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John D Burns

Outdoor author and speaker.

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  • Gear review: Brede II jacket – 5 years

  • Jack Longland – Biography: Mark Lambert | Podcast

  • Peter Silburn: The Norwich Cycling Campaign | Podcast

  • Steve Micklewright: Scottish Rewilding Alliance | Podcast

  • David Barter. Great Scottish Bike Rides| Podcast

Gear review: Brede II jacket – 5 years
Jack Longland – Biography: Mark Lambert | Podcast

Mountains in the Mind

October 28, 2012johndburns
I’ve been looking at a lot of geo-porn recently.  In moments of weakness I’ve been fantasising about what it would be like to [...]

Look Back in Anger – The Pennine Way

October 23, 2012johndburns
“We’re going to the pub!”  Mr Jones stated with unusual vehemence, standing outside the tent on the small Highland campsite.  “Oh yes,” I [...]

One Nil to the Weather

October 15, 2012johndburns
I’ve been a good boy this weekend.  I made some wholemeal bread on Saturday, went walking in Glen Affric on Sunday and, if [...]

Walk Like a Ninja

October 10, 2012johndburns
I have a theory.  It may be a bit crackpot but at the end of this little blog I’m sure you’ll agree that [...]

The nights are Drawing in – News Flash

October 7, 2012johndburns
I’m willing to bet that over the last few weeks at least a handful of observant people will have informed you, with dour [...]

Giving up the Bottle

October 5, 2012johndburns
I’ve given up the bottle.  Never again will I take a swig of cool refreshing liquid from the neck of my flask and [...]

Death by Armchair

October 1, 2012johndburns
“Those things,” said my mate Dave, pointing at a rather nice armchair covered in a blue flowery material, “kill people.” I’ve always been [...]

The Mystery of the Black Mount

August 25, 2012johndburns
  That winter’s evening the back bar of the King’s House was packed to the roof with a menagerie of outdoor folk. Keeping [...]

Hill Walking – Why bother

August 21, 2012johndburns
I made it on to the first summit of the ridge just south of Cluanie Inn and looked along the range of hills [...]

Call me arrogant and cynical

August 19, 2012johndburns
There are angels out there, or at least some people will tell you there are.  I saw a short public access programme last [...]

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John D. Burns has spent over forty years among the mountains of the Scottish Highlands. He is an author and public speaker. His books tell of his adventures in this iconic landscape and have become classics for those who love wild places.
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Outside In Podcast
Outside In Podcast

From the Highlands of Scotland, climbers, hikers and nature lovers talk about their experiences in the wild

Jack Longland – Biography: Mark Lambert | Podcast
byJohn D Burns

John D. Burns talks to Mark Lambert about his book, A man for all mountains, celebrating the remarkable life of mountaineer, broadcaster and educator, Jack Longland.

Mark Lambert has produced far more than a biography. He’s recreated an era when great unclimbed cliffs still existed, Everest remained a mystery, Greenland’s highest summit was unclimbed, and Britain’s finest climbers simply got on with extraordinary adventures. It was however something else, something quite striking that captivated me about this book. Longland himself was clearly an excellent writer. Many climbing biographies rely on modern narrative around sparse historical sources, but here the subject’s own words repeatedly become the highlights of the book. That, perhaps more than anything, explains why his voice has echoed through climbing literature for nearly a century.

For anyone interested in the Golden Age of British mountaineering, it’s an immensely rewarding read.

Mark Lambert

Jack Longland was one of Britain’s complete mountaineers: technically gifted, intellectually curious, adventurous, modest and seemingly happiest whenever there was unexplored ground ahead.

Here are a few extracts from the book…

Of Greenland and black and white photography.

‘In the clear northern light we could see the broad, unbroken line of the ice floes ahead, punctuated with big icebergs.’

‘The mountains faded as the coast bent away, a line of snow-marked peaks, with clean, white glaciers dropping to the fjords between. At once came a realisation of the drab inadequacy of most arctic photographs on seeing for the first time the glittering ice, the cold brilliance of the sky.’

‘The next day they woke to calmer seas. And soon they encountered their first Inuit, a pair hunting on the floes some four miles from the coast.’

‘The team spent an hour and a half on the summit. Fountaine was busy with his boiling-point thermometers, eventually producing similar results from all three to give a height of 12,250 feet (3,734 metres).’

‘Courtauld took theodolite readings to link in with his work at Camp VII, and Munck, rather sheepishly, produced a Danish flag.’

‘They had made the first ascent of the highest mountain in the Arctic, but as yet it had no name. Sometime later, the Place-name Committee in Copenhagen decided on Gunnbjørn Tinde. ‘Tinde’ means ‘summit’, and ‘Gunnbjørn’ recalled the tenth-century Viking Gunnbjörn Ulfsson, who was driven by a storm into the seas west of Iceland, saw glaciers to the west and was thus the first to discover Greenland.’

Speaking of his famous descent with eight porters on the 1933 Everest expedition.

On the journey to reach the campsite.

‘Perched on the north face of Everest, it was also the most inhospitable, the most precarious and probably the most dangerous. The word ‘campsite’ had no meaning here – this was a tiny ledge to which a six-by-four-foot tent had been made to cling only after snow and ice had been hacked out and a stony platform of sorts scraped together at its outer edge. Even then the tent floor sloped crazily downwards and its outermost third overhung the edge, flapping over the face that fell 6,000 feet to the Rongbuk Glacier.’

‘The north face of Everest is made up of slabs overlapping like tiles on a roof pitched at about forty-five degrees. These slabs are devoid of holds or features so that ice or snow clings to them only here and there; progress depended upon the tenuous grip of boot nails and a steady balance. There were few if any anchor points, so if one man were to slip, he would pull with him any others to whom he was roped.

So they had climbed unroped.’

jack Longland was also an accomplished broadcaster appearing on many radio panel games which were among the most popular media shows of his generation.

https://youtu.be/bSKaNjFotK0?si=PvUATPdj_vbpAa_1

A Man for all Mountains is available from all good bookstores,

Jack Longland – Biography: Mark Lambert | Podcast
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Jack Longland – Biography: Mark Lambert | Podcast
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Peter Silburn: The Norwich Cycling Campaign | Podcast
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Steve Micklewright: Scottish Rewilding Alliance | Podcast
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David Barter. Great Scottish Bike Rides| Podcast
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It’s Up to Us: Path restoration project | Podcast
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Dan Bailey: UKHillwalking.com | Podcast
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Bobby Motherwell: Singer/Songwriter, Poet and Climber | Podcast
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Climbing in Yosemite: A Memoir – Dennis Gray | Podcast
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Martyn Howe: The Coast is Our Compass | Podcast
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Matt Heason: Wild Rock | Podcast
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  • Gear review: Brede II jacket – 5 years
  • Jack Longland – Biography: Mark Lambert | Podcast
  • Peter Silburn: The Norwich Cycling Campaign | Podcast
  • Steve Micklewright: Scottish Rewilding Alliance | Podcast
  • David Barter. Great Scottish Bike Rides| Podcast

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