Ben Nevis tourist path
Following the crowd
I was walking up Ben Nevis at the weekend, using the tourist track for the first bit of the walk in order to access the north side of the mountain. Now, admittedly it was the height of summer, but I was absolutely amazed at the steady stream of people all wandering upwards; a wide variety of people, with a huge differentiation in preparedness amongst them. Some appeared to be ready for anything, others were out for an afternoon stroll; there were families, couples, solos, 3-peakers, tourists - everyone seemed to be on the Ben.
But they were all following the same path. Admittedly it is the easiest way to the top of Britain's tallest hill, but the thought of trudging (and thats a gracious way of describing the gait of some) in someone else's footsteps all the way to 1344m doesn't really appeal to me. I love the quote from Robert Frost about the two roads that diverged in a yellow wood: "I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference".It inspires me to find my own path through life as well as on the hillside.
Taking our own route
Now, taking our own route made things a little trickier, but still achievable - you can see a little section of our day in the video below. Its debatable whether we had a greater feeling of achievement than the folks clambering on top of the cairn but I suspect we enjoyed the route more than the puggled people forcing themselves a step further with each breath. Instead we shared the ridge with only one other couple and had a few hours of very peacefu, pleasant scrambling. All because we chose to take our own route away from the crowds.
Are you still trudging along with the rest of them? Maybe its not on a montain path. What about in your work? Perhaps in the things you believe? Possibly in the opinions you have read and absorbed from a newspaper.
Now I'm not saying that any of these are wrong; what bothers me though is so many people doing the same old same old, simply because 'thats the way its always been done'. Test it, check it, is it still the best way to do something? I talked to a colleague today who said he had recently been asked in interview 'what have you changed recently and what difference has it made?' Maybe we all ought to ask ourselves that.
What things will you question today in order to find your own unique path?
I was walking up Ben Nevis at the weekend, using the tourist track for the first bit of the walk in order to access the north side of the mountain. Now, admittedly it was the height of summer, but I was absolutely amazed at the steady stream of people all wandering upwards; a wide variety of people, with a huge differentiation in preparedness amongst them. Some appeared to be ready for anything, others were out for an afternoon stroll; there were families, couples, solos, 3-peakers, tourists - everyone seemed to be on the Ben.
But they were all following the same path. Admittedly it is the easiest way to the top of Britain's tallest hill, but the thought of trudging (and thats a gracious way of describing the gait of some) in someone else's footsteps all the way to 1344m doesn't really appeal to me. I love the quote from Robert Frost about the two roads that diverged in a yellow wood: "I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference".It inspires me to find my own path through life as well as on the hillside.
Taking our own route
Now, taking our own route made things a little trickier, but still achievable - you can see a little section of our day in the video below. Its debatable whether we had a greater feeling of achievement than the folks clambering on top of the cairn but I suspect we enjoyed the route more than the puggled people forcing themselves a step further with each breath. Instead we shared the ridge with only one other couple and had a few hours of very peacefu, pleasant scrambling. All because we chose to take our own route away from the crowds.
Are you still trudging along with the rest of them? Maybe its not on a montain path. What about in your work? Perhaps in the things you believe? Possibly in the opinions you have read and absorbed from a newspaper.
Now I'm not saying that any of these are wrong; what bothers me though is so many people doing the same old same old, simply because 'thats the way its always been done'. Test it, check it, is it still the best way to do something? I talked to a colleague today who said he had recently been asked in interview 'what have you changed recently and what difference has it made?' Maybe we all ought to ask ourselves that.
What things will you question today in order to find your own unique path?
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