New beginnings

Leaving my life in Orkney behind in 2013 was more difficult than I think even I realised at the time. I went from being unable to shop in Tesco without meeting at least 3 people I knew, to knowing almost no one - my best friends all hundreds of miles away. There are no traffic lights in Orkney, no dual carriageways or motorways but suddenly, after 6 years on a wonderfully idiosyncratic island, I was thrust back into this alien urban environment. In my quest to adjust to a new home and a return to student life after 11 years as a commercial archaeologist, I didn't paddle, I didn't climb, I didn't run and I was miserable. It was as if I had lost myself.

By the end of 2014, things were improving but my boats were still in the garage and my box of climbing kit remained untouched beneath the coffee table. I felt sad and frustrated when I looked back at the photos from all the paddling and climbing I used to do. It felt like another lifetime. But then I met someone who made me see that despite this huge change in circumstances, I was still the same girl, with the same interests, the same dreams and passions. It was as if I was a broken boiler and my pilot light was suddenly reignited.

Perhaps things didn't take the course I expected, but through the shit, that pilot light stayed lit and I regained the drive to start making some changes. I found out a friend at uni did some climbing, I wrote a UKC post to find a regular partner and I started running again, with week 6 of Couch to 5K. And slowly but surely, I rebuilt a life. As a result of that post I met the wonderful Simple Chick and together we climbed, through good times and bad. I battled with a severe, vomit inducing fear of falling, wimping out of leading 4s and kept going until the grades kept increasing and the improvements were even noticed by others. At times my own health was far from good but through it all I kept climbing and I kept running until I could run 5K, then 10K and over 20K, ending up as a member of Queensbury Running Club. 

Witnessing a near fatal climbing accident was an obvious low, but paradoxically, it was climbing, and those that I climbed with, that helped me deal with that and everything else - it gave me a purpose and at times the only reason to get out of bed. Things got better, of course, and as they did, my climbing continued to improve. I found the climber that I had left behind in Orkney and then I overtook her.

On a local paddle, in another lifetime...

In my other life, sea kayaking was a huge component, I lived 5 minutes from the sea in two directions and at one point I seriously considered starting a summer kayak guiding business for visitors to the island. Although for various reasons that never happened, I did obtain my coaching qualifications and coached extensively for both local clubs. So as I climbed more, it made sense to me to also qualify as a climbing instructor. So I did. And of course, the more I shadowed, the more instructors I met and with that another part of life was rebuilt, as I made friends and climbed with these new people.

So, although it is a cliché to look back at the past year, 2015, for me was somewhat pivotal. I still miss my friends desperately, and the network of climbers and paddlers that I left behind, but at least things are now going in the right direction. I wish I had a 'go to' friend who would greet my mad cap ideas with even better suggestions for summer and winter mountaineering, camping, fell running, climbing and anything else in between; there are so many things I want to do that I can't, merely because they are the sorts of things that need two.

This year, I have to finish my PhD and I suppose I have to decide where my life is headed, but I like it here and I like the life I have started to build. What I do know is that in 2016 I will climb more mountains, strive hard to make my own adventures, continue to build a network of friends, jump at all opportunities to get outdoors that come my way and most importantly, I am going to run my bloody stove on petrol. Gas is expensive and I am now an adoptive Yorkshire woman...

New Years Day - starting 2016 in the right way...

First Aid

Although I have held a First Aid qualification for the best part of 10 years, I had never, ever, had to use it. Perhaps I had just been very lucky, but holding the qualification seemed to me to be more about ticking a box on the Risk Assessments for working on archaeological sites, or the requirements of my paddling qualifications, as much as anything. But then, as has been previously mentioned in this blog, I found myself involved in a life threatening climbing incident. 

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A few years ago, I distinctly remember doing a standard First Aid at Work course and saying, 'But where I work [in a field] there is no mobile signal or anyone nearby, what do I do?!' and so, when my current qualification needed to be renewed, I realised that I wanted to ensure the course I chose was more relevant to being in the outdoors; after all, even my PhD involves working in an area 2 km from the nearest road, at an elevation of 330 m O.D.. No longer living on a small island has its benefits and I was easily able to find a 16 hour Outdoor Incident Management First Aid Course based only 20 miles away in Leeds. This was offered by Underwood Training and was taught by Brian, an active Cave Rescue Organisation member and Helen, who had previously worked in intensive care and paediatrics but who is also a qualified outdoor instructor. 

The 8 attendees all had previously done a First Aid qualification so the information came at us at a fast and furious pace. However, there was lots of active learning thrown in, involving lying on the floor, progressively adding learning points with each roll play. Later in the morning we moved outdoors and had a go at assessing an unresponsive casualty in a slightly more realistic environment, beginning also to think more about terrain and access to help. Later in the afternoon we had to treat poor old Rescusi Anne who had yet again collapsed unconscious on the floor and was in need of CPR.... The next day started with some theory but we were soon back outside, dealing with more and more complex problems and casualties and discussing aspects such as group safety, group use, duty of care and access to help.  Could we walk the casualty out? Would it be safer to stay put? To whom did we have the greatest duty of care? 

Although there was a lot of information to take in, the scenarios proposed and discussed were all those that could easily happen to any of us or one of our groups and this made everything feel really relevant and directly applicable to all the outdoor activities I do (work, climbing, hill-walking, paddling, off-road running etc etc). Sometimes there were no right or wrong answers to our questions but it was really useful being able to discuss these aspects with people who had actually been in such situations themselves. I think the main thing I took away from the discussion was trying to recognise and be aware of developing situations (such as hypothermia or hypoglycaemia), the importance of insulating the casualty, the use and potential dangers of slopes and above all, that keeping them breathing until other help arrived had to take priority above all else. 

I really enjoyed the course and I hope, if faced with another serious accident, I will be able to draw upon this added training and again help someone in real need.