Adventure Bulletin January 2022
Hello everyone and welcome to a new year of Intrepid Magazine!
We’re starting off this year with a rock climbing spotlight, including Anna Fleming’s new book: Time on Rock. Scroll down to find out more about that, plus our regular news round up and content suggestions.
BUT before you go, we have two things.
Firstly, subscriber Jo Moseley is looking for stories about two women in their 50s who went on an adventure together (or still do). Can be any medium, even fictional, and she’ll credit you if it’s used in her project. She has ocean rowers but looking for more examples - can anyone help? I can think of lots of solo adventurers but no pairs. If you know, please contact Jo and/or comment below to enlighten all of us!
Secondly, I am just about to open up submissions for the next 6 month’s worth of articles and I wanted to tell you about it first. Previously we’ve done each month as a different mode of transport. This year we’re going a bit more out the box. So, if you have a first person story about a human-powered adventure, please do consider pitching. All the details are on our about page (scroll down to Contributors).
I won’t repeat everything written there but briefly:
We are all about sharing voices - it doesn’t matter if you’re a “writer” or an “adventurer” as long as you can write in English and have been on something you considered adventurous.
It doesn’t have to be an adventure you did yourself, but make sure your interview/feature has a strong first-person voice through it.
Yes we do pay our writers.
And if you don’t want to contribute but have an idea for a theme/topic/person you would love to see featured please please comment below or reply to this email and tell me. Your ideas help make this magazine what it is.
Rock Climbing Spotlight
This month’s theme is rock climbing, so watch out for climbing-themed articles this month. Rock climbing has a very broad spectrum, from professional competitors to friends at a crag. We’ve tried to cover all bases, but as ever let us know who we’ve missed out by commenting below. Especially if you know of any rock climbing ‘expeditions’ because we could only find a couple. Or people who blog/vlog/pod about smaller climbing adventures regularly.
Janja Garnbret - Slovenian rock climber who won gold at the Olympics. Sure that’s on an indoor wall, but she’s pretty epic on rock too. janja-garnbret.com
Ashima Shiraishi - American climber, another professional who’s been climbing since she was 6 years old. Here’s her Instagram.
Sasha DiGiulian - First American woman to climb 9a with multiple first ascents under her belt. Her site has an old blog and some more recent videos.
Angy Eiter - Austrian pro climber who’s Instagram is full of rock faces and rope.
Emily Ankers - Climber and gender researcher who also edits Beta Club Magazine an “Online climbing and outdoors magazine focusing on the female experience but inclusive of all.” Sounds like our kind of thing!
Courtney Warren - Climber, photographer, videographer. Take a look at her blog and active YouTube channel. We’re surprised she doesn’t have more subscribers.
Kate Kelleghan - is an apprentice rock guide in the US and blogs at pinktapegloves.com :“Welcome to my climbing brain-dump.”
Bennett Rahn - Introduces herself on Instagram as “I climb things and I’m fat”. Here to show that rock climbers come in all shapes and sizes. Instagram.
Genevive Walker - Professional climber. Van life, lead climbing and bouldering on Instagram
Hazel Findlay - British trad climber, first British woman to climb E9. She hosts the Curious Climber Podcast with Mina Leslie-Wujastyk (also UK based minalesliewujastyk.com) that was recommended by lots of our Instagram followers.
Anna Wells - Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor in Scotland. She set a women’s speed record for the Cuillin Ridge because she thought there ought to be one. rocksandtrails.com
Anna Taylor - UK trad climber, you’ll be hearing more from her in the coming weeks… Her roster includes a self-powered Classic Rock round and climbing a new route on the iconic prow of Mount Roraima in the Amazon rainforest. Instagram.
Emma Twyford - We interviewed Emma after she became the first British woman to climb 9a. Read it here and more from Emma here.
Charlie Low - Living many people’s climbing dream from a converted van and Director of the Women’s Trad Festival charlielow.co.uk
And a bonus, because okay this isn’t really rock climbing… Vicki Tough is a tree climbing zoologist (and we’re talking BIG trees). She was featured way back in our second print edition - go check her out!
Book of the Month
This month’s book is Time on Rock by Anna Fleming, subtitled A Climber's Route into the Mountains.
“It reminds me of Nan Shepherd, only the kind of Nan Shepherd I could go for a pint with” – Helen Mort
In Time on Rock, Anna Fleming charts her progress from terrified beginner to confident lead climber, and the way in which learning to climb offered a new relationship with both the landscape, and herself.
Anna takes us from the gritstone rocks of the Peak District and Yorkshire to the gabbro pinnacles of the Black Cuillin on Skye, the slate of North Wales and the high plateaus of the Cairngorms. Each landscape, and each type of rock, brings its own challenges and unique pleasures. She also shows us how climbing invites us into the history of a place: geologically, of course, but also culturally.
She delves into what it’s like to be a woman in such a male-dominated world – and the ways in which the climbing community is trying to shift that balance.
About the Author
Anna Fleming is a regular contributor to Caught by the River and has also published her work in various journals, magazines and anthologies. As well as writing for the Guardian, she keeps a regular blog, The Granite Sea, in which she writes about her experiences of the natural world. Anna is a qualified Mountain Leader who has also worked for the Cairngorms National Park Authority and completed a PhD with the University of Leeds. She lives in Edinburgh.
To keep up to date with Anna’s adventures, first read her Ice Swimming in the Cairngorms story from last month! You can also follow her on Twitter @annafleming or read her blog from the link above.
Read the Book
The first three chapters are now in the members’ area ready for download. We can’t wait to hear what you think about them. If you aren’t a member already, here’s a friendly red button to join Team Intrepid.
The book is available in hardback and eBook. You can purchase it from Amazon, Bookshop.org, Waterstones and any good independent bookshop.
P.S. Anna will be speaking at events around the UK from 14th January. Tickets and details at linktr.ee/TimeOnRock.
Adventure News
Well there has been a fair bit going on over the new year. It’s fantastic to see everyone getting out for new adventures to start 2022 off right. Our Instagram feed is full of mountains and tents, icy lakes and muddy bicycles. But let’s start with some headliners:
Preet Chandi has become the first woman of colour to complete a solo expedition in Antarctica. She completed the 700 miles to the South Pole in 40 days. “I want my 8 year old niece to grow up without boundaries, knowing the possibilities of what you can achieve in life are endless.” You can see all her updates from the 40 days on her site: polarpreet.com/news/
Emma Timmis has just broken the record for running the length of New Zealand. She completed the 2100km in 21 days, taking two weeks off the previous record. Details and tracker map right here.
Alice Morrison is out on the Jordan Trail, hiking 675km from North to South. She’s doing podcast updates from the field.
Victoria Evans is gearing up for her Guinness World Record Attempt to solo row the Atlantic in February. She’s also raising funds for Women in Sport. Watch this space!
Or if you’re holed up indoors trying to get an adventure fix, we’ve got a few recommendations:
Emily Thompson writes about her Chocholowska Round in the Tatras mountains.
Ursula Martin spoke about her 5500 mile walk across Europe at Machynlleth Literature Festival. You can watch the recording here.
While we’re on rock climbing month, there are a few Intrepid articles to read too: here’s a selection of top climbing films and Quickfire Questions with Hazel Findlay.
And don’t forget we’ve got a whole load of suggestions for podcasts and films to watch. Feel free to add yours!
Stay intrepid,
Emily