Trail’s ex-editor David Ogle recalls his stint on the magazine

Outdoor headlines

16 July 2010 16:39

I joined Trail as news and features editor in 1990 for the third issue, when it was bi-monthly and called Trail Walker (when I became editor I changed the name of the magazine to Trail and incorporated some climbing and mountain biking). I was the editor of Trail from 1992 to 1997 - before that I was news editor on another Emap magazine, Athletics Weekly.
 
Since being at school and in the Scouts, I'd been a keen hill-walker and climber. Working on Trail was a fantastic opportunity to escape the flattest part of the country back up north to the hills. (I'm from Newcastle and spent many weekends catching the Wright Brothers' coach to the Lakes while at school.)
 
The chance to travel was the most amazing thing. I climbed Kilimanjaro and Mount Elbrus in the Caucus Mountains (highest in Europe) with Trail readers. Walking at altitude, high above the clouds and often very light-headed is just amazing. I saw the northern lights while walking from the centre of Iceland to the coast, and scared myself almost to death by falling down a hole in a black cave in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco.

Scrambling along the Aonach Eagach ridge in Glen Coe was also fantastic. I organised a winter skills course for Trail readers with Plas y Brenin (the National Mountain Centre in Capel Currig, North Wales). The readers were all roped up to the instructor Malcolm Creasey, who I and the photographer Bob Atkins had known for a few years. Malcolm asked us if we wanted to rope up to each other, but seemed to imply that we should be experienced enough to do it without a rope - so we both pretended to be tough and did without it. Crossing a pinnacle, each person ahead of us slipped and was held by the rope. Scrambling along that section, with a huge drop below, in crampons was pretty scary. Luckily, we both lived to tell the tale.