Why Going Down Mountains Is Harder Than Going Up

Richard Asquith on why a 13 stone man with weak ankles would take up fell running and what it takes to run up mountains for fun.

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Richard Askwith is a desk-bound southern journalist – based in Northamptonshire – whose life was changed by a mid-life encounter with the unforgiving northern sport of fell-running.

A decade-and-a-half of running, stumbling, shivering and getting lost in Britain’s wildest mountains provided the raw material for his best-selling book, 'Feet in the Clouds: a Tale of Fell-Running and Obsession'.

He is now working on a book about how big business and big government have between them squeezed most of the spontaneity out of running – and how ordinary people can reclaim their freedom and rediscover the joy of natural running.