Higher Ground

Martin Moran was a man of the mountains since youth. Famously, he made the first solo ascent of the Scottish Munros in the winter months, as described in his great book, The Munros in Winter. For decades he made his living as a mountain guide based in Strathcarron, Wester Ross. The Scottish hills by no means bound or defined him though. It was after his ascent of the North Face of the Eiger that he made his decision to take the mountain guide qualifications. Martin has climbed and guided in the Alps, Norway, and the Himalaya, experiencing life changing adventures, near-death experiences, meeting and guiding many interesting people. Humour has never been far away, but neither has excitement and interest. Martin Moran lived life in the mountains to the full and this is his story.

Martin Moran was one of Britain’s most experienced mountaineers and guides. Born on North Tyneside he studied geography at Cambridge University before moving to Sheffield with his new wife, Joy, to train as a chartered accountant. In 1985 he qualified as a British and International IFMGA Mountain Guide and moved to the North-West Highlands with Joy to found their climbing and guiding enterprise, Moran Mountain. He made a dozen pioneering ascents in the Himalaya and climbed over a hundred new winter routes in Scotland. In May 2019, Martin tragically lost his life in the Himalaya while on a pioneering expedition with seven other climbers.

Discounts & P&P

From Friday 1 April 2022, we offer 25% off to all newsletter subscribers. Simply sign up to our newsletter here to receive your discount code. If you're already a subscriber, we'll remind you of the code every time we send out a newsletter.

In addition, we offer FREE standard UK P&P for orders, along with options to upgrade the delivery service at checkout.

Postage costs are dependent on order weight (book/s weight plus packing materials) and are calculated automatically upon checkout, before payment is taken. Full details of our delivery and returns information can be found here. 

UK Delivery

We offer FREE standard UK P&P for orders: orders are sent Royal Mail Second Class as standard and should arrive within two to three working days. The option to upgrade UK shipping to Royal Mail 24 Next Day Delivery is available at checkout.

International Delivery

International orders are sent by Royal Mail International Tracked. Deliveries can take between a few days and a couple of weeks to arrive, depending on the delivery location. Please contact us if your country is not listed.

Dispatch

Update: September 2022. Most orders received through the Vertebrate Publishing Adventure Books website are dispatched from Gardners in Eastbourne, UK; some orders (such as signed copies of pre-orders, or limited stock items) are sent from our office in Sheffield, UK. If your order is for multiple items, you may receive more than one package, though we try to avoid this (if applicable, you would only be charged once for shipping). Orders received before 11 a.m. are dispatched the same day; orders received after 11 a.m. are usually dispatched the following business day. You will be sent a notification email when your order has been dispatched. If we are temporarily out of stock of a title we will advise by email.

Gift Cards

Gift card purchases are delivered electronically – we do not dispatch physical gift cards. Full details are provided with gift card purchases.

Ebooks

Coming soon! Ebooks are fulfilled securely by our partner Glassboxx using their app. For more details about how to access your ebook, please refer to the information in your order confirmation. 

Payment

Payment is made safely and securely using Shopify, which incorporates the world's leading payment gateways, including Stripe, Apple Pay and Google Pay. You can also check out with PayPal. All payments are handled directly by these payment gateways and Vertebrate Publishing Adventure Books does not process or store any cardholder details on the Adventure Books website.

Returns

We will happily refund or exchange any item that is returned to us in an unused, as new condition. If you want to make a return, contact us with your details. Once we've received the item(s), we will credit your account. If the item is faulty or damaged or we have sent the incorrect item we will refund postage.

If you're returning something because it's not suitable, you'll need to pay the postage costs to return it to us. We process most returns the day they arrive with us, and certainly within seven working days. Goods must be returned to us within 21 days.