Part of my family comes from Cumbria so I have always known the mountains and loved them. Yet you can never underestimate them. People talk about conquering mountains but that is an illusion. You are only there on sufferance as anyone caught in an electrical storm or winter blizzards will testify. Being badly prepared whether in terms of clothing, equipment, navigational skills or attitude is not an option. The mountains can be unforgiving. Perhaps that is part of the attraction.
It is also a mix of using navigation skills, judgment, anticipating the weather poring over synoptic charts immediately beforehand and making decisions in the mountains themselves and sometimes in poor conditions. Not to everyone’s taste but very satisfying … and liberating.
My wife is a qualified mountain leader and that has pushed me beyond my comfort zone on many an occasion. As with professional development, to challenge one’s preconceptions about what is possible can be rewarding. Walking in the mountains is an activity that sits well with tax and with writing. All quite different activities but activities which in my world complement each other.
