Melanie Windridge's Blog

Victor Saunders is mountaineer, author, and president of the Alpine Club. We spoke to Victor about his well established career as a mountaineer, Everest guide and more.

1. How did you get into climbing? Very  simply, it was an extension of small boys climbing trees for adventure and fun.  So many of our obsessions in adult life have their roots in our childhood. 

Victor Saunders

2. You have guided multiple times on Everest. What do you enjoy about the experience?I enjoy helping people attempt...

Craig Storti

Craig Storti is the author of the newly released book ‘The Hunt for Mount Everest’, which explores the history of the mountain before the 1920s and the first ascent. We spoke to Craig to find out more about him and his book.

1. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

My career has been as a trainer and consultant in the field of intercultural communications, about which I have written eight books. I grew up in New England (a proud Vermonter), went to high school in Wyoming, to ...

 

Descending from the summit of Nelion, Mt Kenya

In this interview, we spoke to Jeremy Windsor, a climber, mountain medicine doctor, and Consultant in Anaesthetics and Critical Care at Chesterfield Royal Hospital.

1. Can you tell us more about what you do and how you got there?

Jeremy in PPE

I am a Consultant in Anaesthetics and Critical Care at Chesterfield Royal Hospital. For many years I balanced my medical career with guiding, teaching and practising medicine in the mountain environment. But...

Tom climbing Book of Ages E5 6b at Gogarth. Photo: Dan Lane

In this interview, we spoke to climber and writer Tom Livingstone, about his career in climbing and the Young Alpinist Group initiative. 

1. Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do.

My name is Tom Livingstone. I’m 30 years old and I would describe myself as a climber. My life has been dedicated to – and shaped by – climbing cliffs and mountains. This is both in my home country (UK) and around the world.

2. You’re a very accomplishe...

Nicholas Jones and I met in 2017 when he invited me to the exhibition of his new Aurora paintings at the Crane Kalman Gallery in London. He had seen my book Aurora: In Search of the Northern Lights and realised that we had a shared passion—the Arctic, the light and the aurora.

In my book, I talked about aurora in art. Before photography, it was only through art that the phenomenon could be captured at all. Historical works in the sixteenth century show the aurora in the superstitious light of t...

It’s a new year, a new beginning, but we are all still in the same grip of Covid-19, wondering how much longer we will have to endure it.

In mid-2020 my left retina detached from the back of my eye. I had eye surgery three times in six months to fix it (and I’m hoping that now it stays stuck). On the morning of my second surgery, the day after I had found out that the retina had come away again, I couldn’t help thinking about the ladders on Everest and how I had no choice but to do something tha...

Earlier this year, I re-released my fusion book, Star Chambers: The Race for Fusion Power , as a 2020 edition with a ten-year update chapter.

 

 

Star Chambers: The Race for Fusion Power is a basic introduction to fusion using tokamaks and was written as a series of blogs for the Institute of Physics. Ten years ago I was their Schools Lecturer, and throughout 2010 I visited 30 different schools in a nationwide tour (and did a few extras besides!). As I went around the country I wrote blogs,...

To commemorate 45 years since Doug Scott and Dougal Haston became the first Britons to summit Mt. Everest, Community Action Nepal (CAN) created a Virtual Everest Challenge 2020 that anyone could take part in from the comfort of their home. In honour of this anniversary and CAN’s initiative, I documented myself completing the challenge in a short Youtube video, while also talking about some interesting Everest climbing facts.

In this blog, I expand a bit more on the 5 surprising facts about Evere...

In this post, we have listed some useful resources about aurora in other languages. This is an ever-growing list that will be updated with more useful information. If you have a resource that would be useful for other readers, please get in touch with us by emailing eve@melaniewindridge.co.uk

Resources in Spanish

Aurora Boreal y otros cuentos, Fabián Sanhueza Vásquez
Traditions of the Sun (ESP, YUA (Maya))
El porqué de las Auroras Polares (video 720p sub esp)
Secretos de la aurora polar
La au...

Aurora from Mark’s adventure. Photo: Mark Lewney

Aurora Story by Mark Lewney, UK.

One can only see major fault lines in a marriage in hindsight, I guess. An odd opener to an Aurora Story, right? Fear not, my hook here is not an attempt to connect ionization of charged particles whose trajectories have been changed by the magnetosphere to human relationships. That would obviously be silly. It’s why astrologers don’t just go down the bookies.

My 40th birthday, 6 years ago. What do I really, reall...