Why I... mountaineer
"It’s less about adrenaline and more about that sort of deep inner peace that I get going out into nature. It’s like a form of meditation."
I've loved mountain walking since I was a teenager and, over the years, I've headed out to the mountains of Snowdonia whenever I could. Now I'm training to be a mountain leader.
People can easily get into trouble – the classic is people going up Mount Snowdon in flip flops with a can of lager. Sometimes they ask for guidance and sometimes it's tempting to intervene proactively. But you have to be careful and not treat them like idiots. You need empathy to be able to read body language quickly and create rapport.
I was out doing some assistant leading at the weekend, and there was a young lady who got freaked out by standing on rock. There wasn't any danger; it was more of a sort of mental block. The leader put a “confidence rope” round her and guided her along so she was connected to something solid.
I love everything about mountaineering. I like wild camping, I love going out for two or three days and living in the mountains. Life is so complicated nowadays – we're always in front of screens and there's so much to do – and it's a real good stress-buster, going out and stripping life down to shelter, food and water.
Mountains are fascinating places – you could go up the same mountain 10 times and have 10 different experiences because of the weather and the conditions. They’re wetter and windier places than at sea level. I was out in Scotland a couple of weeks ago and, on an August day, I had a woolly hat and gloves on and warm layers because there was an icy rain coming in.
I used to like to scare myself – I was into rock climbing in my 20s. And then I got into fast motorbikes in my 30s. But then in my 40s I got back into mountain walking and it's less about adrenaline and more about that sort of deep inner peace that I get going out into nature. It's like a form of meditation.
Walking up mountains can be a slog and, for some people, the slog isn't worth it when they get to the view. But for me, it nearly always is.
I was out with a friend who was struggling with depression. I just said "let's go for a mountain walk" and we did. There's some anecdotal evidence that doctors have prescribed mountain-walking for depression. I don't think it's going to fix everything, because it's quite a complicated issue, but it seemed to help in that case.
I'm a lifestyle-focused financial planner. Money is the second thing we discuss after talking to people about their lives. I think going and doing stuff that I love doing means that, if nothing else, I'm leading by example. Part of the role of a financial planner is to inspire people to go and live life, doing the things they want to do, whatever they may be.