Touching the Summit

About Me

Hey Guys, I’m Sarah! I worked my butt off to manage anxiety and asthma, overcome depression and suicidal thoughts. Since then, I left my home town in County Durham in England for adventures abroad. I wasn’t fortunate to come from a wealthy background, so I had to find ways to support my adventures. If you like to read about mental health and adventure, then you’re in the right place!

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- Snap Shot -⁠ 📷 A good photo stops the memories from running away 🏃 ⁠ So many photos have been collected over the last few weeks... As well as chocolates from different areas. ⁠ ⁠ Every photo has a story behind it and I love to share them with my family, especially my granny that can't travel this far. Do you ever look back on your photos and feel satisfied? ⁠ ⁠ 📍Homelands of the Northern Paiute ⁠ #touchingthesummit
- Chooseday -⁠ 👉❤ Today is chooseday & I'm choosing to dance in the rain 😁⁠ ⁠ During our hiking in the Monache Territory, we took the time to hike up to 3500m in an attempt to start out acclimatisation preparation for Tumanguya. ⁠ ⁠ After recent trauma, my mind, body and soul was exhausted. Nevertheless, we carried on. There was so much life to be seen in these areas; water, land and sky was full of life. Everything from fish, to birds, marmots and vegetation. Watching these living things thrive in their environment brought strength to carry on walking. Each pause to watch the life around us brought a little more strength. European visitors rarely think about what went on here, and as a European I wanted to learn, and everything is dark. The reoccurring information is: ⁠ Native people were violently removed from these lands, settlers attempted to erase all native practices, including living in harmony with the lands. There is more written in previous posts. Once you start researching, it makes me ashamed of my European ancestors. If you want to make a difference, you can start with researching. I started researching native place names, Land acknowledge, actions and then the reading snowballed from there. I was fortunate enough to be a guest in the📍 Shoshone & Monache Territories and I hope that native practices are once again common practice on native lands. . . . . . ⁠@deuter #paiute #california #turtleisland #nativeamericanheritagemonth #native #indigenous #California #usatravel #bishopcalifornia #californiatrip #adventurequeen #ukhikers #wanderlust #sheexplores #globelletravels #getoutside #outdoorwomen #radgirlslife #andshesdopetoo #adventureseeker #travelblogger #blogger_de #bergmädchen #mountaingirl #gipfelstürmer #finditliveit #adventureawaits #dirtbagdarling #homeoftravel #touchingthesummit⁠ ⁠ ⁠
- Think - 😊⁠ We should teach people how to think and not what to think 😬⁠ ⁠ Our actions may always affect other people. By repetitively being called a name, you might eventually start to believe what is being said. But our ability to assess the facts can help us resist any further damage, i.e. are the names true or not. ⁠ A lot of places in the USA have been renamed, thus erasing the native place name. By calling them by their colonial names, this only adds to the years of erasure of native languages. ⁠ ⁠ During our ascent of Tumanguya, we were one of the few people that day who attempted the ascent via the mountaineering route. This route is unmarked, apart from the occasional cairn and very exposed in certain sections. ⁠ ⁠ Most people call this peak Mount Whitney, but in fact, its real name is Tumanguya, which means "very old man". Sometimes people don't know anything different from calling a place by its colonial names, because we have been fed the colonial names by schools, the media, families, friends and social media. In this case, by continuing to call place names by their native names might help give strength and belief to all communities that these are the true place names and that the languages and people are very much in existence. These are the place names of the lands and their language does very much exist 💙✌⁠ 📍Tumanguya . . .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ ⁠.⁠ @deuter @bloceyewear @rab.equipment #tumanguya #hikingislife #hiking👣 #paiute #california #turtleisland #whitneyportal #nativeamericanheritagemonth #native #indigenous #adventurequeen #keepitwild #letsgosomewhere #welivetoexplore #wildernessculture #bergmädchen #mountaingirl #gipfelstürmer #finditliveit #agameoftones #adventureawaits #mondaymotivation💪 #dirtbagdarling #sheclimbs #homeoftravel #touchingthesummit
- Stand for it - 👌 Stand up for what you believe in, even it it means standing alone✌ Sometimes people won't always agree with what you write. Sometimes people will always try to add darkness to what you write. Sometimes people will drench your words with derogatory comments. But if you believe in it, you keep going. Recently on Twitter, I shared a thread asking people if they know why they can visit Ahwahneechee (commonly known as Yosemite). Over several comments, one person on twitter called me a cultist, a day tripper and Marxist pilgrim. He tried to quench the events that happened across Turtle Island (USA) by referencing historical events that followed and accused me of not understanding the history. This well known British mountaineer did this without knowing me or my sources. Sometimes we write things that aren't of a popular opinion, but if you believe in it, you keep on going. I will continue to share posts of Turtle Island that give you snippets of the history, the work that the first stewards of the lands did and the oppression that native people still face. This guy on twitter said that Europeans do this for forgiveness. I don't. I do this to raise awareness of the events that enable you to "enjoy" a visit in the USA. It is to raise awareness that so much of the native culture has been erased; the place names, languages, conservation of the land, gathering of food sources. If you believe in something, you keep going💙 If you’d like to read the tweet, search in twitter “touchingsummit; yosemite” 📍Monache Territories . . . . . @deuter @bloceyewear #California #usatravel #bishopcalifornia #californiatrip #adventurequeen #ukhikers #wanderlust #sheexplores #globelletravels #getoutside #outdoorwomen #radgirlslife #andshesdopetoo #wildandfree #wildernessbabes #adventureseeker #travelblogger #blogger_de l #bergmädchen #mountaingirl #gipfelstürmer #finditliveit #adventureawaits #dirtbagdarling #sheclimbs #homeoftravel #touchingthesummit⁠
- Everyday - ✌ Everyday in California is Native Day❤ Today is California Native Day; a day when people can learn about California's native tribes, their cultures, heritage, histories and what the Native communities have contributed to California. (Touched on this in my last post). According to Benjamin Madley "between 1846 and 1873, California’s Indian population plunged from perhaps 150,000 to 30,000." This was in California alone. The government also paid Anglo Americans around $1.7 million in "expenses" associated with the killing and campaigns against native people. You can read more in Benjamin Madley's book "an American Genocide" When us Europeans visit California, we often think of the "American" life, but to me, this isn't very authentic. To me, authentic is the roots of these lands. And this comes from the native people and their ancestors. Yes Anglo Americans have built their own culture, but for me the authenticity of these lands lies in the culture of the Native people. The peaks I point to here are the peaks of native people. I am a guest in these mountains. And am mindful that this place carries a dark history. In Europe, we don't have a "native English" or a "native German" day; us Europeans are lucky that we don't have to have our native days. It is sad that there has to be a native day, because natives should never have to fight for their rights ✌💙 📍 Shoshone & Monache Territories . . . . . #publiclandisnativeland #ahwahneechee #indigenouspeople #yosemitenps #nativeamericanrights #nativerights #protectsacredsites #protectsacredlands #indigenousrights #indigenouspeoples #protectnativepeople #protectnativelands #californianative #californianatives #touchingthesummit⁠
- Instinct - 🍁 Trust your instincts, intuition rarely lies! 🍂 Did you ever think about the reasons why you can visit somewhere? 🤷🏽‍♀ In the last 24 hours I spent time in Ahwahneechee Land (commonly known as the colonized name of Yosemite). This area was home to a thriving community of the Miwok tribes and this area was maintained due to the work of those tribes for thousands of years. During the 1800's the colonial government made Yosemite a national park to conserve the pristine wilderness, but with this came the violent displacement of the indigenous tribes who had inhabitited and maintained the lands for thousands of years. To me, this message of "conservation" seems like a tool of colonialism; basically saying that the state can preserve the lands better than the indigenous people. I have been able to visit Ahwahneechee Land as a result of horrific displacement and genocide of indigenous tribes. There is something chilling and unnerving in that. Always question information that you are given and think about why you can visit somewhere. If I didn't do this, then I would believe this propaganda vision of the conservation of Yosemite. Trust your intuition 💙 Thank you to @noel_russ For helping me start this learning journey 📍 Central Sierra Miwok / Southern Sierra Miwok . . . . . #publiclandisnativeland #ahwahneechee #indigenouspeople #yosemitenps #nativeamericanrights #nativerights #protectsacredsites #protectsacredlands #indigenousrights #indigenouspeoples #protectnativepeople #protectnativelands #californianative #touchingthesummit⁠
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Beat The On Board Tea Fee

After flying for years with KLM and Air France, I was shocked to find I had to pay for a cuppa on Britain’s “premium” airline, British Airways. If you guzzle tea like there is no tomorrow (like me), then it can be quite frustrating to pay £2.50 on board or approximately £3 for a cuppa at the departure gates. For a 1.5 hour flight, I could easily spend a tenner drinking tea… Read More

 Posted on August 7, 2019

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Sumatra Photo Diary

Sumatra Photography

Sumatra is the largest of Indonesia’s 17,508 islands and it was the first island that I would visit during the trip in November 2018. The island has several active volcanos and was once populated by dense rainforests. The areas that were once dense rain forests are now populated with deforested fields and palm oil plantations. The road to Gunung Leuser seems like a never ending stretch up money driven devastation.  The remaining… Read More

 Posted on July 24, 2019

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Outdoors & My Mental Health Improvement

Mental health is in a way mental wellbeing. This is about our emotions, feelings, thoughts and ability to solve problems or overcome difficulties. If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll be very familiar that I spend a lot of time (most weekends) in the Bavarian or Tirolean alps. Since moving to Munich, I have realised that in a lot of ways that my my mental health has improved because… Read More

 Posted on July 10, 2019

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Failure: Is It Really Failure?

Can you fail at something you can’t control? Is it failure if you learn from it? If you stay safe as a result of not pursuing something, is it failure? These are questions that I asked myself during a June trip to Alta Badia in the Italian Dolomites. During the month of June, it is often still spring above 2000m. There are still substantial amounts of snow, especially in the north faces…. Read More

 Posted on July 3, 2019

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Supporting Someone With Anxiety: What Not To Say

Iceland photography

If you are helping a loved one who is suffering with anxiety, it can be tough to know how to support or what words to say. You will be doing your best to support them, and that is great. With this, it is good to be mindful of things that don’t help. As part of Mental Health Awareness Week 2019, I tweeted and asked my followers “What are the most unhelpful things… Read More

 Posted on June 26, 2019

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Touching the Summit

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