultimate Pyrénéistes, Pierre (left) and Jean Ravier at Tuzaguet in 2006 (Chapter 19) (photo: Michèle Ravier)
Piz Bernina and Piz Roseg in summer – very different from a mid-winter moonlight view seen from a camp on Piz Corvatsch (Chapter 20)
Glemmtal guide Fredi Bachmann, with the Hohe Tauern as a backdrop (Chapter 23)
The ladder route to the Pas de Chèvres above the Cheilon glacier (Chapter 26)
The approach to the Mountet hut used to cross the Zinal glacier below the Ober Gabelhorn (Chapter 30)
At the head of the Gasterntal, Roland Hiss studies the ice cliffs of the Kanderfirn (Chapter 33)
Shortly after dawn, the massive southwest or Yalung face of Kangchenjunga is revealed in all its glory (Chapter 47)
Local guide Hörst Kaschnig shows the way on a via ferrata in the Kamnik-Savinja mountains of Slovenia (Chapter 45)
Alan Payne in the Gokyo valley – our early treks in the Himalaya, using simple teahouses for accommodation, led through some memorable landscapes
Group treks rely for their success on the strength and goodwill of porters who carry the loads; they are the unsung heroes of the Himalaya
In the Langtang village of Syabru an old man watches the world go by (Chapter 51)
The four Dolpo women whose voices echoed a ‘song of the hidden land’ (Chapter 59)
A typical Sherpa house in Phortse at the mouth of the Gokyo valley (Chapter 61)
Ploughing with buffalo – an iconic post-harvest scene in the Himalayan foothills
On the edge of Khumjung, a solitary chorten, prayer flags and mani stones direct attention towards Ama Dablam
The silent Bhutanese woman who became my shadow on the way to Cheri Gompa (Chapter 63)
Cheri Gompa stands high above the Thimpu Chhu in the Bhutanese foothills (Chapter 63)
This makeshift bridge took us across a tributary of the Buri Gandaki on my most recent trek around Manaslu (Chapter 66)
My long-time friend, Kirken Sherpa (second from left), poses with our group of friends after crossing the Larkya La on the Manaslu Circuit (Chapter 66)
Figures in silhouette prepare to bivouac by a cold lake on Corsica’s Monte Rotondo (Chapter 68)
A symbolic model ark contains the summit book on Turkey’s Mount Ararat – sadly, Noah’s signature does not appear in it (Chapter 73)
Mehmut’s yayla on the slopes of Mount Ararat (Chapter 73)
In benevolent mood, Huascaran looks down on the memorial garden where once stood the town of Yungay (Chapter 74)
The team of Quechua Indians and their burros that accompanied our journey around Peru’s Cordillera Blanca (Chapter 75)
Atlas Mountains
EXOTIC MOUNTAIN PLAYGROUND
Reaching altitudes of over 4000m, the Atlas Mountains stretch across the shoulder of northwest Africa from western Morocco to Tunisia. Wild, rugged and easily accessible from Marrakech, today the highest summits and the valleys that radiate from them have become a popular destination for European climbers and trekkers, for whom they represent
