Like me I imagine there are many of us all sitting back (because standing is not an option with the weight of the world on your shoulders right?) and asking yourself ...

"Is this for real?"

What a year of surprises, shocks, twists and turns.

There is light at the end of the tunnel,

We need out and we need out soon ...pretty please!

So I guess the big question is when? Well truth be told I am not even sure the guys in charge, the decision makers, movers and shakers are 100% but here is what we do know. It will happen - and that is what we need to keep in mind. Despite growing frustration amongst both visitor and adventure providers, we all want to see just around the corner!

However ... are we all looking at the same future?

2020 has happened and to move forwards there is a strengthening awareness that we must release the now, increasingly obvious, outdated tourism strategies we have adhered to for too long!

~Selfish parking

~clustering for the same trails and ~summit queuing (or bickering)

~carelessly throwing down rubbish on popular paths (Llanberis Path, Snowdon) ~over crowding local hot spots.

~indiscreet wildcamping.

At the same time the national park and councils need to continue to improve the services to do their bit- its all very well towing and clamping but maybe invest some money into a reasponable parking option with a reliable sherpa bus. Draw the crowds down through the villages to encourage wealth distribution. Overall lets take a more friendly approach to the enjoyment of our national park.

So, with light at the end of the tunnel (because I strongly believe we are building a better understanding of a nicer future for our mini-beasts) what did me and mine do to cope with lockdown and how are we adapting to a more restrictve future? For one ... we spent alot, and I mean ALOT of time on the steps. Ascending the steps and descending the steps. I counted alot of steps, used handfuls of buttons and logged 1000's of meters ... confused??

In order to retain sanity and physical fitness, to make sure I wasn't huffing my way up mountains or roly polying down when I was allowed back to work, I joined in on the various social media steps challenges. In the space of 2 weeks isolation I completed 5 day Wainwright race challenge, Welsh 3000s in 24 hours and Morocco 3 peaks totalling 13, 857m of step ascents! My knees hurt for the first time ...ever! Brutal.

However, eventually we were allowed to slowly start guiding again. The next conundrum was how do we, as guides and outdoors folk, feel about the new working conditions, PPE and structures?

Personally, I love being outside and love my job enough that if a client needs me to wear a mask to help them feel safer and more comfortable that is not a problem! I am so pleased to be able to guide and share the mountains with folk that have spent months confined to their homes and doorstep adventures. Do I feel the mask or gloves will make the difference to my health and safety, no is my honest answer but that doesn't mean I am right. It is just my own take on information.

What I can say as FACT is I now collect no less than 3 but often many more masks of all colours, fabrics and styles carelessly dropped on our mountain paths, single plastic gloves now lay curled around plants or floating in the streams. Sad times for our beautiful, recently rested mountains.

You are not headed into the hills to restrict your intake of fresh air surely? Might it not be a better option to leave them in the car?

We had this time to genuinely sit back, look at our lives, habits, work and moral ethics and choose for ourselves what is important going forward. I, like so many, felt a slight buzz of excitement at the prospect of a more enlightened society. One where consideration and compassion for each other and our planet might take precedence. I still feel hopeful that more good will come from all this, it has too. For many like myself the only direct affect the virus has had is quieter working months, staying home more and a few more pounds around the hips. There are those that have suffered far more considerably and I don't presume to discount that in any way.

But can we move on now?

Can we do that and do it right ... hold onto the positives and slowly rebuild and transform the negatives.

I say YES

I am grateful that I had the time to truly consider how I want to build my business, who I want to share the mountains with and in what form I can do so.

I discovered I am easily entertained by the mini mountaineers that have asked me to take them up their first mountain. 3 hours of unicorn stories and I am still listening. Tip toeing through the woods, fingers over mouths loudly shushing each other so we don't awake the legendary dragon inside Dinas Emrys, all in a days work.

Equally I still ride the buzz of teaching new map-reading and navigation to adventure loving folk knowing they are only going to leave me and develope these skills for their own benefit. How much fun it is to give someone the Knowledge and watch when recognition dawns on their face, that they do actually know where they are or what they are looking at!

Even writing about it I am getting buzzed ... need alert!

So whats next for me, mine and guiding?

Exciting things I can assure you, anyone who follows my Instagram knows I am a wild one!

Guiding still and for as long as people want to go on adventures I am happy to take them!

I am working on a couple of challenges and events for early next year that will hopefully give everyday adventure folk the opportunity to achieve something big and exciting.

Welsh 3000 Split Spring Challenge

15 summits, 3days, 2 camps and all the success.

Sea to summit ~ traverse Wales 3000s

And...

Developing my own skills and qualifications with my Rock Climbing Instructor (RCI) Training in November 2020 and a 3 month adventure with the miniest member of my home tribe to Scotland for Jan, Feb and Mar to obtain enough winter mountain days to undergo my Winter Mountain Leader (WML) qualification.

You should never stop improving and progressing if you have found something you love to do, a job that not only makes you a living but allows you to feel like your truly living.

So, thats my ideas and plans. And you?

If anyone is interested in becoming a Mountain Leader or perhaps not for work but would like to dveelope their skills get in touch, ask me questions, pick my brains...I bet I can help you or at least point you in the right direction.

So, keep a weathered eye on the mountain horizon. My tiny silhouette all wrapped up in winter clothes and brandishing an ice ace may be visible to some.