Continuing my theme from the Explore conference last weekend I spent this weekend at the Kendal Mountain Festival. Here was an even more extreme version of my normalisation theory! If last week at the RGS explore conference I found people with a wanderlust and expedition obsession were reassured that they were ‘normal’ – here we had a collection of people who probably considered themselves pretty adventurous, reassuring themselves that these people are just crazy…

Extreme E-number climbing on big walls, death defying mountaineering, biking and base jumping and even the amazing free-basing (if you haven’t see this then check it out!)

My personal favourite was the amazing Euli Steck whose speed climbing achievements were incredibly portrayed in the Swiss Machine – you can see a preview here – .

I left the festival with a funny combination of reassurance and sadness that I had a normal life – that I had a business to run and could never put in the incredible dedication of guys like Ueli – and more to the point that I would never have the balls to do that kind of thing! I left with a resolution to be happy enjoying what I actually enjoyed – chilled days in the hills, normal life – but my itchy feet told me I hadn’t quite achieved it.