Blog - MatthewDThornton | Page 2 of 9 | Speed Wing Pilot, Everest Summiteer, Author and Speaker.

An Unadventurous Adventure

Posted on: 02/07/2018 /

Categories: Microadventures

Here is something a little different, and perhaps a touch more accessible than my usual posts. On the 30th June 2018, people all across the UK had a wild night out (https://www.wildnightout.org/). This is my story of our unadventurous adventure. With a busy few weeks scheduled between the European Alps and the Scottish Highlands, I

Speed Flying Through The Storm

Posted on: 13/06/2018 /

Categories: Speed Riding and Paragliding, Training

The end of winter 2017-18 presented the perfect opportunity to fly some incredibly marginal and storm conditions with the 11m speed wing. On the world’s highest mountains, the conditions for flying are rarely perfect, so in training for the Riding Giants expedition we took to the stormy skies via the path rarely travelled. I say

Why I Really Love To Run

Posted on: 15/05/2018 /

Categories: Training

I love sequels. I really love writing them. I haven’t yet found any reason to write a sequel to my book, but I definitely want to write a sequel to my last blog: Why I Love to Run. It was, well, a blog about running, why I love it and how simple it is to

Why I Love to Run

Posted on: 30/04/2018 /

Categories: General, Training

If you had asked me a two years ago whether I liked to run, I would have probably remarked that running is the activity you only do when you’re being chased. I did adventure running for two years in the build up to climbing Everest in 2012, but I still retain the ‘being chased’ quip.

Flying Bannerdale Crags

Posted on: 24/04/2018 /

Categories: Microadventures, Speed Riding and Paragliding, Training

Waking up early on a crisp April morning, we headed to Mungrisdale. The weather was calm, the wind was good. There were 4 Wainwrights to tick off and a flight of Bannerdale Crags’ easterly ridge, awaiting us through the unusual calm of a crisp spring morning. But would the weather hold for the 4 hour

RidingGiants

Posted on: 05/03/2018 /

Categories: Expeditions, General, Speed Riding and Paragliding, Sponsorship, Training

Almost six years ago, I stood on the lofty shoulders of the worlds tallest giant. That giant is Everest, which unlike your average run of the mill giant, offers no gentle lift to the top. As anyone who followed that expedition will recall, things for the most part went without a hitch. I had a micro-disaster

Getting Outside More

Posted on: 20/02/2018 /

Categories: General

This post forms part 2 of my #GetOutside blog posts for early 2018. If you haven’t read the first one, you can do so using the link here. If you’ve already read part 1 of this article, you’ll know that Ordnance Survey are continuing their GetOutside programme which has the simple overriding aim of increasing

Getting Outside

Posted on: 20/02/2018 /

Categories: General

It came as quite a shock to me when Ordnance Survey (OS) mailed the other week to say I was one of their #GetOutside ambassadors for the next couple of years. Whilst I would like to think I’ve walked enough country footpaths (I still hold the record for the fastest (mostly) foot powered return climb

Bicycle Helmets: A Controversial Treatise

Posted on: 27/07/2017 /

Categories: General

As the corner approached rapidly, I started to slow my superleggera racing bike to an appropriate speed to kiss the apex whilst maintaining an modicum of control to avoid the wheel swallowing potholes and the various medium sized rocks littering the little Lincolnshire back road. I was tired; I’d spent the past 2 hours expending

Controversial Big Mountain Acclimatisation Method

Posted on: 07/03/2017 /

Categories: Everest, General, Sports Science, Training

As a trained physiologist specialising in the effects of low oxygen and cold environments, a very recent article published by Bloomberg focusing on a relatively modern technique to dramatically cut down time spent on big mountains piqued my interest: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-01/alpenglow-expeditions-controversial-mountain-climbing-method The hypothesis is simple; pre-acclimatise in an altitude tent/chamber at home, allowing you to partake

An Unadventurous Adventure

Speed Flying Through The Storm

Why I Really Love To Run

Why I Love to Run

Flying Bannerdale Crags

RidingGiants

Getting Outside More

Getting Outside

Bicycle Helmets: A Controversial Treatise

Controversial Big Mountain Acclimatisation Method

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