Go Mountain Goats

Ben Tibbetts talks to me about alpine bivouac huts, and his project to visit and document hundreds of lesser known huts across the Alps. Ben is an IFMGA Mountain Guide and a professional photographer whose first book Alpenglow showcases the finest routes on the 4000m peaks of the Alps. With his partner Valentine Fabre, he has recently self published Cabin Wild: Alpine Bivouac Huts in two volumes w...

Bobby Gard-Storry tells us about his Wallers Way - a month long 30th birthday celebration in March 2025 in which he ran between the 26 major valleys of the Lake District, repairing a dry stone walling project each day, and sleeping out on the hills each night. Bobby has lived in Cumbria for most of his life and was introduced to the outdoors at an early age. However, it was only later that his pas...

I speak with Es Tresidder, Ben Bardsley and Jon Morgan about our week-a-year traverse of the Grand Alpine Arc, from the Mediterranean to Vienna. Starting in 2016 at Menton near Nice, we have skied together on 9 iterations of this 'Speedy Tours' project where we utilise skimo racing kit for big mountain travel. February 2026 was our final week of the traverse - restarting at our 2025 finish point a...

In June 2023 Jamie Aarons set out on her continuous, self propelled Round of all 282 Munros. 31 days and 10 hrs later she finished on Ben Klibreck with a new record and an incredible story. Moving to Scotland in 2005, Jamie and her partner Andy Taylor completed their first Munro round over one year (2013), before returning in 2020 with their rescue dogs for a second round. Hearing about Donnie Cam...

I speak to Andy Berry about the Lake District 24-hour Fell Record, which he broke in 2023 with a new time of 23 hours and 23 minutes for 78 peaks. The Fell Record has existed in some form since Victorian times, and has evolved and grown in parallel with the honing of criteria for eligible peaks. This has led to some route quirks, and also the fact that the women's record follows a different route...

In March 2024 Anna Wells became the fourth person, and first woman, to complete all 282 Munros in a single winter season. She started on Dec 22nd 2023 and took a little under 83 days, equalling the record set by Martin Moran in 1985. Helen Rennard has subsequently lowered the time to 80 days and 9.5hrs in winter 2024-25 (Episode 47). For related episodes see also Ep 12, 15, 35, and future Ep 58. A...

I talk to Esther Foster about the Langdale Extreme Rock linkup which she completed with Callum Coldwell Storry in May 2025. This challenge involves climbing all seven Langdale routes from the iconic book Extreme Rock in 24 hours. These routes range from E2 - E6 and visit three varied crags: Raven Crag, Gimmer and Pavey Arc. Extreme Rock, by Ken Wilson and Bernard Newman, was published in 1987 and...

Rob Greenwood - who interviewed me about my Dark Bob Graham in Episode 33 - returns to chat about his own adventure on the Fleetwood Lakes 40. Often called the 40 at 40, or Lakes 40, this route was devised by John Fleetwood as a 40 peak challenge to celebrate his 40th birthday. Hear more from John Fleetwood in Episode 42 "Beyond the View". Rob Greenwood has an impressive and broad resume in both t...

Damian Hall is an ultrarunner, coach and writer who has held records on many of the UK's long distance challenges including the Pennine Way, Paddy Buckley Round, Cape Wrath Trail and Wainwrights Coast to Coast. He has placed 5th in UTMB (2018), 4th in Tor des Geants (2023), and has won the Spine Race. He has competed in the infamous Barkley Marathons ultra twice. Damian is also a founder of Th...

I sat down with Rob Woodall to talk all things peak bagging. After completing all the Munros, Corbetts and Grahams, Rob progressed to more obscure categories such as HuMPs (hundred metres of prominence) and TuMPs (thirty and upwards metres of prominence), via some long distance hill running rounds (The UK Big Three, the Rigby Round, and his Cuillin Round to name a few). Rob also devised the Trans...

Wendy Dodds has been at the heart of English and British fell running since before most of us could tie our laces. Now approaching her 75th birthday, Wendy has been racing in the hills since the early 70s, across the breadth of the sport. In 1972 she paired up with Val Finch (nee Pacey) to be the first women's team to complete the KIMM mountain marathon. She was also the first person ever to c...

Rob Fairley talks to me about his journey as an artist - starting at an early age with a school visit to St Kilda, through Edinburgh College of Art and onwards to Mallaig and then Shona Beag island where he spent 5 years as its sole occupant in his early 20s. There he created what would now be described as land art, for example altering the movement of deer in certain ways to create patterns, or '...

Dan Ashwood (Dash) talks me through the Flow Country Traverse which he pioneered in April 2025. This 100km route started at Berriedale on the Caithness coast and headed west into the Flow Country: one of the largest blanket bog systems in the world. Dan has become a bog expert having worked in peatland restoration projects with Caledonian Climate for the past several years. Spending more time in p...

I speak to Dominic Oughton, a Trustee of Climbers Against Cancer (CAC), which is a charity raising money for research and therapeutic projects around the world that support those living with or after cancer. Founded by John Ellison, CAC has recently celebrated it's 10 year anniversary, and has raised over £700,000 to support cancer research and therapeautic initiatives worldwide. You will likely h...

In this conversation with Helen Rennard we hear about her Winter Munro round of last winter in which she completed all 282 Munros in 80 days and 9.5hrs, beating the previous record of just under 83 days shared by Martin Moran (1985) and Anna Wells (2024). Helen talks about her formative days in a local Staffordshire hill walking club, before her progression to many years of hard Scottish winter cl...

In this episode I talk to Iain Innes about his season racing skimo in the ISMF World Cup series, before going on to chat about longer team races and our season finale in the iconic Trofeo Mezzalama race in the Monte Rosa region of the Pennine Alps. Iain raced for Team GB as a downhill skier for over ten years, before switching to more mountaineering-centred activities. This season he has lived out...

In this episode I talk to Will Herman about his new book Northern Horizons. The book explores the hills of Cumbria and Scotland in a series of personal reflections illustrated with the author’s photography. Will has been a fell racer, a runner, a kayaker and a climber - but his book is primarily about mountain experiences themselves. He takes us on long and often unusual routes which are woven wit...

In this episode I meet Dr Mia Burleigh at the University of the West of Scotland in Blantyre, Glasgow, to undertake some physiology testing. I had Lactate Threshold and VO2max testing done and we discuss the results. Dr Burleigh is a Senior Lecturer and Laboratory Director at the university’s Sport and Physical Activity Research Institute, which is the only BASES accredited lab in Scotland (Britis...

This is a live recording of a conversation at The Barrel House, Kendal as part of Kendal Mountain Festival on Saturday 23rd November 2024. Finlay Wild talks to The Selkies (Suzy Connor, Lizzie Goodfellow, Heloise Le Clanche and Cat Riaz) about their journey to the finish line of the 2024 Scottish Islands Peaks Race (SIPR), as the first all-female team to compete in 19 years. The SIPR is a gruellin...

If you delve into the history of almost any endurance mountain running challenge in the UK you will likely see the name John Fleetwood. Usually flying under the radar solo and unsupported, his website www.longdistancechallenges.blogspot.com reveals a plethora of epic mountain adventures in the wild trackless bounds of Scotland, England and Wales. John first became 'hooked' on endurance runs in the...

I took the audio recorder along on the OMM Elite course in Glen Artney over the weekend of 26&27th October 2024. I was paired with Phil Rutter of Kendal who has won the Elite race in 2022 and 2023. The OMM is a 2 day mountain marathon in which teams of two navigate between checkpoints to a midway camp, carrying all the food and kit they require to survive in the October weather. A very popular...

In this episode I sit down with Alice Tirbooman to talk about her journey from aerial circus and climbing in Bristol, to solo Scottish long distance running. We share tales of the remote and unsung Mullardoch Round, a 50km circuit of 12 Munros north of Glen Affric, which Alice ran solo and unsupported in 2022 and 2023. She then contrasts this with her racing experiences which range from the London...

Trofeo Kima is a unique technical race in the beautiful Val Masino region of Italy, in the rough granite mountains not far from Lake Como. While I don't usually devote episodes to organised races, I think Kima justifies an exception, especially this year's race - in which I had a fantastic racing experience with none other than Jack Kuenzle. Jack is now a recurring character on the podcast, having...

In this episode I read my article 'Competition as Catalyst: Beyond Racing on Tranter's Round' which was recently published in Like The Wind magazine #42. Tranter's round is a 60km round in the Lochaber hills, and my favourite round. I held the record for several years until Jack Kuenzle arrived from the USA and shaved around 15 minutes off in summer 2022. It may come as no surprise that I was keen...

It's December 2019. Ben Bardsley packs up his wet tent in the rain at Lindesnes lighthouse, the most southerly point in Norway. He sets off heading north, a direction he will rarely waver from over the next 3 months as he attempts to traverse the entire length of Norway - Norge På Langs - in a single winter. Dealing with a particularly stormy winter, he first met difficulties when the usual winte...