I’m a typical London-based Gen Z-er. I love nothing more than popping back home to see my dog and go on pub walks with my family, but I’m hardly ‘outdoorsy’. So, when the sportswear company Columbia asked if I’d wanted to embark on a three-day hiking trip in the Alps – carrying my belongings on my back and sharing a mountain hut with a group of relative strangers – my immediate reaction was why?

Nevertheless, I’m not one to back down from a challenge, and since training for my first half marathon, I’ve been focused on increasing my resilience. 

It’s all too easy to let anxiety get the better of you, especially when you live with a mental health condition, but I wanted to prove that I could do things outside my comfort zone.

And that’s how I found myself in the middle of the Les Contamines-Montjoie nature reserve under the shadow of Mont Blanc. For three days, I scrambled, hiked and learned a lot of lessons that I won’t forget in a hurry, climbing over 2,000m in the process. Here are just a few of the most important ones. 

I’ve been guilty of using the words hiking and walking interchangeably in the past – but never again. Hiking is to walking what running is to walking – a completely different discipline – and it takes a lot of effort to really get into the swing of a hike.

The main difference between walking and hiking is of course the fact that hiking usually involves tackling some kind of elevation, but that’s far from the only difference. Hiking is really defined by the environment it’s done in, as well as the terrain you tackle underfoot. We completed several different hikes during my time in the Alps, and every time I was surprised by the wide range of surfaces we tackled – from mud and grass to scree and boulders. That meant that even the flat parts of the hikes (of which there weren’t many) were still challenging.

Then, of course, there’s the hiking mindset. While you might go for a stroll around your local park, hiking tends to involve a sense of adventure – challenging yourself to reach a certain summit, destination or landmark.  

On my climb up to our hut for the trip (a picture-perfect spot known as Les Refuge des Prés), I quickly learned that it’s the first couple of minutes after you start hiking when your legs hurt the most.

This is especially true when you’re going uphill: while it’s important to take breaks to refuel, have a drink and catch your breath, the burn in your legs that pops up as soon as you start moving again can be hard to deal with. You just have to remember that the feeling will ease off as you keep going, and all you need to focus on is putting one foot in front of the other. Sounds simple, but it really does help. 

Once you’ve reached the highest point on your hike, you might think you can breathe a sigh of relief – but think again. There’s no denying that going uphill is challenging for your cardiovascular system, but going downhill can quickly take its toll on your muscles – especially in your legs and knees.

If you’ve never hiked before, you’re likely to be more afraid of rolling an ankle or falling – like I was – and this can exacerbate the number of aches and pains you feel. The good news is that it is possible to get better at going downhill, it might just take a little bit of practise. 

Hiking truly is a full-body workout, so don’t be surprised when you find yourself brought down with DOMS the day after. I don’t know what else I was expecting, but my muscles weren’t prepared for how much exertion they went through. A few days on, I’m still hobbling around. 

While you can try to go hiking in jeans and a pair of trainers, it’ll likely be a lot more painful and difficult – and chances are you’ll struggle to make it to your destination. On the flipside, having the right equipment gives you a better chance of succeeding, and will keep you safe while exploring such an isolated environment.

I was lucky to have my kit supplied by Columbia, but some of the most important things I’d recommend buying before you set out hiking for the first time are a good pair of hiking shoes (mine were the Facet 75 Alphas), some hiking poles (so, so helpful) and a comfortable backpack.  

One of the things I thought I’d struggle with during the trip was having to go without many of the luxuries I’m used to – namely, a private room, toilet and phone signal. Mountain hut culture is pretty communal, so I was sharing a room with four other women and sharing toilets and showers between everyone else on the trip.

I was worried about being overwhelmed by the lack of privacy and feeling uncomfortable for the whole three days, but that was never really a problem. Not only was sharing a room totally fine, it was actually fun – and everyone was really respectful of how tired we all were at the end of a hard day.

Not having phone signal or easy access to a charging point (there was only one between four of us) also gave me a chance to unplug, something I rarely do at home in London. It’s given me a new perspective on my relationship with technology, and I’ll definitely be trying to spend less time stuck to my screen in the future. 

When I’m running, I rarely get hungry until after I’ve finished – in fact, sometimes I feel pretty nauseous. Hiking, however, is different: no matter how much you eat before you head out, you’ll always be on the hunt for a snack after an hour or so of hiking. Primarily, you’ll want something sugary that’ll give you the energy to keep on pushing – I went for a Nākd bar, some fruit puree pouches (delicious) and some fruit.

Then, when we got back to the hut, I made sure to eat plenty at lunch and in the evenings to make up for all the energy I was using up throughout the day. When the dinner option is fondue, that’s not hard.  

This was probably the biggest and most important lesson I learned while hiking. There’s something about carrying yourself up a mountain that really makes you appreciate how strong you are.

When you have no choice but to keep going and complete the challenge in front of you, you’ll be surprised just how strong you can be. There were plenty of moments climbing up the mountain that I felt like I wouldn’t be able to go on much longer, but simply putting one foot in front of the other got me through. And when a small group of us got separated from the rest of the group in the darkness, I was surprised by how well I coped with the stress.

All of this is to say that, if you think you’re not ‘strong enough’ to do something, it’s likely that you’re underestimating yourself. Setting yourself a challenge will show you that your perspective of your abilities isn’t always accurate – and learning that lesson will open you up to a whole new world of experiences. 

Images: Lauren Geall