Complex sentence: He bought no specialist equipment and made no attempt to learn technical mountaineering skills, such as the use of an ice axe and crampons, and merely spent five weeks walking around the modest hills of Snowdonia and the Lake District before he declared himself ready.
Split into simpler sentences: He bought no specialist equipment and made no attempt to learn technical mountaineering skills, such as the use of an ice axe and crampons. Instead, he merely spent five weeks walking around the modest hills of Snowdonia and the Lake District before he declared himself ready.