Rest - Post Expedition Come-Down

Winter has slowly melted away from the mountains in North Wales over the last few days, along with a certain amount of fatigue. I would have liked to have made a bit more of it, but as is often the way after an intense expedition, I’ve had to let my body and brain rest a bit!

There’s a significant mental as well as physical toll involved with guiding and ensuring the safety of people in the mountains in winter. As well as continually assessing the weather, terrain and avalanche conditions, there are the tasks of deciding on suitable objectives, picking the safest route up and down, (and allowing for a plan b,c & d), ensuring everyone has the correct kit, encouraging the team, fulfilling personal objectives and a myriad of other processes and decisions - all of which fall to the group leader to execute and/or take responsibility for.

Due to the short daylight hours, winter mountaineering in Scotland involves some challengingly early alarm calls, which bring with it a certain amount of sleep deprivation. On top of this, there are the hundreds of miles of bus driving, shopping and preparation of food, organisation of equipment logistics, a budget to be checked and accounted for and of course, providing a positive educational and mountaineering experience for the group. 

After such a trip, once everyone has safely been returned, the kit unpacked and washed, the receipts added up, photos distributed and the leaders constant drip-feed of adrenaline is no longer required, it’s not uncommon for a body to want to shut down for a bit!

Thankfully, a couple of misty, wet days meant that I could justify showing the fireside some appreciation without feeling the need to be outside! After the initial collapse, we did manage lots of gentle social catch ups with local friends, and a couple of hours in the climbing wall. 

Last night’s sunset was going to be too good to miss though. Just before dusk, we walked up to our local summit, just up the road from The Cottage to watch the colours come and go. Sometimes it’s good to recharge...