Recently, I’ve been searching for a challenge which would really test me, force me to push a few limits, and take me back a little way to a particular test I’ve dealt with on some Himalayan mountains, namely, self-reliance. To be able to look after yourself in challenging situations is both satisfying and rewarding, but
The original article features on the Bank of Ireland UK Inspiring Blog series: MDT Bank of Ireland UK Partnerships Over the past few weeks, I have been working on a project for the Bank of Ireland UK with the overriding theme being partnership. The concept of partnership is most commonly attributed with marriage, more recently
Before the invention of the smartphone, people with little to no mountaineering experience feared the great outdoors because they didn’t have the boy scout instinct or didn’t spend nearly enough time with nature. But with advanced smartphone technology, novice adventurers are much more confident in their expeditions, which is pretty evident at least in the
As a continuation to my previous Sports Science based articles, I wanted to put an article together to summarise the basics of sports psychology, giving an over view of the subject, an outline of its importance, and a little guidance on how you should incorporate Psychological Skills Training (PST) into your routine. It doesn’t matter
During the past 3 years since climbing Everest, I have been gradually hauling myself along the long road which leads to writing agents, printing houses and the publishing industry. It has been a long 3 years in this respect which has neatly been split into 3 phases, each one harder, more tedious and incalculably more
The winter season of 2014/2015 in Scotland was a great one in terms of the conditions that were experienced throughout the highlands and on occasion down in the beautiful Lake District which has seen some impressive ascents over the last couple of seasons. Scottish winter climbing, for the uninitiated, provides some of the most technically demanding climbing
This blog is now superseded, please view https://www.matthewdthornton.com/blog/category/equipment/
Over the past few months, I have been busy working on a project which is essentially the follow up to my Everest expedition back in 2012. I’ve been making progress in a number of areas, but I wanted to share a story of one area (the leading concept of my project) which has suffered a
Prior to 2012, the only presentations I had done were at school and university, and these hadn’t all gone to plan. At school I had got by on a loose understanding of the topic and an exceptional ability to utterly bewilder everyone present with graphics, transitions and music which wouldn’t be out of place at
After quietly reading through endless news articles on the Nepalese earthquake and subsequent avalanches which have occurred throughout the Himalayas, I have tried to take in the level of devastation which is widespread throughout the country. I am not in Nepal and so I have had to rely on news articles, climber reports and friends
© Matthew Dieumegard-Thornton
