Trev’s New Year Ramblings (2018 starts here)

Trev looks back at a year of achievements and looks forward to a year of new goals and opportunities.

Trev – Summit or Nothing – January 5^th 2018

2018…. Already…..

18 years since the Millennium already! We are almost into the 20’s! How did that happen? But, why look back and whine about years slipping away when looking forward to things to come is so much more exciting. So what if the years are cruelly ganging up on us? At 38 in this day and age, I’m still technically a teenager… right? And if the previous two years of Summit or Nothing has taught me anything, its that life’s journey has plenty of unforeseen opportunities to offer us.

As I keep banging on about, in what is by now becoming my mantra – two years ago, this was not my life. I had no intention of going hiking, not with friends, not with family. And yet here I am, now running a modestly successful hiking youtube channel. I had never climbed a mountain, yet now here I sit, typing this with no fewer than 8 mountains under my belt. I have made new friends and acquaintances through the hiking community, most of whom we still need to get out and hike with.  

Summit or Nothing has also played its part in shifting my life away from the restrictive confines of a nine to five job in construction, and now spend my time working self-employed for various people in so many different areas, as well as in construction, I have picked up videography and editing work, from Weddings, to plays, music festivals, and a lot of which has been picked up through the Summit or Nothing Channel Trailer.

2017 saw me fortunate enough to get into the world of the Supporting Artist on TV and Film (with a helpful nudge from my mate Stan – who featured in the Astro Photography video). Its hardly the glamourous job that it sounds, a lot of waiting around and doing nothing for long lengths of time, but for me, its interesting to see how these large scale productions are put together. I have worked with the likes of Dawn French, Martin Clunes, Emilia Fox, Joe Cornish to name but a few, and I have made some amazing new friends from various walks of life, and once again, this was all unforeseen.  

So although I am not in full-time employment, I am busier than ever, and more importantly, the variety in my new found lifestyle keeps my life fulfilling and enjoyable. It works for me, it works for my family and it works for Summit or Nothing. All is good! My advice to you is not to sulkily greet the new year by looking back over time lost and missed opportunities, but to look forward with optimism, to allow life to take you on the journey because it could lead anywhere.

So already I am excited for the new year, and hope that by this time next year, will be ticking off many more achievements, a lot of which through the life-changing experience that has been Summit or Nothing. Summit or Nothing has been great fun, but also a fantastic lesson in self-discipline too, helping me not only maintain a form of exercise and a wholesome hobby to keep up but it has also taught me to structure my life by managing to keep up with a video a week schedule to our channel for over a year and a half. The hiking keeps me editing and the editing keeps me hiking.  

In fact, I was not an outdoorsy person before. I wasted a lot of years being, well, quite lazy. But Summit or Nothing has given me a new lease of life, an appreciation for the outdoors that is now distilled in our family life too. Family walks are a massive part of our life now, and (as any of you that are subscribed to our “Family Fun Adventures Channel” will know) the kids are really getting into it, too.

So long walks, Tor climbs and outdoor adventures are becoming a staple to our family life, helping to create not just videos but lasting memories and I can only hope to instil this taste of adventure into them too. In February we are going to be going on our biggest family adventure yet, a trip to the mountains of Germany for a week of sledding, toboggan running, snowman building and general fun in the snow, so make sure that you subscribe to that channel here!

So, a new year begins, opportunities knock, and yes, its that time to address our failings in what we like call new years resolutions. Mine is once again to lose this belly that I carry around with me like a pregnant woman. I was hoping that all this walking would help, but alas I may have to tackle it head on with different tactics this year.

However, as far as Summit or Nothing goes, both Nathan and I have made our own set of resolutions to adhere to this year. We vow to do complete our three peaks challenge by traveling to the opposite end of the country and ticking off Ben Nevis from our wish list. That will accomplish the first goal we set ourselves.

We promise to do more wild camping, to not opt for campsites when we visit the mountains, but to camp on the trail. We promise to do more mountains – not just do more mountains this year, but to visit more mountainous areas more regularly, and not relying so much on Dartmoor. Where we have used Dartmoor as a training ground for the higher summits of the country, from here on in we are determined to use Britain’s mountain ranges to prepare us for the mountain ranges of Europe and the Pyrenees.

Nathan has already began to take it on himself to become more accomplished in the skill of map reading, as you will see in our New Year Winter Hike Video, but I also recognise that I too need to take some of the responsibility off of Nath and also take map skills a little more seriously. The harsher territories we will be entering, the more vitally important it will become.  

We also vow to give longer episodes to those of you who voted for them last month. Although the vote was in favour of keeping the episodic format, I recognise how close a call it was, and a divisive vote such as that should not be ignored, so a compromise will be made. After all, you guys are what make us a success or not, so longer episodes will go up, but still keeping the weekly format. Now, instead of breaking one day hike into five or six parts we will try and keep them down to two or three.

We also promise to keep our blogs more frequent, I know Nath has been working on several blogs over the last few months, so we will look forward to sharing those soon. Also, our video of the week from other YouTubers has fallen a little flat, its only because time has taken over and I have struggled to watch as much content as usual, but from now on I will loook at re structuring this a little, as I think that it is important to help others in this area push there new channels to new audiences.

So watch this space for something along those lines. And finally we promise to keep on doing what we are doing, to help take those of you who can’t get out to some amazing places, and hopefully to encourage those of you who can to just get up and out there and do it. Its a big old world out there, and life can be short if you dont grab it by the balls.

So, Happy New Year everyone. here’s to a healthy and prosperous future to each and every one of you. Thanks for your company, and your time. Keep on Keeping on! Peace!