On Thursday 3 July 2025 and Friday 4 July 2025 Champagne Castle Hotel will be hosting Malcolm Pearse. Malcolm, a well-known Drakensberg climber and photographer, son of R.O. Pearse (Barrier of Spears) has recently released his memoirs in two volumes under the title All the Hills are Home.
- Volume One (now available – The Drakensberg and Mountains of Africa) will be presented on the Thursday night.
- Volume Two (The Himalayas and the Rest of the World) will be discussed on the Friday evening with several ‘close calls’ being related, including ‘Flying into a Thunderhead’ and ‘Kanchenjunga Accident’, in which Malcolm describes having to walk for five hours on an ankle broken in three places to reach a high point where a helicopter could land.
Between the two evenings, Malcolm will be available to mingle with guests, sign books, to chat about Hills, and answer questions on aspects of the book that might be of interest to people. Volume One will be on sale.
- Venue: The Formal Lounge
- Time: 20:30
More about Malcolm and his memoirs
Malcolm Pearse grew up in the foothills of the Drakensberg and as a boy, and in his youth, spent many holidays exploring the near-by mountains with his father, Reg Pearse, author of three books on the Drakensberg, including the classic Barrier of Spears. In time Malcolm would lead a large number of groups into the Berg, as well as undertaking many climbs entirely on his own.
Later, Malcolm would establish an international outdoor adventure company, Summit Ventures, setting up tours for outdoor enthusiasts to the far corners of the world: ‘from the Galápagos Islands to the heights of Tibet’, as he was wont to say. These included no less than 50 expeditions to the Himalayas over a 25-year period.
Volume 1 describes Malcolm’s hiking adventures in the Drakensberg and throughout the rest of Africa, while Volume 2 deals with his climbs on other continents, notably the Himalayas and Peru. Many of these trips led to nail-biting dramas, some of which are recounted in these memoirs.
Among the ‘Close Calls’ in Volume 1 are ‘Struck by Lightning’, ‘Lost in the Virunga Mountains’, and climbing the extraordinary active volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai.
In Volume 2 we have ‘Flying into a Thunderhead’, and ‘Kangchenjunga Accident’, in which Malcolm describes suffering a broken leg in a remote part of the Himalayas and having to struggle for five hours over murderous terrain to reach a point where a rescue helicopter could land.
All the Hills are Home is, however, more than a collection of remarkable stories. The two volumes contain a wealth of information on hiking, photography and the natural history of places Malcolm has visited, so that those who might like to follow in his footsteps will find in these pages an astonishing amount of material to guide them in their own endeavours. Tried and tested itineraries, advice on overseas trekking companies, photographic tips and philosophical discussions on various topics are featured. There is little doubt, too, that those who have participated in Summit Ventures’ trips will find in these pages much that will remind them of their own exciting adventures.
Malcolm is an internationally recognised photographer and these two volumes are liberally and beautifully illustrated with a selection of his finest photographs.
