I had come back to Dharamsala in north-west India as a volunteer physiotherapist at Delek Hospital, a Tibetan hospital. I'd first visited Dharamsala in 1977 and been touched by the Tibetan people and their plight as refugees. Nestled half-way up a mountain, Delek Hospital was set up in the ‘70s for the Tibetan refugees who arrive to live in exile in Dharamsala......

This article is about the development of the ice axe since the mid-90s. No, the mid-90s were not a watershed moment in ice axe design, but it was when I first ventured onto snow and began bugging ice axe designers with emails. Specifically, this article is about the technical ice axe (for climbing steep terrain), which has morphed into some remarkable forms, rather than the walking or "general mountaineering" axe....

We are drawn back to the mountains of northern Italy. The Easyjet destination is Milan; from there we drive to Grand Paradiso National Park. Apparently, there is a mini Yosemite there, huge granite domes rising from the valley floor and covered in routes.....

My aim is not to do the whole trip as fast as possible but to do everything by foot. I ford the Otira River and wander up the Taramakau Valley. The track goes into the riverbed and then up toward the pass; there are no bridges over the river – just my feet underneath it. The difficulty is the weight of my backpack. I am loaded like a mule....

The ridge is by no means simple – we are mostly clambering over gendarmes and protection consists of slings over rocks and occasional nuts but we're enjoying ourselves well enough. As I lead down the back of a gendarme, a handhold pulls and I find myself launching backwards into space.....

Tying in 12m apart on a 50m rope? Doubling up your 'biners to reduce friction? Planning on hauling your mate out of a slot using the loaded rope? Boy, do we have an article for you!

I think that the whole process – from roping up, to holding a fall, to getting your mate out of the crevasse – should be done from A to Z. Making a z-pulley in a hut or off a tree is good, but it only gives you part of the picture...

I believe that solo climbing – like all climbing or any other alpine sport for that matter – can, for the most part, be as safe or as dangerous as you choose to make it. Admittedly there are aspects of climbing that you have little or no control over – such as the weather, whether a snow bridge over a crevasse will take your weight, or why that once solid-looking hold suddenly broke when you weighted it. However, for the majority of climbing situations, the level of danger faced is quite literally in the hands of the climber, and how potentially hazardous it becomes is largely dependent on the level of risk the climber is prepared to accept. More than anything, you make a judgement when you commit to a climb and you continue to make these calls throughout the climb.....

In September 2006, a group of Tibetan refugees were fired upon by Chinese border soldiers as they attempted to cross the Nangpa La, an alpine pass on the Tibet–Nepal border. One refugee was killed and another wounded. Every year, thousands of Tibetans flee the oppression they endure in Chinese-occupied Tibet, travelling on foot through the Himalaya. What makes the 2006 Nangpa La shootings unique is that they were witnessed by up to 100 Westerners at Advanced Base Camp on nearby Cho Oyu, and filmed by one climber. Although many people witnessed the shootings, the vast majority were not willing to speak up about what they had seen. For the first time in New Zealand, Mountainz tells the story of the 2006 Nangpa La shootings, the aftermath, and the New Zealand connections to this event....

The sheer face jutting into the sky makes my stomach do a few somersaults. I begin to wonder if I should check myself into a mental institute for even thinking of climbing it. I have previously done a grand total of two trad climbs no longer than two pitches....

This v-threading tool makes it super easy, laughable in fact. I can get it first time, every time...