Welcome to On the Summit!
We’re Ros and Dan, and On the Summit is our space to document days spent outdoors. We enjoy everything from leisurely valley walks to more challenging summits, and the chance to explore new places and experiences along the way.
Each post shares the route we took, what it was like, and the moments that stood out. Some are straightforward, others more demanding, but all are worth it - even when the weather has other ideas! We aim to go a step beyond the average trip report and hope to leave you inspired to set out on your own adventures.
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Star Ratings
In each of the trip reports, you will find both an "overall" and "difficulty" rating.
- The overall rating can be thought of as an enjoyment factor, how fun the trip was on that given day.
- The difficulty rating considers how technical the trail is and the level of fitness required.
These are both subjective, so your mileage may vary - a hard climb for us might be an easy walk for someone else, and a trip where we spent the whole time in cloud might be way more enjoyable on a sunny day. They aim to give you a rough idea of what to expect. The following provides examples for each rating.
Overall Rating
☆☆☆☆☆ - Awful, why would you do this?
★☆☆☆☆ - Maybe we should have stayed at home.
★★☆☆☆ - A good day, glad to have gone out, could have been better.
★★★☆☆ - A fun day out but not overly special.
★★★★☆ - A great, memorable day in the mountains.
★★★★★ - One of the most memorable days of the past year, the kind of day that stays with you for a long time.
Difficulty Rating
☆☆☆☆☆ - Super easy - park up and you're there.
★☆☆☆☆ - An easy walk, doable for almost anyone.
★★☆☆☆ - An average day on the mountain, doable if you are in a reasonable state of fitness. You might have to use your hands to stabilise yourself here and there, but this never becomes full-on scrambling.
★★★☆☆ - A hard day out, either as a result of distance or elevation, can involve some level of scrambling.
★★★★☆ - A challenging day on technical terrain, either requiring advanced skills (e.g. glacier travel, via ferrata) or lots of scrambling, likely on exposed terrain.
★★★★★ - One of the hardest things I've ever done, a long day, lots of elevation and technical terrain requiring advanced skills.