What would it take for a single afternoon in the hills to change the entire direction of your life?
For Alex Staniforth, it took one walk in the Lake District, aged 14, on a May afternoon with a friend's family. As a child who hated exercise, Alex had never been hill walking before. For many years, he had struggled with epilepsy and anxiety, been bullied through school, and spent years feeling like he did not belong anywhere. But as he stood on a hillside in glorious sunshine, he felt, for the first time, a sense of direction, freedom, and confidence.
“That was when I really found myself… I really found a direction, a freedom, a confidence, sense of achievement that I never had before."
From that afternoon, everything followed: Everest and two catastrophic disasters. A record-breaking run across 446 mountains. A charity that has helped hundreds of people find their way back to themselves through nature. And two published books, with a third taking shape as I write this, that exist partly because Alex has always kept some kind of record of his journey.
My conversation with Alex is about resilience, yes, but also about writing, and why the log of a life matters more than we might think.
The Mountains that Made Alex
Alex grew up near Delamere Forest in Cheshire. He was always close to nature, but not what you would call an outdoor adventurer, and exercise was most definitely something to be avoided. School sports days were something to endure rather than enjoy, and Alex’s stammer made communication difficult and school a threatening place. He describes himself as someone who did not believe he was good enough and did not feel he belonged anywhere. To be fair, this is a feeling many of us can relate to.
The Lake District changed Alex’s perception of life through what he calls "the power of moments of wonder." Standing somewhere beautiful, with the landscape putting everything in perspective, gave him a new question to live by: What else can I do? What else can I achieve? What else can I overcome?
Within four years, he was at Everest Base Camp. In 2014, a massive avalanche killed 16 people, and the expedition was called off. In 2015, the Nepal earthquake struck while Alex and his team were just below Camp 1, triggering avalanches across the region that killed over 9,000 people in Nepal and more than 20 at Base Camp, including three members of his own team. Alex spent two days stranded above the icefall before being airlifted out.
He carries the guilt of surviving, but also a poignant perspective that it gave him.
"I consider myself very grateful that I've had that experience, not of course for the death and the guilt of that has stayed with me ever since. But the meaning and the perspective that's given me at a young age, I think is really important."
A Natural Health Service
After Everest, Alex could have stepped back from challenge entirely. Instead, his direction of ambition shifted as he turned his attention inward and outward to others.
In 2018, a collaboration with a group called Adventure Uncovered led to an event that would plant the seed for Mind Over Mountains. Alex had always used the outdoors to manage his own mental health by getting outside and moving. Working through anxiety, depression, and what he describes as periods of real struggle helped him become clear-eyed about the limits of his approach: "It's not a miracle cure or a miracle pill. It's just a tool."
What Mind Over Mountains set out to do was combine that tool with professional mental health support, alongside nature, walking, and human connection. Yes, participants would embark on a nice weekend in the hills, but it was also something structured and lasting. A wellbeing formula, as Alex calls it.
Alex has always seen Mind Over Mountains as, in his words, "my natural health service." He is clear that the charity cannot help everyone, but believes that early intervention, and giving people the tools to get outside and walk more regularly, can make a real difference.
The charity now runs day walks and weekend retreats across England and Wales and has grown far beyond its founders. Alex remains a trustee and founder, and speaks about it with clear pride, though he is equally clear that the best thing that could have happened to Mind Over Mountains was for the charity to become bigger than him.
Planning for the Afterwards
One of the most practical and, I think, undervalued things Alex spoke about was what happens after a challenge ends.
He wrote a LinkedIn post about ten lessons from running all 446 mountains in England and Wales. The point that stayed with me, and clearly with many others, was how to plan for the ‘afterwards’, not just the event.
When the thing you have been working towards for months is suddenly over, there’s a kind of flatness that slithers in. The goal is gone, the people who cared about it have moved on, and the purpose you organised your life around has disappeared. Alex describes it as a loss of focus, and notes that this is often where less helpful thoughts can creep in.
His approach is to prepare for it deliberately. Before a challenge begins, he books something to look forward to afterwards, whether a spa day, a swim, or simply some meals out with no agenda. He gives himself permission to do whatever he feels like, and to enjoy small pleasures without needing to earn them.
"You have to subconsciously reward the mind. You need to let the body know it's done well."
He also talks about the importance of keeping busy while staying present, keeping talking, especially to people who were part of the experience, and accepting that processing takes time. Six months after completing the 446, he told me, he still had not fully come to terms with it.
The Log of Life
Throughout our conversation, writing kept surfacing as a constant in Alex's life, even though he finds it a real chore.
As a child who stammered and struggled to express himself verbally, writing was a way of being heard. After Everest, the impulse to get it on paper felt, in his words, "really important," and therapeutic in ways he had not fully anticipated. His first book, Icefall, was written when he was 19. His second, Another Peak, charted the Climb the UK journey and the mental health territory that came with it.
Now, working towards a third book, Alex keeps a daily diary as a simple record of key events, jotted down in Google Keep. He does not romanticise it and understands exactly why he does it.
"If I don't have any log of life, then it's so easy to forget it, and I've got nothing to pass on. So, yeah, that's how I see it [as] an investment."
On his 446 challenge, when he could not stop to write, he recorded voice notes instead. The next book will involve sitting with all of that, going through it, finding the golden nuggets buried in the hard days and the tantrums on hillsides.
It’s a good reminder that writing does not have to be polished or creative, but has meaning and use when it exists. What you do not write down, you forget. And what you forget, you cannot pass on.
A Journalling Practice Inspired by this Conversation
Alex’s multi-week practice is about recording the journey, preparing for what comes after, and finding meaning in the small things. You do not need to be climbing mountains for any of this to apply. Have a go at the following process to build a habit for logging your life.
Week 1: The Log
Keep a simple daily record for seven days. Not a journal in the traditional sense, just noting the key things that happened, what you noticed, what you felt, and what surprised you. Write it the next morning, not the same night. Aim for five to ten minutes, and do not worry about making it meaningful. You are just creating a record.
Week 2: The Honest Gratitude
Alex keeps a small box in his diary for things he is grateful for. Some days, he writes five or six things easily. Some days, it’s harder. This week, sit with both kinds of days. On the easy days, notice what that feels like, and on the harder days, write one small thing anyway.
Week 3: The Aftermath
Think of something you are working towards, such as a challenge, a project or a goal. Something that has been organising your time and energy. Now write about what comes after. Not the achievement itself, but the day after. The week after. What will you have lost when it is done? What might you need? What could you put in place now, while you still have the motivation?
Week 4: The Investment
Go back to something you wrote a year ago, or longer. A journal entry, a note or a message you sent to someone. The goal is to read it with fresh eyes and write about what you notice. To spot how much has changed or what you might have forgotten. What have you carried forward without even realising?
Week 5: One Step at a Time
Write about the mountain you are currently on, whatever it is. Or wherever it is. Focus only on today's step. What does it ask of you? What have you already done that you have not yet acknowledged?
Alex's books, Icefall and Another Peak, are available on his website.
To find out more about Mind Over Mountains walks, retreats, and challenge events, visit their website.
You can listen to the full conversation with Alex in Episode 69 of the Writing with Purpose podcast. Search 'Writing with Purpose' on your preferred platform or what on the Journalling with Anna YouTube channel.