Cicerone author Jon Sparks was Commended in the Digital Camera Photographer of the Year 2009. Final results were announced last night (Dec 8th) at London’s Mall Galleries.

Jon’s photo entitled Photographing Lynch Tor, Dartmoor was successful in the This is Britain category. Jon commented that he was pleased to be chosen in a category seemingly dominated by urban, documentary style images but as he said in his original image caption, ‘Even in our crowded island, wild places are usually not too far away’.

An exhibition of all the winning and Commended photos is on show at the Mall Galleries until Sunday 13th December; open every day 10am–5pm. Admission is free. Mall Galleries are on the Mall, a short distance west of Admiralty Arch and just a short walk from Charing Cross Underground and main line stations; see www.mallgalleries.org.uk

The 2009 version of the Digital Camera Photographer of the Year competition was the biggest yet, attracting over 100,000 entries from 126 countries, of which around 70 made it into the final selection.

About Jon

Jon is not a complete stranger to the business of winning awards, having previously collected top honours from both the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild and the British Guild of Travel Writers. He is an experienced freelance photographer and writer specialising in subjects such as landscape and outdoor pursuits.

He’s particularly passionate about walking, climbing and cycling, but his enthusiasm encompasses almost any activity that doesn’t involve the infernal combustion engine. In the last few years he’s been ocean sailing, snorkelling, kayaking, canyoning and cross-country skiing as well as trekking, scrambling and climbing. He has also ridden bikes on everything from the boards of the Manchester Velodrome to the West Highland Way.

Jon has travelled and photographed in Pakistan, New Zealand, Canada, Morocco, and Australia, as well as most countries in Europe. He supplies images to the global libraries Corbis and Alamy and Britain on View, as well as directly from his own library.

Jon is the author of Cicerone’s Outdoor Photography guidebook.

Rachel Crolla – coauthor of Cicerone’s Europe’s High Points was interviewed last week on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour.

Caz Graham caught up with her in some pretty appalling weather on Scafell Pike last week, to talk about her experiences of becoming the first woman to climb the highest point of every country in Europe.

To listen to the interview broadcasted last Friday morning, follow this link to the BBC I-player.

Cicerone author Kev Reynolds has recently returned from leading a trek in Nepal – he sent us this note about a new road being developed in the Annapurna region.

“Until recently the Annapurna Circuit was one of the World’s classic treks, a three-week extravaganza of magnificent scenery and cultural diversity.  But the hill country of Nepal is sprouting roads like bindweed, and the valley of the Kali Gandakhi which drains the western side of the Annapurnas (where it cuts between Dhaulagiri and Annapurna I, it’s the deepest valley on Earth) can now be driven along from Pokhara to the pilgrim site of Muktinath.  Another road has been created from Tibet into the once-forbidden kingdom of Mustang, and it is thought that the Kali Gandakhi road north of Jomosom will eventually join it, making it possible for vehicles to journey all the way from lowland Nepal to the high plateau of Tibet – and vice versa.

Now a parallel road is being created on the eastern side of the Annapurnas, through the valley of the Marsyangdi.  By the post-monsoon season of 2009 buses could travel as far as Bhulbhule north of Besisahar, thereby reducing the start of the Annapurna Circuit by half a day.  However, this road continues much deeper into the valley and sections of it have so far almost reached Dharapani, destroying lengths of trail and many terraced fields, and forcing trekkers across man-made landslides and along temporary and in some cases unstable ‘paths’.

Many villagers are deeply unhappy about this new road, and fear its impact, for a lot of time, money and effort has been invested in creating some of Nepal’s finest lodges to accommodate the thousands of trekkers who, in the past, have flocked to the region.  If the Annapurna Circuit is to continue to attract trekkers, a new route will need to be created, which will ignore a number of lodges and villages now devalued by the road’s presence – for who would travel all the way to Nepal to walk on a dirt road?

Those of us who love Nepal and the Nepali people may question the value of such ‘progress’ and regret the degradation of a once-sacred landscape.  On a practical level, so far as trekking is concerned, the Annapurna Circuit has lost its magic.  Be warned: a number of trails described for Treks 1 & 3 in the Annapurna guide can no longer be used – please follow signs where they redirect the route, and take great care if you find yourself on a trail near road-building works, for Health & Safety considerations are virtually unknown here….  Trek safely and stay alert.”

Kev Reynolds