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Anna Fleming

@anna_fleming_

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Climber, writer, alpinist, artist
Author of TIME ON ROCK (Canongate)
Edinburgh

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TIME ON ROCK: A Dream Realised 📚🏔

In 2022, I took a leap that changed my life — Canongate published my debut book, TIME ON ROCK, and what an incredible journey it’s been. This story, rooted in my love for climbing, nature, and the wild places that shape me, is a part of me and I’m so proud to share this with you.

Since the release, it’s been an amazing ride:

-Translated into Italian and Chinese 🌍

-Shortlisted for the Boardman-Tasker Award for Mountain Literature 🏔️

-Shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing 🌿

These recognitions are humbling, and I’m deeply grateful to everyone who has supported this project along the way.

TIME ON ROCK isn’t about conquering the mountain – it's about the way the mountains shape us and teach us new ways of being. It’s a journey of self-reflection, growth, persistence and intimidation, both on the page and in the mountains. Through the story of my progress from terrified beginner to confident lead climber, the book shows how placing hand and foot on rock becomes a profound new way into the landscape.

I wrote this book for anyone who’s ever felt connected to the mountains and wanted to explore these places both higher and deeper. TIME ON ROCK blends nature, geology, sport, history and culture - it’s infused with the spirit of Nan Shepherd.

"We shape the rock; the rock shapes us."

If you haven’t yet read it, I’d be so honoured if you did. The book is available on Waterstones, Amazon and all Independent Bookshops 🙏 📖

💬 If you’ve already read Time on Rock, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Your feedback means the world to me. I love connecting with readers from all corners of the globe.

Thanks for being a part of this journey, I can’t wait to see where the next chapter takes me.

#AuthorLife #ClimbingAndWriting #MountainLiterature #NatureWriting #BoardmanTaskerAward #WainwrightPrize #FirstBook #OutdoorAdventure #GlobalReaders @canongatebooks @solferinolibri by @anna_fleming_

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a year ago

Mountain guiding in the UK.

Sometimes dry, often wet... occasionally very VERY wet.

But always better than being in the office 😉

🌧

#lake district #mountains #hiking #britishweather by @anna_fleming_

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4 days ago

A Rocky Mountain Adventure

In August I went to the Rocky Mountains, Colorado following in the footsteps of trailblazing Victorian adventurer Isabella Bird.

Isabella visited Colorado and the Rocky Mountains in 1873 on a solo trip around the world. She was 42 years old and suffered from many health problems. But when she travelled her life transformed.

She rode alone on horseback for hundreds of miles through blizzards and winter storms. She met grizzly bears and stayed calm. She rounded up cattle with cowboys and carried a gun and slept in cabins where her hair froze in the night.

Isabella Bird was one of the first women to climb Longs Peak - a highly tecnical mountain climb of 4346metres / 14,256ft. And she did all this in snow and ice, wearing a pair of boots she had borrowed from a Welsh man. 🥾 Needless to say, they didn't fit!

She also fell in love with a desperado named Rocky Mountain Jim - a man she said any woman could love but would be a fool to marry. 6 months later, he was shot dead.

Isabella wrote letters home to her sister Henrietta on the island of Mull in Scotland. In these letters she recounted her adventures in scintillating detail. They were later written up and published in her bestselling travel memoir, A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains.

It was my great privilege to follow in Isabella's footsteps, to see what she saw, to climb where she climbed, though sadly I didn't meet my own desperado 💔

On the summit of Longs Peak - inspired by the Norwegian women of the Tindekvindene - I wore a skirt to honour Isabella and all the women who came before.

I can't wait to write about this adventure for my new book!

#rockymountains #women #travel #usa #climbing by @anna_fleming_

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7 days ago

LONG'S PEAK, Colorado, USA, 4346metres | 14,256ft

On Friday 4 September I climbed the beautiful Long's Peak in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado together with my climbing partner Shauna.

Long's Peak is a LONG hike - 15 miles / 24 km with some 1600 metres height gain - and a risk of afternoon thunderstorms ⛈️

So we set alarms for 2am and started walking at 3am. It was very early, but I was very excited, clambering like a child up the mountain in the moonlight, catching glimpses through the pines, of constellations and shooting stars and the city lights of Denver.

Higher up we met sunrise over the plain and the whole mountain turned pink and golden.

It was cold and windy and above 4000m, the altitude felt tough. But the rocks were beautiful, full of grip and texture, helping us up to the summit for 8am where we stopped for a full hour, taking it all in.

We climbed this brilliant peak following in the footsteps of the amazing Isabella Bird, who was on Long's Peak in 1873. Having been up there myself now, and experienced the distance, altitude and technical challenge, I am all the more astonished at what she did, 153 years ago in snow and ice!

Thank you Long's Peak, Rocky Mountains and Colorado for having us. Thanks to Shauna for being an excellent adventure buddy and Isabella Bird for providing our inspiration.

More on Isabella to follow...

#rockymountains #colorado #climbing #mountains #usa by @anna_fleming_

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18 days ago

Dalegubben, Sunnmøre Alps, Norway

It was my great pleasure to climb Dalegubben (1344m) with the Tindekvindene / the Norwegian Peak Women. The Tindekvindene are a network for women based in Ålesund / Sunnmøre who love hiking, skiing and climbing in the mountains.

I loved seeing the mountains through the local women's eyes and hearing their words and stories from fjord and fell.

We found many parallels between Scotland and Norway, showing how our histories and cultures are deeply intertwined.

The weather was a wet and wild - which was not so unfamiliar for a seasoned Scottish mountain climber!

My thanks to @hildegunn_marie_ @hilde.maria.nicolaisen and @gunnraknes for showing me their local mountains.

🙏 ⛰️ ❤️

#Norway #Sunnmøre #dnt #mountain by @anna_fleming_

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a month ago

More Switzerland!

As part of the Swiss adventure with @carlalouisehuynh we visited Stockhorn biwak, an unstaffed bivouac shelter at 2598metres in Baltshiedertal.

The hut is a brilliant futuristic space-ship design from the 1970s, accessed by via ferrata. Perched high on the edge of the mountain, it has stunning views south to Saas and Zermatt.

One problem - we arrived and there was no water!! The tank had leaked. But there was still snow above the boulder field. So we had to climb again like mountain goats and then melt, boil and filter the snow. A lot of work at the end of a long day!

From the bivouac, we climbed the Stockhorn on a brilliant granite ridge made up of 5 towers.

At the summit, we found beautiful views of the Bietschhorn. One for next time!

#alpinism #Switzerland #climbing #swissalps by @anna_fleming_

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2 months ago

Hello Switzerland!

My climbing partner Carla and I went on a mission into Baltschiederklause SAC hütte - a 7 hour walk in up a long beautiful valley in the mountains, climbing more than 1600 metres to reach the hut.

With no roads or cable cars, the valley is very quiet. It felt wild, reminding me of the Himalaya - amazing to find such a remote corner of the Alps.

The weather was mixed, with some thunderstorms and snow! This was good for socialising in the hut with the locals and guides like @nicolas_zambetti

In the end we climbed a gorgeous granite ridge on the Jägihorn - with no one in sight - on the Jägihorn or any of the surrounding mountains.

Bliss.

Our thanks to Jolanda Stettler and the team at Baltschiederklause Hütte for their warm generous hosting.

#alpinism #Switzerland #swissalps #climbing by @anna_fleming_

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2 months ago

Dent du Géant - a mountain I've long meant to climb and finally had the opportunity this July.

Its a 4000m mountain like no other. The huge white fixed ropes make you feel like you're a sailor climbing a ship's rigging - at 4000 metres above the glacier in the sky. Then on the summit, you clip into an anchor that is the statue of the Virgin Mary. You kiss the Madonna on her cheek, while admiring the holes in her head from repeated lightning strikes.

It was a cold morning with a strong wind and I was grateful for the down jacket 'borrowed' from Rifugio Torino at 3.30am.

⚡️

#alpinism #climbing #italianalps by @anna_fleming_

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2 months ago

London friends!

I'm giving a talk on Tuesday 9 June at the @alpine_club. This will be all about the Cholitas Escaladoras and climbing in the Bolivian Andes from my expedition in 2024.

Expect big skirts, big peaks, Pachamama, some very strange ice formations and a near death experience.

We will be fundraising at this event to bring the awesome @cholitasescaladoras to the UK in February 2027 so please come along to find out more and give generously if you can!

Tickets are free, the event is open to all via the Alpine Club.

Tuesday 9 June
7.30
55 Charlotte Road, EC2

https://alpineclub.org/event/anna-fleming-the-cordillera-real-and-las-cholitas-escaladoras

Muchas gracias 🙏

#alpinism #bolivia #andes #womenclimb by @anna_fleming_

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4 months ago

After the wedding, a houseful of flowers.

May is the most beautiful month. by @anna_fleming_

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4 months ago

Book launch: Sonic Detection

On Tuesday 16 June I'll be in conversation with Johanna Linsley @jhlinsley for the launch of Sonic Detection at Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh.

Part sonic noir, part performance document and part critical investigation of listening at the margins, Sonic Detection is for readers interested in prospecting the boundaries of performance, sound, and text.

Emerging from a decade-long collaboration between artists Rebecca Collins and Johanna Linsley, the book uses eavesdropping as an expanded creative methodology. Here, sonic detectives hold open a collective sonorous space. They are the embodiment of the phenomenophile, lingering longer in listening.

This will be a powerful and at times emotional event as we will be honouring the work of Rebecca Collins @p4uu_ift who tragically died after a short illness in 2024. Rebecca was a close friend and a brilliant artist and thinker. We spent many hours talking about her work and this book before she passed away, so it is a great honour to be part of the launch of her book.

Join us for an evening with performance and conversation - celebrating the collaboration of two brilliant minds.

Tuesday 16 June
6.30-8pm
Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh
Free entry.
Tickets available via @fruitmarketgallery events page by @anna_fleming_

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4 months ago

WE’RE STILL CLIMBING 🏔️🔥

Back in February we launched our fundraiser to bring the incredible Cholita Climbers to the UK in 2027 — and since then things have been BUSY behind the scenes.

Because of your support, we’ve reached 11% of our £12,000 target 💥

Every donation, every repost, every message of encouragement has helped keep this dream moving - and we’re so excited about what’s still to come.

The Cholita Climbers have inspired people across the world by breaking barriers in mountaineering, climbing in their polleras, and redefining what strength, resilience, and representation in the mountains can look like.

Bringing them to Scotland in 2027 is about so much more than a trip. It’s about Connection - Exchange - Storytelling - Community.
And creating something powerful together.

If this project speaks to you, we’d love your help getting it higher ⛰️

💛 Donate if you can
💛 Share this post
💛 Send it to someone who believes in women

We’re still climbing — and we’re just getting started.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/cholita-climbers-scotland

🇧🇴 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 💪

#cholita #empowerment #womenwhoclimb #scotland #bolivia by @anna_fleming_

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5 months ago