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Gasping Thin Air – a new book by Jo Bradwell
To celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Birmingham Medical Research Expeditionary Society (BMRES), their President, Jo Bradwell, has written a book documenting the organisation’s many medical expeditions over the years
A unique organisation, the BMRES was formed in 1977 by a group of young doctors at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham who were looking to combine a passion for adventure with medical research. Their very first expedition took them to the Annapurna mountains of Nepal to test the effects of low oxygen, since then they’ve completed 14 further expeditions to many of the planet’s most challenging mountain ranges. The pioneering research they have carried out along the way has contributed significantly to the world’s medical knowledge of the impact of extreme environments on the human body.
Mountain Kingdoms has organised expeditions for the BMRES to Ecuador in South America, Bhutan in the Himalaya and Sikkim in India, and next year they are hoping to head back to where it all started on our Grand Annapurna Traverse.
If you’d like to find out more about the thrilling work and adventures of the BMRES take a look at Jo Bradwell’s enthralling new book – Gasping Thin Air. With 450 pages, over 350 photographs, 100 line drawings and detailed maps, it’s sure to capture your imagination and make a great Christmas gift. You can pre-order from the society’s website here.
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2021 Photo Competition Winner
We had a superb shortlist of monthly winners from which to select our
travel photo of the year, but after much deliberation and debate our
winner was this stunning festival image taken in Ladakh by Chris Martin.
We all just loved the colour, movement and energy of the dancers, as
well as the technical achievement in capturing that moment. Chris has
told us how he did it...
'I was travelling with my American photo friend and we had hired a 4x4 in Leh to drive us to spend a couple of nights in Lamayuru. We were up at first light to walk up to the Monastery. We were lucky to be the only foreigners on site amongst a small group of local villagers. Suddenly out of a doorway in the courtyard came monks dressed in amazing finery. They then started to dance in total silence. The only sound was the swooshing of their garments ! It was quite eerie ! The dance went on for around ten minutes in which time I managed to acquire some interesting pictures.'
Many congratulations to Chris, his prize is £250 towards a Mountain Kingdoms holiday. We look forward to seeing what brilliant images he captures on his future travels.
Costa Rica and the Green Planet
Winner of the Earthshot prize, Costa Rica plays a starring role in David Attenborough’s new, ground-breaking natural history series due to its extraordinary bio-diversity and conservation credentials. Watch Green Planet on BBC1 on Sunday evenings to see some of the country’s amazing plants and creatures including millions of fungus-feeding, leafcutter ants that form an essential role in the ecosystem of Costa Rica’s pristine rainforest.
If you’d like to discover Costa Rica for yourself there is availability on both of this year’s departures of our Gentle Walking & Wildlife Costa Rica small group holiday.
December competition winner
Our final winner for 2022 is Chris Holland with this superb photo of Ama Dablam in the Everest region of Nepal. Not only has Chris captured the beauty of this magnificent mountain but the stupa in the foreground (with its slightly cheeky expression) adds real interest and character as well as a sense of symmetry and scale between the man made and natural worlds. Many congratulations to Chris who wins our last Water-to-Go bottle of the year.