The Time Walk

Come on a stroll with us through the hillwalking decades…

Repeated landslides from the face of Mam Tor in the Peak District

caused the permanent closure of the main road from Stockport to Sheffield in

1979 having caused £10,000,000 worth of damage. The active movement of the face is caused by a rotational landslide which began 4,000 years ago. Geologists believe that the activity will only stop when the angle of the slope reaches 30 degrees – which they predict will take another 1,500 years!

Dubbed as the first breathable, waterproof and windproof fabric,

Gore-Tex was invented and patented in

1970 and received its first commercial order in 1976. In 1981 astronauts on NASA’s first space shuttle mission wore suits made with Gore-Tex.

The first person to climb all of the world’s 14 mountains

over 8000m was Reinhold Messner (above) in 1986. Considering that you have a one in three chance of dying just climbing K2 or Annapurna alone, it’s widely regarded as the ultimate challenge – altitudes above 8000m are known as the death zone for a reason.

2001 saw the spread of foot and mouth disease in the UK

in a matter of a few months, with tens of thousands of animals slaughtered in Cumbria alone. Land and public rights of way were closed by order, severely limiting hillwalking and badly affecting tourism areas such as the Lake District.