On the ascent

Zahrah Mahmood MBE, 35, took up hillwalking in her 20s to cope with stress. Now, the hiking influencer and mother-of-two, better known as The Hillwalking Hijabi, is encouraging women from all backgrounds to reap the calming health benefits of walking in nature.

As an occultist, novelist, painter, poet and magician, Aleister Crowley was notorious as a master of the dark arts. He’s less well known for his short but pioneering climbing career.

Sometimes, whether down to judgement or pure bad luck, things go wrong. We gathered a team of experts and asked them to tell us about a time the proverbial hit the fan – and how they escaped.

Wildly fluctuating temperatures, punishing verticality, brushes with mountain lions – the Grand Canyon’s Rim to Rim to Rim endurance run is not for the faint-hearted. Duncan Craig takes on the ‘big red ditch’

Getting in prime physical and mental shape to hit a fitness goal over a period of many months is no mean feat. It’s like a game of snakes and ladders, where the temptation to skip early, vital stages

1 A festival is breaking down barriers Around ...