Mountain Air cover art

Mountain Air

Mountain Air

Written by: Daniel Aspel
Listen for free

About this listen

Mountain Air is a podcast about outdoor people. Whether guide, photographer, writer, film-maker, athlete, enthusiast or other, each episode focuses on a different individual with a unique tale to tell. They each have one thing in common: a love of places high, wild, and free.

Daniel Aspel Social Sciences Travel Writing & Commentary
Episodes
  • BONUS: Kelvyn James on “Walking Out of the Dark”

    BONUS: Kelvyn James on “Walking Out of the Dark”
    Jul 2 2025

    “Mountaineering, climbing - whatever name you want to give it - is probably the most honest thing there is”

    > Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk

    Sometimes… there’s room for one more episode. Even though Mountain Air is currently on a summer break between the end of series 3 and the eventual arrival of series 4, a timely interview opportunity came along that proved impossible to turn down.

    The recently released book “Walking Out of the Dark: How I Learned to Love Life Again” comes from first-time author Kelvyn James. A searingly honest piece of writing, it recounts profound tragedies and long-endured traumas but ultimately describes “a life-affirming journey through mountains, memory and meaning”.

    In this conversation, Kelvyn describes the origin of the book, and discusses why healing, mental health and the outdoors are so profoundly connected.

    * Learn more about Kelvyn here: https://mountainservices.co.uk/

    If you’d like to buy a copy of the book - profits from which go directly to the charity Wellness Walks - you can do so via the Wellness Walks website or on Amazon via the links below.

    * https://wellnesswalks.org.uk/product/walking-out-of-the-dark-signed-hardback/

    * https://www.amazon.co.uk/Walking-out-Dark-learned-again/dp/1068519436

    Listen, enjoy, tell your friends.

    [episode recorded on 16/06/25]

    00:00 - Introduction

    02:17 - Welcome from the most confused place in Britain

    04:08 - A litany of outdoor achievements (“an insight into high-functioning ADHD”)

    06:50 - An overview of Walking out of the Dark; “I didn’t know I was writing a book for a long time, I thought I was writing a journal”

    09:00 - “Even from the darkest of things, people can find a way”; describing the “black hole” at the centre of the book

    14:48 - Release and healing in the outdoors; a place to be open with others; the psychology of the outdoor experience

    16:15 - “Mountaineering, climbing… whatever name you want to give it, is probably the most honest thing there is”

    18:10 - “Climbing was the first thing where I felt me, where I first felt in charge... and when what happened happened, it was climbing I went back to”

    19:20 - “I didn’t expect people to react well, and pretty much they all universally did... it gave me a sense of worth”; a personal history of a love of climbing

    24:20 - Learning to lead in the outdoors: “I remember asking my instructor what his real job was”; thoughts on the tough financial reality for outdoor professionals

    28:53 - All about Wellness Walks; walking from home during the COVID pandemic; putting an advert on social media and waking up to dozens of requests; the honesty that comes from walking and talking without the need for eye contact

    35:00 - “I didn’t see the joy in the world for a long time, but the miracle is that joy doesn’t disappear”

    38:35 - Greatest Mountain Memory: a peerless viewpoint just outside of the Chamonix valley

    42:20 - All the time, money, freedom… where do you go and what would you do? Climbing Pinnacle Ridge on the Helvellyn range.

    Show More Show Less
    45 mins
  • 3#10 Damian Hall: Ultrarunner

    3#10 Damian Hall: Ultrarunner
    Feb 24 2025
    “I can see now that I loved the training as much as the event: it was having a mission, some discipline and routine, pushing myself a little more…”> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.ukEpisode 3|10 is all about Damian Hall: almost certainly the most self-effacing man ever to finish fifth at the Ultra Tour de Mont Blanc. For those unfamiliar, “Wiltshire Alps” based Damian is an ultrarunner, UK Athletics Coach, journalist, author and climate activist with a passion for tea. He’s achieved competitive finishes in such celebrated events as the Spine Race (along the Pennines), the Dragon’s Back Race (down the length of Wales) and the Ultra Tour Monte Rosa (170km around the second highest mountain in the Alps). “The cliche in our sport is that it’s an eating competition with some light exercise thrown in.”But that, as with all the guests on Mountain Air, is only half the story. Damian is also a lifelong journalist whose passion for the written word kicked off his career in sports journalism, took him to the editorship of a travel and adventure magazine in Sydney, led him to contribute to industry-leading hillwalking, hiking and fitness magazines back in the UK, and finally (at the stage of early middle age when many would consider hanging up their trainers) to running as a life-defining passion.“I nearly did a PhD in the sociology of football fandom… I’m fully aware that nobody would have ever read that.”Since discovering an unquenchable thirst (and, it must be said, what’s clearly a natural aptitude) for running, Damian has used his experiences and growing profile to train fellow athletes and expand the ambition of his writing. Consequently, not only does he oversee a roster of clients eager to take on epic global races such as the Tor des Geants (an eye-watering 330km event based around Courmayeur in the Italian Alps) and the Marathon des Sables (six marathons in seven days through the Moroccan Sahara); but he’s also written guidebooks to walking in the Cotswolds (Cicerone) and on the Pennine Way (Aurum), and the much celebrated climate-focused running book “We Can’t Run Away From This” (Vertebrate). “If you’ve enjoyed the outdoors, I think it’s logical that you’d be a little concerned about what’s happening to the world.”Learn about all of the above, including why joining the Green Runners can help make a difference (even if you’re not a runner), and why cheating death on an ice field in Mount Cook National Park can change your life, in Mountain Air 3|10.https://www.ultradamo.com/https://thegreenrunners.com/https://www.adventurebooks.com/products/we-cant-run-away-from-thisListen, enjoy, tell your friends, subscribe to the podcast if you get and chance, and thank UKHillwalking.com for their kind support of this series![episode recorded on 22/11/24]00:00 - Introduction.03:08 - Welcome from the Wiltshire Alps.07:40 - A late start in life with running, with a previous life as a football journalist (“at school I was only half good at two things and that was probably PE and English”).10:00 - FourFourTwo magazine: “I used to ghostwrite Rodney Marsh’s column! This might be lost on some of your audience…”12:55 - “I nearly did a PhD in the sociology of football fandom… I’m fully aware that nobody would have ever read it.”16:20 - Life as an outdoor journalist and editor of “TNT” in Sydney, the challenges of making a living with the written word.23:08 - In-depth chat about Damian’s life in running (“I was sub-editing on a book, late at night, maybe January-ish in 2011 and I remember feeling unhealthy and thinking that Bath had a big half-marathon happening March…”).24:05 - “I always wanted to be a footballer really, which was an absolute pipe dream as I was usually a sub for the school team... and I realise now that I loved just covering the ground, running up and down and being the fittest on the team.”24:55 - “I can see now it was the training as much as the event, it was having a mission, some discipline and routine, pushing myself a little more… and I loved it... And so the next year I was running my first marathon dressed as a toilet (yes I did look a bit flushed) raising money for Wateraid.”26:30 - Being sent on a first ultramarathon as a magazine feature (with the accompanying pressure to finish), and soon running 100km and 100mile events and eventually representing Team GB Trail Running at the aged of 40, only four years after a first marathon.29:45 - “Ironically I used to look a lot like Teddy Sheringham when I had more hair.”30:21 - Can anyone suitably enthused become an ultra runner?34:04 - “The cliche in our sport is that it’s an eating competition with some light exercise thrown in.”37:55 - The joy of being out running in sunrise and sunset.40:18 - Being pestered into running coaching, it expanding during COVID lockdown, working with those looking to achieve...
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 7 mins
  • 3#09 Becky Coles of Project Alpine Spirit

    3#09 Becky Coles of Project Alpine Spirit
    Dec 6 2024
    > Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk“I love getting out there and stripping everything away so that life becomes very simple.”In the latest episode of Mountain Air we meet Becky Coles, a Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor and expedition leader whose travels have spanned all seven continents. Through these adventures, she’s recorded numerous first ascents in locations as diverse as Afghanistan, Nepal and South Georgia in Antarctica. These and other exploits have earned her a place on Montane’s roster of sponsored athletes. And if that wasn’t impressive enough, she even has a PhD in Glacial Geomorphology (phew!).“You can’t drive through Drumochter without admiring the drumlins.”When considering Becky’s achievements so far, it’s sobering to note that only 6% of those that hold the Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor award are women and that she was herself only the 40th woman to achieve it. However, when not working in Sheffield, North Wales or the West Highlands, balancing skillsets and conditions and thus “solving the puzzle” of helping her clients achieve their goals in the mountains, Becky is often found pursuing her own ambitions in the European Alps and beyond. In fact, Project Alpine Spirit - ongoing since it started with a bang in the summer of 2019 - aims to become the first all-women team to climb all 82 of the alpine 4000m peaks. An ever-shifting cooperative of willing alpinists (of which Becky is the only permanent member) it currently sits at 72, with only 10 peaks remaining. They happen to be 10 of the hardest. But it has a rich history of women climbers, dating back to alpinism’s golden age in the Victorian era, to call on for inspiration - and it’s a heritage and backdrop that Becky is keenly aware of and excited to continue into the 21st century.“If I’d had endless money I probably would have signed up to a commercial trip and been guided, but I discovered that in the UK we have lots of access to mountaineering grants...”Elsewhere in the conversation, you’ll hear how the discovery of multiple climbing and expedition grants available within the UK was the impetus for Beck’s initial expeditions; what it feels like to make a first ascent in a remote area; and how fellow women climbers can inspire one another in a world where they’re still very much the minority.“There are plenty of peaks that aren’t super technical, and were within my skills to attempt, and that took me to remote places in Nepal, Central Asia, the Wakhan Corridor into Afghanistan and onto South Georgia as well.”Discover all of this and more in Mountain Air Series 3, Episode 9. “I hate the packing, but I love getting out there and stripping everything away so that life becomes very simple.”> https://www.roammountains.co.uk/> https://www.instagram.com/roam.mtns> https://montane.com/pages/rebecca-coles-athlete> https://www.womensalpineadventureclub.com/blog/project-alpine-spirit-with-becky-coles00:00 - Introduction03:08 - Welcome from (temporarily) damp Sheffield, moving between North Wales, Yorkshire and the Highlands05:10 - Being the 40th woman to gain the Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor qualification (and only 6% of the holders are women)07:10 - A PhD in Glacial Geomorphology from the University of Sheffield, “you can’t drive through Drumochter without admiring the drumlins”, using skills to map unexplored routes and peaks across the world, a career dilemma12:00 - Turning to guiding and “solving the puzzle” of matching clients with suitable ways to achieve their goals15:40 - Working alongside inspiring peers: Tania Noakes “she was pretty hard to keep up with and replicate!”, being a woman in the outdoor instruction world20:30 - “I’m probably not the right person to ask, because in some way it suited me. You need to ask the people that were put off and aren’t here.”21:30 - Project Alpine Spirit, so far has completed 72 of the 82 Alpine 4000m peaks (the most recent being Mont Maudit) “It takes you to places you otherwise wouldn’t go.”23:15 - Juggling multiple lists and defining the Alpine 4000ers, being inspired by Victorian women climbers 25:50 - Derailed by pneumonia and shingles, “The 10 that are left are the really hard ones”29:37 - Surprise (and not surprising) hits of the 4000ers: perfect conditions on the Matterhorn, the Schreckhorn and other Oberland peaks adjacent to the Eiger…36:26 - “Some are quite isolated, and it’ll be a three-day mission just to go in to get one peak, and then others like the Monte Rosa traverse where you can do 18 in four days.”37:00 - Further ranging expeditions, “If I’d had endless money I probably would have signed up to a commercial trip and been guided, but I discovered that in the UK we have lots of access to mountaineering grants...”39:00 - “There are plenty of peaks that aren’t super technical and were within ...
    Show More Show Less
    50 mins
No reviews yet