Week 14 - Cheeky Mid-Week Mountains Makes You Feel Good!

A busy week of mountains this week, starting with a weekend away on my mountaineering club’s annual club party meet at Roybridge. It also saw me accidentally complete Dry January (after 2 months of speedy progress through my ‘drink 30 different alcoholic drinks’ challenge item in November and December) – I got back to my more normal self of not really drinking much. After friends posted ‘Dry January Champion’ on their facebook walls on the 1st Feb, I reflected that I hadn’t had any alcohol since the 2nd January on the last night of my scouts mountaineering course. So, if I made it to the 3rd February, I’d technically have made it too, albeit without trying.

Friday night was a lovely opportunity to meet some new club members in the local pub, with Saturday was a bit of wash-out weather wise – we had a short wander up towards ‘the Window’ on Creag Meagaidh where we met the avalanche assessment guy on his way out, whose advice was basically ‘Don’t Bother.’ Sunday was a much better day, where I climbed my second new munro of the challenge, Sgurr Eilde Mor, near Kinlochleven. The weekend ended as all good mountaineering weekends should, with a burger in the Clachaig Inn in Glencoe, a new restaurant for my challenge.

The weekend provided the opportunity to meet lots of new ‘interesting people’ for my challenge. We travelled up with Rob, an experienced mountaineer who has a 2-year old, recently moved back to the UK from Canada. He came along to join the club on Thursday, and less than 24-hours later, was on his way to the mountains. We shared a chalet with a new couple to the club – Ben and May (which I’m counting as one new person….) – they knew my name from my Reading Uni days, where I briefly dated the president of the caving club they were members of. They were new to winter mountaineering, so it was great to get outside with them and teach them some skills (albeit somewhat hampered by the weather.) On the same day, I also met Jonathan, who is planning a travelling trip to the America, so we spent a good hour or so talking about travelling.
​
Wednesday saw a cheeky mid-week mountaineering trip with a fellow Jacobites member working towards his winter Mountain Leader Award. We climbed Carn Mairg and Meall nan Aighean near Aberfeldy, in sunshine and snow, and found time to practice some snow belays. I’m now at 4 new munros for the challenge. 

I tried one new recipe this week – Salmon and Broccoli Gratin. It was pretty tasty and only 400kcal, another recipe from my Cambridge Weight Plan recipe books.
​
Also this week, I took a new opportunity – the lady that did my NLP Training offered me the opportunity for a ‘breakthrough’ coaching session with one of her Master Practitioners-in-Training. With a lot going on for me personally, I had some trepidation at coaching – although I know it definitely works, I was unsure whether I was ready to deal with anything that came up. However, I enjoyed a lovely day with Gina Brown, who coached me through a reassessment of my values around my business and some memory resolutions. I now have lots to think about and act upon.
My learnings this week:

1. I need to practice my snow belays if I’m to do my Winter ML qualification this year. I just can’t dig very well with an ice-axe. I get there in the end, but not quickly enough.
2. Mid-week mountain trips are awesome! Not only do you get to spend a day in the mountains, but it feels like a weekend. Then you get back, spend 2 days at work, and it’s the weekend again!
3. I’ve been putting a lot of pressure on myself to succeed at my business. If I instead focus on what I want my business to be about, helping people, getting outdoors, finding my own (and providing others with) a sense of calm and peace, then success will follow on.