Attitudes and Altitude, imposter syndrome, and the Twitter exodus

There’s a lot to cover, because I’ve been atrocious at sending out regular newsletters once again, and my excuses are exactly the same as last time: it’s been a busy year, my website’s still broken, and I haven’t finished fixing up the new one yet. You know the drill. I know, I know, but I am finally getting organised, and I hope that the new website will be up to full speed within the next few weeks.

Until then, what’s new? Quite a bit:

1. Attitudes and Altitude

This summer, I spent a few weeks fastpacking 900km across the Alps from Ventimiglia to Zermatt. This was a project for Sidetracked magazine, supported by Montane and LEKI, and I’m glad to say that things went entirely to plan – apart from a nasty run of thunderstorms in the middle of the trail that seriously curtailed progress. When I reached Switzerland I was absolutely astounded by the levels of glacial retreat. The Alps are changing far more rapidly than most people realise, I think.

The trip transformed my perception of my body and what I believe I can do. It was my most ambitious long-distance trip to date, and involved a fair chunk of running in some big mountains (although it was mostly a hike). My comfort zone, consequently, has been pushed back, and as a result my plans for future adventures are looking a lot bigger.

I’ve been doing plenty of writing about the trip. My main story, ‘Attitudes and Altitude: Mountains of the Mind’, was published in Sidetracked magazine Volume 25 (out now – please support us by buying a copy or subscribing). A stack of other stories are ready to be published on the Sidetracked website next week, too.

This project would not have been possible without key people close to me: James Roddie, Jenny Tough, John Summerton, Emily Woodhouse (yes, even editors need an editor). I’m also grateful to Montane and LEKI for their support. I’m ever more mindful of just how lucky I am that amazing adventures like this are part of how I make my living.

2. The Sidetracked Creators Tour

This year it was my pleasure to come along to several nights of the Sidetracked Creators Tour: Leeds (guest speaker Ellie Stones), Edinburgh (guest speaker Vedangi Kulkarni), and Fort William (where I was guest speaker). I had a lot of fun, met a lot of interesting people, and it was a pleasure to be able to speak a bit about my Alps project – and some difficult subjects I’ve never spoken about publicly before. Subjects like mental health, body image, and imposter syndrome. I’ll have more to say (and write) about these things soon.

3. Book projects

I’m currently working on another book in the Wanderlust series with gestalten. The subject matter is still hush-hush, but those of you with your heads screwed on the right way will probably be able to figure it out, and I’ve already approached one or two of you about images and possible collaborations.

The Wanderlust books continue to sell pretty well – Wanderlust Alps has recently been translated into Czech – and overall I’m really happy with this series. The Farthest Shore doesn’t earn me as much money but it makes up for it in satisfaction. I have spoken to so many people who have told me that the book has touched them, even changed their life. Recently I was amazed to learn that it got to the finalist stage in the Banff Mountain Book Prize. It’s also popping up in a lot of bookshops.

A career as a writer is never easy, and nobody ever ‘makes it’. But I’m starting to allow myself to feel that I’ve got over the first hurdle, at least. And maybe I need to work on that imposter syndrome (people keep telling me this). It still surprises me to find out that there are people who read all my stuff, come to all my talks, and look up to me as an authority in this field. That isn’t something I ever seriously expected! In my head I’m still a twenty-something kid who doesn’t really know what he’s doing.

Longer term, I will be writing a book about my Alps fastpacking adventure and the circumstances around it, but I don’t think I’ll get the chance to even begin for at least six months. I’m looking forward to making a start, though.

4. Twitter

Well, I did it. After years of back and forth over my love/hate relationship with Twitter, I’ve pulled the plug. I have no plans to delete my account – I still feel the need to have a nominal passive presence on there – but I have no plans to tweet any more or read my timeline.

Why? The Elon Musk takeover has revealed a company and website in freefall. I object to how the company is being run, and I think that the website will rapidly implode now that entire teams have been decimated. In fact, it’s imploding right now – today I have seen a huge exodus of people I follow over to Mastodon. I have no idea if Mastodon will replace Twitter for me, but I’m willing to give it a shot. You can find me over at https://mastodon.scot/@alex_roddie.

The moment I made my decision to step away from Twitter, I felt freed. Maybe that’s telling.

5. Kendal Mountain Festival

Kendal Mountain Festival is rapidly approaching. I am not a speaker this year, but I’ll be there with Sidetracked (Jenny Tough and John Summerton also attending), going to some of the events, chatting with people, seeking out writing talent, and generally networking. If you’re around, it’ll be a good opportunity to say hello.

6. The new website and newsletter

Things are now moving. I’m migrating everything over to a new Ghost site, and it should all be up and running within the next few weeks.

One of the consequences of this move is that I am merging the blog and this newsletter into a single entity. I’ll have information on how to resubscribe to the new site soon! Apologies for the disruption, but unfortunately Substack just isn’t working out for me, and I need a simpler solution than two distinct publishing platforms.

That’s about it for now. Thanks for reading, as always, and I’m really looking forward to restarting my regular programme of posts.

Until next time,

Alex

Image © James Roddie Photography