“You feel like a small, insignificant dot in a vast landscape of natural beauty ”

Photo credit: Neil Gresham

Pushing the boundaries of climbing in the UK, 23-year-old, Lake District-based Berghaus ambassador Anna Taylor is a passionate advocate of time in the mountains for better mental health.

For me, being alone in the mountains is the best way to de-clutter my mind. I’m predominantly a solo climber these days, and whenever I’m stressed out about anything, be it in my work or personal life, I find myself wishing I was up on a rock face with nothing to worry about but where the next pitch goes. During my last adventure – a link up of all 83 Classic Rock climbs in the UK – there was often a lot on my mind. I was constantly worrying about the weather, or if I was going to finish the trip on time, or where the next opportunity to resupply with food would be, and after a few weeks of this I began to feel distinctly worn out. You wouldn’t think that soloing big rock faces would be a good antidote to this, but after a while I was finding that the happiest times of my days were whilst I was up on a cliff somewhere, just focusing on the movement and nothing else. My concerns in general were replaced with the more in-the-moment type questions that come during a climb; do I free solo or rope solo this pitch? Is that block loose? Where can I make a belay?

But finding answers to these was a logical and straightforward process, rather than going around in circles in my head whilst trying to come up with solutions to the bigger problems. I think that the outdoors in general is good for mental health. It’s easy in this day and age to get caught up in the madness of our social media obsessed world, and escaping from all that into somewhere where you feel like a small, insignificant dot in the middle of a vast landscape of natural beauty can only be a good thing. So many people are so focused on documenting every second of their lives, that I think they forget to live in the present. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to take a nice picture of a fun climb or a pretty view, but I think it’s also important to stop occasionally and take in the moment. Time in the mountains does that for me, and I think that it’s a large part of the reason why I love it so much.

Berghaus are giving our readers the chance to win either a Men’s Intergar 4 in 1, or Women’s Elara 3in1 Jacket from Berghaus!