Number of years in the outdoor industry: Since 2003! Where has the time gone? First with Lowe Alpine (PR /marketing), then a stint freelance working with Kendal Mountain Film Festival, Pathé films (to launch Touching the Void) and Lowa footwear, amongst others. That was followed by 5 years doing PR/marketing for The North Face in the UK. I have been with EOCA since January 2009.
Favourite wild place: Anywhere, as long as it is on top of a mountain somewhere – particularly in the Lake District or the Austrian Alps.
I also spent 6 months working and travelling in Chile, Bolivia and Peru, all of which have a very special place in my heart. The wide open spaces, being 4 or 5 days walk from the nearest village – and lying out under the zillions of stars at night is incredible! And the landscapes in South America are something else – from glaciers right at the foot of Chile up to the Atacama desert in the north, Amazon rainforest in eastern Bolivia (pink freshwater dolphins!!), to the salt plains and Altiplano of northern Bolivia and Southern Peru. I’ll be back …!
More recently I have got into wild swimming and there is nothing quite like exploring a mountain tarn on a summer’s evening with a group of like-minded friends!
Favourite outdoor activity: Via Ferrata, open water swimming, climbing, kayaking, trekking, a good day out in the hills.
Perfect day: A long day out in the hills, whether it is a climb, a scramble or a ridge walk, in the Lake District or on a via Ferrata in the Alps, followed by a huge cup of tea by the fire in a pub / or a Radler on the terrace outside a mountain hut. Not forgetting of course a long wilderness trek in South America if the day could be stretched a bit further!
