Rise to the challenge
YOU’D THINK LIFE was hard enough as it is, wouldn’t you? But for some reason many of us feel the need to inject even more danger, difficulty, striving or hardship into the mix – by choice. We manufacture plainly ridiculous things to do in the great outdoors, and we label them ‘challenges’. Sometimes we even like to pretend we do this for fun. Whether it appeals to you or not, the idea of ‘challenge’ is a fundamental part of our outdoor culture. Mountaineers may resist talk of what they do as a ‘sport’ but it often involves competition, rivalry, athleticism, and the celebration of milestone accomplishments (the recent ascent of K2 in winter by a Nepali team, to give a wonderful recent example). The fell running world has its feted ‘rounds’…
