The words Summit and Peak will never be the same again for me.
Yesterday, I inadvertently ended up trekking 612 metres up to Alpl 14, Krieglach, Austria. I’m a born Londoner so pretty much used to staying at no higher than 35 metres about sea level.
It was a combination of crowd trekking and sheer mental concentration to push my body to do what it didn’t want to do. Reaching the Summit was absolutely wonderful, my heart filled up with massive waves of happiness and my aching muscles were quickly forgotten.
The mountains in Horizon Zero Dawn are brilliant but the real-life view and air from the top of an actual mountain is simply to die for.
40 minutes of hiking up blindly ended up being a really important life lesson to self. I now know why people train for months and end up being addicted to trekking and conquering mountains. A work colleague reached the Summit of Mount Kilimanjaro which is over 5000 metres up, now the magnitude of their achievement has suddenly dawned on me.
Today, I’m reflecting on my shock achievement and trying to soothe my muscles.
I WILL do it again.