Mountain Adventure Holidays
Male Ibex
How a city chick left the rat race to pursue her dream of a life in the hills. We will be following her journey over the coming months.
A ‘feeling’ buzzed through me at the start of this year. “Something hugely exciting is going to happen!”. I had absolutely no idea what this might be however, which made it all the more wonderful…
There was a definite frisson in the air which, happily, was not linked to the rather too-cosy relationship that was developing between me and my laptop. I was a familiar urban hamster, scampering along the tracks of commuting ‘long’… working ‘long’… and so trying to squeeze hobbies into small windows of opportunity like so many of my peers…
This of course made moments of holiday planning all the more fun and important to get ‘right’, and we all know that looking forward to a break is almost as rewarding as the experience itself, don’t we?
So this summer, would it be a few surfing weekends… or should I go on a trekking holiday??? “Isn’t trekking for crazed outdoors people who all dangle from cliffs by one toe-nail for fun though???”. Well, let’s find out, I thought, in what I declared at the time to be an official Moment of Extreme Bravery.
Fast-forward to August… Chamonix Valley… blistering blue skies… the stunning irregularity yet homely familiarity of the massif du Mont Blanc… the start of what was both a fabulous Tour du Mont Blanc and also of a new way to ‘really live’! After careful research, the trip exceeded my expectations in so many ways. Not only this – it was where the hidden gem of discovery was hiding amongst the gentianes!
It went like this: why do I work like a crazed lunatic on something that is not my true passion so that I can spend a couple of weeks in the year enjoying bring part of something brilliant like this??? Why don’t I come and do this for a living??? Yes! Why not??? There may be plenty of ‘why nots’ however the trick was seeing the benefits of the ‘whys’ outweighing all of these and coming up with a watertight plan to make it happen.
It is very easy to follow norms, however being out there totally in nature with a group of like-minded people and someone as inspirational as Lindsay, my guide from Tracks and Trails, provided the catalyst to unlock my calling in life!! And that is exactly it – out there on the trail the ‘feeling’ that touched me earlier in the year suddenly seemed to explode and completely connect everything that matters in the world. And everything does matter – and to realize that is more than can often even be imagined, never mind actually felt!
So as you read this I am now several weeks into having left a sensible desk-job, finding ways to keep the all-important wine fund afloat, and training to become a UK and International Mountain Leader in order to really live and share my passions.
In the coming weeks I will post updates with some candid photos, interesting tips and no doubt some classic out-takes! If anyone has any questions or comments then we would love to hear from you; please just get in touch at Tracks and Trails!
Editors Note:at the time of ‘posting’ the Urban Hamster is battling storm force winds, and a blizzard in the Lake District on her first week of mountain training for the UK Summer Mountain Leader scheme. She has only cried once! This is the first step along the road to becoming qualified as an International Mountain Leader, which allows you to work in the Alps, and much further afield!