You Meet the Nicest People on a Mountainside
Which is good when you have a panic attack 1000 metres above sea level
Welcome to Simple + Straightforward, a weekly letter about living on your own terms in a simple, meaningful way. If this is your first time here, welcome! I’m so pleased to have you in this little community.
Yesterday, I climbed a mountain. The first time in two years.
I grew up 40 minutes from Snowdonia National Park in North Wales. The mountains are such a presence here that you can see them for miles, even from my childhood home.
Yesterday was one of those incredible winter days, so rare in this part of the world; blue skies and cold but crisp. My husband, brother, and I donned our hiking boots and set off towards the summit of Glyder Fach, one of the highest peaks in the region.
I’m a little embarrassed to tell you that it all went a bit wrong.
I last climbed this peak 3 years ago and I thought I could remember the way. It turns out your memory can fail you.
The path was on the shaded side of the mountain so at one point there was snow and ice on an almost vertical ascent up a scree path.
I expected the mountain to be busy but other people were far more sensible than us.
Because of the difficult conditions, it took much longer to reach the summit than we anticipated and we realised we had just 2 hours until sunset on a 2-3 hour descent. The three of us couldn’t decide which way to go - continue along a ridge that would make a circular route (our original intention when we thought we would have more daylight and I thought I knew the way), or return the way we came.
I had the first (minor) panic attack of my life up there. I was scared to make a mistake on the circular route and end up lost. But the thought of returning whence we came, down the vertical scree slope followed by a scramble down ice-covered boulders made me more than nervous. Each minute we debated meant a minute less of sunlight.
We had no phone signal. I felt lost, insignificant, and scared. Mountains can do that to you. They can be lonely places.
That is until you find mountain-folk.
Learning from mountainside etiquette
Something interesting happens when you’re on a mountainside. It becomes humans vs. mountain. In this fight, you always root for your fellow hikers, because winning means not dying up there.
So you help each other and become super cordial to everyone you meet.
You would never think of passing someone on a Welsh mountain without saying bore da (good morning) or to give a helping hand if it’s needed. Yesterday, we saw a lone hiker take a tumble down a particularly nasty section. We, of course, stopped to check he was OK.
As we neared the top, we stopped the few walkers we crossed paths with, asking them how close the summit was or what the conditions were like. We in turn were stopped by others and we made sure to offer advice and warnings about icy or boggy patches.
In life, we so often think about fellow humans as our rivals. We’re pitted against them. We’re told that if someone has something, it’s because they’ve taken it from you. We distrust people, we don’t make eye contact with them on the subway, we pass people in need without a second glance.
On a mountain, the script is flipped. Everyone is your friend, everyone helps each other through the difficult twists and turns.
We can learn a lot from mountainside etiquette.
Bringing the mountain mindset off the trails and into real life
There are places in the world where what I call a Mountain Mindset - a collaborative, human-centric approach to life - exists.
I lived in Spain for nearly 6 months in 2020/21. This is a country of community and of family. They live their lives on the streets, which are almost always filled with people convening over a glass of local wine or a small beer, accompanied by a little something to eat of course.
In the UK, we shut ourselves in behind closed doors and curtains. Our homes are our castles and when someone crosses the threshold, they are your guest, on your time, and they’re often made to feel as such.
In places like Spain where life happens outside, there is no threshold to cross. A meetup of 2 people can easily turn into 12 as you bump into friends, perhaps a person you’ve just met at the bar or a friend of a friend.
Much like on the mountain, the default isn’t suspicion, it’s collaboration and inclusion. And communities become strong because of it.
As we tread deeper into 2022, I intend to develop my own mountain mindset. I want to help people when they need it, be in real life or online. I want to build community. I want to treat people with a decent level of respect.
Ultimately, I believe that most people are good, and I want to work from that position. Because being constantly wary is tiring, and life is exhausting enough right now.
Eventually, we found our way down the mountain. We returned the way we came, which mean literally sliding down the scree and ice on our asses. Sunset was at 4.25pm, we hit our finish point at 4.50pm, with a little light still in the sky.
Some might call that perfect timing. At least that’s what I told my mum…
I want to start introducing some new segments to Simple + Straightforward, to (hopefully) give you even more value to this letter which is frankly my favorite writing task of the week.
One of them is
Stuff I’ve done this week to…
It could be anything. Stuff I’ve done this week to make myself feel better, to simplify my life, to help my finances, to improve my relationships. If you have anything you’d like to see here, just hit the reply button.
This week, I’m starting with:
Stuff I’ve done this week to lift my mood
Dinner with an old friend who lost his wife (who was one of my closest friends) in December to secondary breast cancer. We ate, we drank great wine, we reminisced, we even laughed. It was both cathartic and therapeutic.
Building fires and watching them flicker with my 4-year-old niece.
A beer in front of said fire.
Walking. Not just up mountains, but mini walks that start as soon as I set foot out the front door.
A date night with my husband - the first in 4 weeks.
Bullet journaling every night.
Watching all 12 hours of the Lord of the Rings extended editions with my husband, brother, and sister-in-law. I am the only one who doesn’t care for the films, but watching 3 of my favorite people in utter heaven, quoting the whole thing, and putting up with my questions, has been awesome.
8 hours sleep a night. Probably the most effective point on this whole listicle.
Beautiful article. I never thought about this but your article just opened my eyes.
In our daily life, we are always kind of competing against each other. But on a mountain, we all are together to help each other if needed. That collaboration makes us stronger.
This lesson will stay with me.