Something gnawing away inside his body was suggesting it should be taken out of its comfort zone. At 30 years old, Mike discovered rock and winter climbing perhaps a little later in life, it just meant he had to train harder and catch up on the others rather quickly, pretty soon progression into the world of mountaineering, alpinism and interesting adventures were to follow. In writing from his personal accounts from Alaska to the southern tip of Patagonia or from Baffin Island to Norway’s Lofoten Isles, he endeavours to transport the reader to those remarkable worlds to become intimate with them and their extremes of remoteness, wanting to share the rawness and intimacy of nature which is truly inspirational. Conventional family holidays were a thing of the past as Lynne, his wife, joined in on some of the adventures. All of these were achieved while both held down full-time employment, Mike as a production manager and Lynne as a dental receptionist. Their offspring, Gary and Nicky, were not short of a few adventures of their own too. Unfortunately, in the places visited, the evidence became abundantly clear of our rapidly changing world and of the tragic impact the human race is having upon it.
Thoughts often ran across his mind—what would life have been like if he had NOT taken that small step out of the ordinary? Mike played multiple team sports at reasonable levels, but his inner-self searched for adventure out of his comfort zone. Coming close to joining the armed forces as a reservist, he chose climbing and Mountaineering. Instead of games dictated by multiple rules, he chose a game climbers play with rules made only by themselves. Adventures on rock, snow and ice took him and a band of brothers to the edge. His own rules however, insisted he returned to a beloved family. Credit for all the photographs included goes to Mike Hope/Martin Scrowston collection unless otherwise stated. A huge thank you to Martin Scrowston for the front cover picture.