“Mountaineering, climbing - whatever name you want to give it - is probably the most honest thing there is”
Sometimes… there’s room for one more episode. Even though Mountain Air is currently on a summer break between the end of series 3 and the eventual arrival of series 4, a timely interview opportunity came along that proved impossible to turn down.
The recently released book “Walking Out of the Dark: How I Learned to Love Life Again” comes from first-time author Kelvyn James. A searingly honest piece of writing, it recounts profound tragedies and long-endured traumas but ultimately describes “a life-affirming journey through mountains, memory and meaning”.
In this conversation, Kelvyn describes the origin of the book, and discusses why healing, mental health and the outdoors are so profoundly connected.
* Learn more about Kelvyn here: https://mountainservices.co.uk/
If you’d like to buy a copy of the book - profits from which go directly to the charity Wellness Walks - you can do so via the Wellness Walks website or on Amazon via the links below.
* https://wellnesswalks.org.uk/product/walking-out-of-the-dark-signed-hardback/
* https://www.amazon.co.uk/Walking-out-Dark-learned-again/dp/1068519436
Listen, enjoy, tell your friends.
[episode recorded on 16/06/25]
00:00 - Introduction
02:17 - Welcome from the most confused place in Britain
04:08 - A litany of outdoor achievements (“an insight into high-functioning ADHD”)
06:50 - An overview of Walking out of the Dark; “I didn’t know I was writing a book for a long time, I thought I was writing a journal”
09:00 - “Even from the darkest of things, people can find a way”; describing the “black hole” at the centre of the book
14:48 - Release and healing in the outdoors; a place to be open with others; the psychology of the outdoor experience
16:15 - “Mountaineering, climbing… whatever name you want to give it, is probably the most honest thing there is”
18:10 - “Climbing was the first thing where I felt me, where I first felt in charge... and when what happened happened, it was climbing I went back to”
19:20 - “I didn’t expect people to react well, and pretty much they all universally did... it gave me a sense of worth”; a personal history of a love of climbing
24:20 - Learning to lead in the outdoors: “I remember asking my instructor what his real job was”; thoughts on the tough financial reality for outdoor professionals
28:53 - All about Wellness Walks; walking from home during the COVID pandemic; putting an advert on social media and waking up to dozens of requests; the honesty that comes from walking and talking without the need for eye contact
35:00 - “I didn’t see the joy in the world for a long time, but the miracle is that joy doesn’t disappear”
38:35 - Greatest Mountain Memory: a peerless viewpoint just outside of the Chamonix valley
42:20 - All the time, money, freedom… where do you go and what would you do? Climbing Pinnacle Ridge on the Helvellyn range.
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“Mountaineering, climbing - whatever name you want to give it - is probably the most honest thing there is”
Sometimes… there’s room for one more episode. Even though Mountain Air is currently on a summer break between the end of series 3 and the eventual arrival of series 4, a timely interview opportunity came along that proved impossible to turn down.
The recently released book “Walking Out of the Dark: How I Learned to Love Life Again” comes from first-time author Kelvyn James. A searingly honest piece of writing, it recounts profound tragedies and long-endured traumas but ultimately describes “a life-affirming journey through mountains, memory and meaning”.
In this conversation, Kelvyn describes the origin of the book, and discusses why healing, mental health and the outdoors are so profoundly connected.
* Learn more about Kelvyn here: https://mountainservices.co.uk/
If you’d like to buy a copy of the book - profits from which go directly to the charity Wellness Walks - you can do so via the Wellness Walks website or on Amazon via the links below.
* https://wellnesswalks.org.uk/product/walking-out-of-the-dark-signed-hardback/
* https://www.amazon.co.uk/Walking-out-Dark-learned-again/dp/1068519436
Listen, enjoy, tell your friends.
[episode recorded on 16/06/25]
00:00 - Introduction
02:17 - Welcome from the most confused place in Britain
04:08 - A litany of outdoor achievements (“an insight into high-functioning ADHD”)
06:50 - An overview of Walking out of the Dark; “I didn’t know I was writing a book for a long time, I thought I was writing a journal”
09:00 - “Even from the darkest of things, people can find a way”; describing the “black hole” at the centre of the book
14:48 - Release and healing in the outdoors; a place to be open with others; the psychology of the outdoor experience
16:15 - “Mountaineering, climbing… whatever name you want to give it, is probably the most honest thing there is”
18:10 - “Climbing was the first thing where I felt me, where I first felt in charge... and when what happened happened, it was climbing I went back to”
19:20 - “I didn’t expect people to react well, and pretty much they all universally did... it gave me a sense of worth”; a personal history of a love of climbing
24:20 - Learning to lead in the outdoors: “I remember asking my instructor what his real job was”; thoughts on the tough financial reality for outdoor professionals
28:53 - All about Wellness Walks; walking from home during the COVID pandemic; putting an advert on social media and waking up to dozens of requests; the honesty that comes from walking and talking without the need for eye contact
35:00 - “I didn’t see the joy in the world for a long time, but the miracle is that joy doesn’t disappear”
38:35 - Greatest Mountain Memory: a peerless viewpoint just outside of the Chamonix valley
42:20 - All the time, money, freedom… where do you go and what would you do? Climbing Pinnacle Ridge on the Helvellyn range.
3#01 Steph McKenna: the award-winning mountain campaigner
Mountain Air
49 minutes 26 seconds
2 years ago
3#01 Steph McKenna: the award-winning mountain campaigner
> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk
“I get excited about something and I say yes, and then I do it. And I enjoy doing it, so I keep doing it.”
Episode 3#01 of Mountain Air stars Steph McKenna, winner of the fabulously titled 2023 Fort William Festival “Scottish Youth Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture”.
Steph was caught unawares by the award (mainly because she had not idea she’d been nominated), but look into why she won and it’s hardly a surprise at all. Though only 22-years old, she has lent emotional support to those that need it volunteering and mentoring for her local charity Lochaber Hope, overseen positive changes for young people and helped them grow a sense of “camaraderie, place and purpose” in the Lochaber Youth Theatre, worked as a seasonal ranger for the John Muir Trust on the Nevis range, co-founded the Fort William Foxes (a mountain biking group focused on encouraging and empowering women riders), and even found time to gain a first-class degree in Psychology for which she wrote an award-winning final year dissertation entitled “An Interpretation of wild swimming in the Scottish Highlands. The relationship between flow, the therapeutic landscape and wellbeing”.
How does one achieve so many things by so young an age? Where does the energy to tirelessly help others come from? Which Lord of the Rings character did she pretend to be as a child? Can you ever run out of adventures in the Lochaber area? How does Utah compare to the West Highlands? Are you ever too young to be covered in mud or submerged in an icy river? What ties together carbon sequestration and the future of the highland water vole?
The answers to all these questions and more feature in this first episode of the third series of Mountain Air.
> Read more about Steph McKenna here: https://mountainfestival.co.uk/culture-awards/stephanie-mckenna-ya-2023/
[episode recorded on 10/03/23]
> Listen, enjoy, tell your friends, subscribe to the podcast if you get and chance, and thank UKHillwalking.com for their kind support of this series!
00:00 - Introduction
02:50 - Welcome, winning the Fort William Festival “Scottish Youth Award for Excellent in Mountain Culture” award… but not having a Fort William accent. Also, Utah.
08:38 - Volunteering and mentoring for Lochaber Hope, “teaching people that they have it in them to heal themselves”. Building a “garden of hope”. Using the landscape and green space.
14:37 - Lochaber Youth Theatre “a real sense of camaraderie, and place and purpose… and the positive changes in the kids involved… that made me want to study psychology”.
20:40 - Motivations for volunteer work: “I just get excited about something and I say yes, and then I do it. And I enjoy doing it, so I keep doing it … I just enjoy the vibrancy of meeting different people and opening up the dialogue about wellness”.
21:43 - It was Benjamin Franklin!
22:20 - Seasonal Ranger(ing) for the John Muir Trust on the Ben Nevis range. Spending days “absolutely covered in mud”. Sequestration. Water voles. Raptors.
28:38 - Mountain Biking, working with bikes and riding for pleasure - Fort William Foxes, “opening up a space for those just getting into biking, maybe being a little nervous, and just wanting to ride with some other ladies”.
33:30 - “It’s a little bit easier to be silly and embarrassed about some of the girly stuff… or simply beings scared… women’s spaces in the outdoors open up the conversation for women to be a bit goofier, or less formal, or just a bit gross!”.
35:00 - Pretending to be Frodo Baggins, with the dog.
36:20 - Discovering outdoor sports. Wild swimming (“I was always swimming in the river as a kid”), falling through ice.
39:00 - Hillwalking and mountaineering, an epic sunrise around Steall Falls. Ice climbing. Scotland as a “huge open space with limitless potential”.
43:10 - Greatest mountain memory: a childhood visit to the Steall Falls, remembered later in life.
45:35 - All the time, money, freedom… what do you do? Research into the effects of mountains on mental wellbeing.
47:25 - Gardening and putting the bumper back on the car.
Mountain Air
“Mountaineering, climbing - whatever name you want to give it - is probably the most honest thing there is”
Sometimes… there’s room for one more episode. Even though Mountain Air is currently on a summer break between the end of series 3 and the eventual arrival of series 4, a timely interview opportunity came along that proved impossible to turn down.
The recently released book “Walking Out of the Dark: How I Learned to Love Life Again” comes from first-time author Kelvyn James. A searingly honest piece of writing, it recounts profound tragedies and long-endured traumas but ultimately describes “a life-affirming journey through mountains, memory and meaning”.
In this conversation, Kelvyn describes the origin of the book, and discusses why healing, mental health and the outdoors are so profoundly connected.
* Learn more about Kelvyn here: https://mountainservices.co.uk/
If you’d like to buy a copy of the book - profits from which go directly to the charity Wellness Walks - you can do so via the Wellness Walks website or on Amazon via the links below.
* https://wellnesswalks.org.uk/product/walking-out-of-the-dark-signed-hardback/
* https://www.amazon.co.uk/Walking-out-Dark-learned-again/dp/1068519436
Listen, enjoy, tell your friends.
[episode recorded on 16/06/25]
00:00 - Introduction
02:17 - Welcome from the most confused place in Britain
04:08 - A litany of outdoor achievements (“an insight into high-functioning ADHD”)
06:50 - An overview of Walking out of the Dark; “I didn’t know I was writing a book for a long time, I thought I was writing a journal”
09:00 - “Even from the darkest of things, people can find a way”; describing the “black hole” at the centre of the book
14:48 - Release and healing in the outdoors; a place to be open with others; the psychology of the outdoor experience
16:15 - “Mountaineering, climbing… whatever name you want to give it, is probably the most honest thing there is”
18:10 - “Climbing was the first thing where I felt me, where I first felt in charge... and when what happened happened, it was climbing I went back to”
19:20 - “I didn’t expect people to react well, and pretty much they all universally did... it gave me a sense of worth”; a personal history of a love of climbing
24:20 - Learning to lead in the outdoors: “I remember asking my instructor what his real job was”; thoughts on the tough financial reality for outdoor professionals
28:53 - All about Wellness Walks; walking from home during the COVID pandemic; putting an advert on social media and waking up to dozens of requests; the honesty that comes from walking and talking without the need for eye contact
35:00 - “I didn’t see the joy in the world for a long time, but the miracle is that joy doesn’t disappear”
38:35 - Greatest Mountain Memory: a peerless viewpoint just outside of the Chamonix valley
42:20 - All the time, money, freedom… where do you go and what would you do? Climbing Pinnacle Ridge on the Helvellyn range.
