Steve Kew made his first solo climb at the age of 11 in the Lake District when he pioneered an interesting route from his campsite in Grasmere to the summit of Helm Crag; he has been hooked on mountains ever since. He attended a beginners' rock climbing course in 1970 and immediately returned to do the intermediate and advanced courses. Since then he has climbed and walked extensively throughout Britain; in the Alps he has done many of the classic 4000m peaks such as the Matterhorn, Nadelgrat and Monte Rosa traverse and has been on several trekking and climbing trips to the Nepal Himalayas and the Karakoram. He lives in southwest Scotland where he is a member of the Galloway Mountain Rescue Team and Chairman of the Stewartry Mountaineering Club. His previous writing includes three other books, many articles for newspapers and magazines and radio drama for the BBC.
