A roundup of the week's best adventure stories is heavy on mountains — some inspiring, some tragic, and one involving a sheep in a very awkward spot.
The biggest film news: a new biopic called Tenzing aims to give Tenzing Norgay the credit history shortchanged him. His role in the first Everest ascent in 1953 has long been overshadowed by Edmund Hillary's fame, and director Jennifer Peedom teamed up with Norgay's son Norbu Tenzing to tell the story from his perspective — following him from a Himalayan childhood to the summit, and treating him as a person rather than a footnote in someone else's climb.
Safer mountain thinking matters more than ever after a lightning strike on Utah's Mount Timpanogos killed a 19-year-old hiker and injured nine others. The group sheltered from a thunderstorm inside the Tin Shack, a small metal lookout built in 1927 — and when lightning hit, everyone inside was shocked. The lesson: small metal structures without proper wiring or plumbing offer no grounding, and even the classic crouching "lightning position" is more myth than reliable protection.
On a lighter note, Jason Fenn, a sea-kayak guide in Scotland's Shetland Islands, has rescued nine stranded sheep from coastal cliffs since taking over Sea Kayak Shetland last year, including one requiring a 60-metre rappel. His latest effort involved a group of American paddlers who happily delayed their tour to help.
Climbers have plenty to chew on. Sean Bailey made the first ascent of Duality of Man in Arizona's Dry Canyon — America's first 5.15d (9c), blending an existing 5.14c route with two desperate boulder problems on steep limestone, after three seasons of work. Meanwhile, a British team of four established Bonbon Anglais, a fully bolted seven-pitch route on the Chameleon Wall in Madagascar's Tsaranoro massif, rated 6b+/A0 or 7b+ free, built deliberately to be accessible to visiting and local climbers.
Two darker reads round out the week. Burton co-founder Donna Carter narrates Sideways Revolution, a documentary marking 50 years of snowboarding, pinpointing 1985 as the year the modern board's design came together. And three mountain guides speak candidly about the gap between the dream and the job — years of training, van living, thin finances, and the sobering statistic in one guide's own words: nearly a quarter of her graduating class is dead.
Finally, for fans of the eerie: writer Hanna Lindon tours Britain's mountain folklore, from the giant behind the Old Man of Storr to the Grey Man of Ben Macdui, ghost-haunted corpse roads in the Lake District, and big-cat sightings in Cumbria.
Why care? If you're heading into mountains this season, the lightning story is essential reading — shelter myths kill. The film and documentary are great pre-trip viewing, and the folklore piece might just change how you see a rainy Lake District walk.
