| A Little Personal Background My name is Peter Chapman and I grew up in Lincolnshire in England. After college, I studied Electroacoustics for four years at the University of Salford near Manchester. After graduating in 1996, I moved to Denmark and have worked as an acoustic engineer, developing loudspeakers and audio systems, for some 11 years. You can read more about my career in acoustics by clicking here. Since moving to Denmark, I have lived in western Jutland, close to the Limfjord and North Sea, with my family. I am married to a Dane and we have a four year old daughter. In 2008, I changed careers to become a teacher and I work at Kongensgaard Efterskole - a boarding school for 13 to 16 year olds specializing in the problems overweight children have and the development of a healthy lifestyle. |
| My Background in the Outdoors I have been walking in the mountains of England since my early teens through CHA and HF Holidays. However, it all began for real when I moved in with a friend at university. Steve was and still is, a very good climber who nowadays runs climbing masterclasses with Neil Gresham. It was his love of climbing that got me started. I began reading the magazines and I took a week long climbing course with Chris Ensoll, a mountain guide based in the Lake District. Chris is an excellent guide and his firm still operates. The Lakes is an area where I have spent a great deal of time. Back in Salford I joined the mountaineering club at the university and was quickly involved in all the trips as I was able to lead climbs and drive the minibus. I later became a committee member and used time planning and organising trips to all the areas around Manchester, The Lake District, North Wales and Scotland. Between the weekend trips I would often train on the climbing wall and my climbing ability became quite good. In 1996 I took the Summer Mountain Leader training course. The week long course was based at the White Hall Centre in the Peak District with an expedition to North Wales. My first serious winter mountaineering season was 1995 with several weekends in the Lakes and week long trips to both the Cairngorms and Glencoe in Scotland. Spending time in Scotland in winter is still an annual event for me. Since then I have been climbing and mountaineering throughout Europe. I also gained the SPA award for leading groups on single pitch crags and climbing walls and the Winter ML award for leading groups in mountain terrain in winter conditions. I am also qualified in mountain first aid and hold the National Navigation Award Scheme gold certificate. In 2003, I became a censor with the Danish Climbing Federation and in the same year was also appointed as a leader for HF Holidays. HF Holidays are an established holiday provider offering walking holidays throughout the World. I led Ridges and Scrambles holidays for them, however I have now retired from working for HF. Since 2002, I have also completed the International Mountain Leader award enabling me to offer a complete range of tailored mountain and trekking holidays throughout the world, both in summer and winter. Since 2007, together with a good friend and experienced photographer, I have also combined mountain trips with courses in digital photography. A favourite area of ours is the Jotunheimen National Park in Norway - especially in September. On a final note, I am qualifying as a glacier guide through the Norwegian system. As Norway boasts well over 100 glaciers, glacier walking is an integral part of a mountain holiday there and the country has a long tradition of mountain sport, both in summer and winter. |
| Introduction I started working on this updated website back in 2003. Since then I have developed it and worked to present it in a format suitable for me working professionally in the outdoors and as a resource to others with similar interests. I hope the website is of interest for you as a walker, climber or mountaineer and will give you inspiration to enjoy the outdoors either on your own or on a guided trip. You may also wish to develop your own skills and knowledge base. I selected an extract from T.S.Eliots work to start the site as I think it really sets the right mood for you reading these pages. Certainly for me, discovering new areas or climbs and exploring ones own boundaries are two of the great elements of outdoor activites. An adventurer and geographer I admire, both for his spirit of adventure and ability to convey the spirit of being in the outdoors, is Nicholas Crane. He has written Clear Waters Rising, Two Degrees West and Mercator. In Clear Waters Rising, he describes his 18 month solo mountain journey across Europe from Cape Finisterre on the west coast of Spain, via the Cantabrian mountains, Pyrenees, Cévennes, Alps, Carpathians and Balkan mountains to Istanbul in Turkey. A journey of 10000km. Two Degrees West describes his journey along the 578km long line of longitude 2 degrees west through England - he never strayed more than 1 km from the line of two degrees west. Incidentally, two degrees west is known as the line of zero convergence or central meridian by the Ordnance Survey. It is the reference line that was selected for mapping of the British Isles by the Transverse Mercator Projection. This neatly leads one on to his book Mercator, a biography of the great 16th century cartographer Gerard Mercator - the man who defined modern mapping and without maps where would we be today? |
| My Outdoor Experience & Qualifications in Brief I discovered hillwalking in the mid 1980's and this hobby progressed onto climbing and mountaineering with my first serious season in 1995. Today I am a qualified International Mountain Leader (IML) and member of the British Association of International Mountain Leaders (BAIML). I also hold the British Summer and Winter Mountain Leader Awards and have 15 Scottish winter seasons under my belt. I also hold the SPA qualification, the National Navigation Award (NNAS) gold certificate and I am trained in mountain first aid. In Denmark I run a local Climbing Club and I have been a censor for the Danish Climbing Federation (the Danish equivalent of the UKMTB) and their qualifications since 2003. I work regularly in the mountains of Scandinavia, Europe and farther afield. |
| Above left, myself enjoying the last rays of sun on Veslefjellet near the Besseggen ridge in Jotunheimen, Norway. Above, my wife Susse with Freya aged two and left, below the crags of Coire an Lochain on Aonach Mor in Scotland prior to (unexpectedly) climbing a new winter line. |
Above, Snøuld in Norwegian or Cotton Sedge, here in the Visdalen valley in central Jotunheimen in Norway.
