Emma and I woke up on Sunday morning full of the good intention to set off on a 4-hour hike out at Box Hill, just outside of London. Box Hill promises rolling hills, rambling meadows, and forests teaming with flora and fauna - perfect for a Sunday away from London.
We set the alarm early (for a Sunday) and I leapt out of bed to brew some nice strong coffee to kick start the day.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature was not on our side. Rain hammered down outside my bedroom window - and not just the drizzly, misty Londonesque rain we've become accustomed to but hard, driving, icy rain.
"It's sooo cold and wet out there!" I exclaimed to Emma, after running outside to put the rubbish out.
"Yes," Emma replied. "But we should probably get used to it. I mean, we ARE planning on climbing a mountain."
She was right. But I couldn't help but think that when we climb Piz Bernina the weather will be clear and crisp, despite the icy chill, and we will be wearing the right clothing, along with the right equipment. Our plan for Box Hill was meant to be more of a 'fun' Sunday stroll in running shoes and gym attire; a picnic stowed away in a cute backpack.
We sat forlornly eating our pancakes and knocking back multiple coffees, watching puddles the size of a goldfish pond form outside on the lawn. I started to wonder how two girls who are more comfortable spending Sundays lounging around drinking coffee and scrolling through Instagram would ever make it up a 13,284 foot peak....
However, said Instagram scrolling lead us to learn of three inspirational, beautiful souls by the names of Emily Harrington, Hilaree O'Neill and Taylor Freesolo Rees (and before you ask - yes, that is her real name). Now, I implore that you go and read about these three women - and prepare to have your mind blown when you do. I mean, one of them climbed Mt Everest and a whole other mountain in the space of 24 HOURS and then apologised for not updating her blog.... #swoon!
**I will do a separate post, at a later date, about these three women and how strongly I believe they are the sort of role models we should be encouraging younger generations of females (and our own!) to aspire to, rather than the Kim Kardashians of this world**
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| L-R: Taylor, Emily and Hilaree. Photo from Emily Harrington's website, here. |
Looking through images of Emily, Hilaree and Taylor trekking through the dense jungle in Myanmar, covered in leeches, insect bits, cuts, bruises and blisters, only to then be faced with summiting Hkakabo Razi in horrendous weather and extreme freezing temperatures (I'm not even sure that makes sense but I am trying my hardest to portray the fact that these three are so hardcore that there are no grammatically correct sentences to describe them), made us feel a little pathetic and lame for not venturing out in the wet autumn weather to take a hike. I mean, what if we didn't like the look of the weather the morning we awoke to summit Piz Bernina? What if I simply couldn't get myself out of bed without my morning flat white? What if it was really, really cold?
"Let's go rock climbing!!" I announced suddenly, imagining what my three new heroines might do if they ever found themselves with a weekend and no plans.
Emma quickly found us a rock climbing gym nearby (she also found this, which looks amazing and we plan to get there in the New Year for an ice climb) and we headed out into the downpour with a new found enthusiasm.
West Way Sports & Fitness Centre turned out to be the ideal place to spend a wet Sunday afternoon - it was warm and dry, the music was pumping and the people were friendly. The climbing walls were massive and well-equipped, with plenty of room for the busy crowd of people who'd obviously had the same idea as us.
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Unfortunately, as we are yet to do our mountaineering course and learn about harnesses and ropes etc, we were unable to use the main climbing walls but agreed we would return for a lesson with a professional in the next few weeks. Instead, we stuck with bouldering - something we've done a few times before. Under the watchful eye of many a seasoned boulderer (wondering what the hell we were doing in running shoes, with no chalk and absolutely NO technique whatsoever) we scrambled and struggled and flailed our way through an hour and a half on the walls and left with achy limbs, a sense of accomplishment and the desire to become experts in all things climbing.
"Everyone has to start somewhere," said Emma.
We waved to our new found spider monkey friends and headed home in the still-torrential rain, to obsess over Emily, Hilaree and Taylor some more.
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Photo from Pinterest, here.
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