Top British mountaineer, big-wall climber and winter expedition specialist, Andy Kirkpatrick gets set to close the 2010 Winter Words Festival on Sunday 7th February, 2010.

Described by Climbing magazine as having "a strange penchant for the long, the cold and the difficult", Andy specialises in climbing big-walls usually in winter. He has climbed Yosemite's El Capitan 12 times including a 12 day solo ascent of the mighty Reticent Wall. He has also made a 15-day winter ascent of the Lafaille Route on the Petit Dru, a 1000m pillar in the Alps considered to be one of the most difficult climbs in Europe. Andy's other accomplishments include a first winter ascent of the east face if Mermoz in Patagonia, Argentina, two record breaking expeditions with paraplegic adventure Karen Darke (including a 29 day crossing of the Greenland ice cap and a successful ascent of El Capitan) and most recently the first attempt at a winter ascent of Torre Egger in Patagonia.

A leading expert on climbing gear, Andy is also a published writer and film-maker with a tremendous ability to captivate any audience with his unique brand of motivational story-telling. Get together with this great climbing mind, and man at the Winter Words Festival, Pitlochry. Tickets available from box office on 01796 484626 or here online.

Andy Kirkpatrick - Profile

It is perhaps Andy's journey from remedial student to successful climber, writer and speaker that interests his audience most. Brought up on a council estate in one of Britain's flattest cities, Hull-born Andy suffered from severe dyslexia which went undiagnosed until he was 19. One of his greatest strengths is his ability to talk about his life and his climbs in a way that is totally accessible to the non-climber and allows the audience to experience the risk and tension of big wall climbing.

Andy also works in film and TV, as a stunt safety advisor and this plays a part in many of his talks, which take you from the heights of Patagonia to the chocolaty depths of Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! In 2008 he wrote his first book Psychovertical, published by Hutchinson, which received rave reviews and won the Boardman Tasker Prize for mountain literature.