Page 10 - 2020 AMA Winter

GUESTWRITER
MOUNTAIN MAN
James Forrest
It was the final few steps of an arduous journey. I’d walked 530km, ascended 36,000m – the equivalent of four
Everests from sea level – and wild camped for 14 consecutive nights to get to this point. The process had almost broken me. I’d flirted with failure, battled personal demons and pushed myself to the brink and beyond. But I hadn’t surrendered. I’d ignored that tantalising temptation to raise the white flag and instead I’d simply cracked on, despite the hardship and misery in my way. Why? Because difficult is worth doing.
I walked the final few metres, placed my hands atop Cat Bells’ trig pillar and smiled. I’d made it. Mission accomplished. I’d hiked all 214 Wainwright fells – the list of Lake District peaks featured in the seven pictorial guidebooks by Alfred Wainwright – in a single, non-stop round. It had been the hill-walking adventure of a lifetime, the toughest challenge I’d ever taken on. I felt proud. I’d discovered depths of resilience, positivity and determination I didn’t even know I possessed, and I’d overcome crippling self-doubts. As Edmund Hilary
eloquently put it: “It is not the mountains we conquer, but ourselves.”
My adventure was the fastest self-sup- ported completion of the Wainwrights, breaking the previous record of 25 days. Ultra-runner Paul Tierney holds the overall record of 6 days, 6 hours and 5 minutes, but he had a large support crew. My approach was very different. I walked solo and unaided, remaining entirely self-reliant. I carried everything I needed on my back, re-supplying every few days via stash boxes I’d previously cached in churches, farm barns and pub outbuild- ings around the Lakes. I pitched my own tent, cooked my own camp meals, filtered my own water, nursed my own wounds and massaged my own aches. Ten two-letter words always came to mind during the hike: if it is to be, it is up to me.
I loved the challenge of being self-reliant. Feeling vulnerable and facing adversity on my own, but still getting through it, was life-affirming, while the thru-hiking style gave me a real sense of escapism and freedom. But there were downsides.
Mentally it was tough. When I was low, I didn’t have any teammates to lift me out of the mental mire, no friendly faces to perk me up with a joke or smile when I needed it most, and no mentor to motivate or inspire me to keep pressing on.
A far bigger challenge, however, was the weather. Atrocious conditions sadly transformed my journey into a rather gruelling and traumatic experience. I’ve never felt so desperately unhappy on a mountain before. I thought the torrential rain and strong winds would never stop – and I was constantly cold, wet and utterly miserable. Over time it chipped away at my resolve and eroded my spirit, and
10 / ARMY MOUNTAINEER
James Forrest at Moot in Keswick at the start of his challenge. Picture credit Inov8.
James Forrest hiking near Loweswater during his challenge. Picture credit Inov8.