Clara Alive

The best adventures are the ones created from passion… from a desire to be somewhere you know you should be.   

Every new year’s day everyone asks you where you’re going that year… Clara feels and moves based on the feeling… yet this year I knew I would land in the Sierra Nevada this year…it’s been a privilege to do more than 1!  In March I trekked through the Sierra Nevada in Columbia and then was gifted with the Sierra Nevada in Andalucia this summer. 

Beyond that, I really had no idea where I was going.

I did not know exactly how steep the mountains would be, how exposed the rock faces might feel, how the energy would embrace and caress me,  how I would feel experiencing the contrast of intense male mountain energy that took my breath away compared with the beautiful, vibrant warm hug of Alcazaba. I was excited to explore who I would meet and discover what might be waiting on the other side of each summit.

And perhaps that was the real adventure. We can plan a journey. We can book the flights, find the guide, pack the rucksack and look at photographs of the landscape. But we cannot plan the moments that will stay with us. We cannot know who will cross our path, which view will stop us in our tracks, or what we might discover about ourselves when the route becomes harder than we imagined.

That is ClaraAlive. No script, just life.

Day One: Diamonds on the Water

As we began our first day in the Sierra Nevada, I was stunned by the views, the beauty and remoteness. I was excited to know that I was again going off grid for 3 days, no wifi, no pressure, just fresh air, new 2 and 4 legged friends and to see where the path takes me.

I was also a little apprehensive. My rucksack was heavy, much heavier than I was used to carrying, and I knew it would be staying on my back for the next three days. It was not long before my shoulders began to feel sore. There is a very particular feeling when you set off on an adventure and quietly wonder whether you have overestimated yourself. Could I really carry this weight across the mountains? How was I going to traverse the snow without crampons, Was I physically strong enough for what lay ahead?

I was so excited to find out. To take the first step,drink in the views, inhale the feel of nature deep into my soul, the energy and embrace the love this universe keeps sharing with me. 

My Spanish guide was on his journey to learn English as much as “yo aprendiendo espanol”. I did not always have enough Spanish for a detailed conversation about mountain routes, sheer drops or precisely where I was supposed to put my feet. So we muddled along. There was pointing, gesturing, smiling and the occasional “can you explain that in Spanish”…

He also had much longer legs than me. He would step across a gap between the rocks as though he were strolling over a crack in the pavement. I would arrive behind him, look at the same gap and realise that what was one effortless stride for him required a small expedition for me. But gradually, we found our rhythm.

We walked higher into the mountains, leaving roads, buildings and the noise of everyday life behind us. We walked along the sides of mountains following ancient paths, winding through the serene, tranquil beauty that is the Sierra Nevada. We found a crevice in the rock face, and climbing up found paradise…. a time to breathe… the embrace the view and finding a peace and quietness that eludes us in our every day.

As we climbed back down, we heard a delightful twinkling sound and saw a waterfall of glacial water cascading down the rock face. We filled our water bottles and splashed this special aqua on hot faces and washed dusty hands. That cold, fresh deliciousness revived me instantly, in the way only mountain water can, pure, wild and completely alive.

Then we reached the top of our first peak. Below us, beside the lakes, we could see our little mountain cabin waiting.

The sunlight danced across the water like sequins at a music festival – nature’s glitter revelling in the late afternoon glow. The lakes were beautiful, held within the vastness of the mountains, and there was a complete serenity and tranquillity to the landscape. For a moment, all the apprehension disappeared. The weight of the rucksack, the soreness in my shoulders and the uncertainty of the route no longer mattered. I was standing above the lakes, looking down at diamonds in the water, surrounded by a silence that felt almost sacred.

This is why we go. Not because every step is comfortable, but because discomfort can carry us somewhere extraordinary. Had I stayed within what felt easy, familiar and manageable, I would never have stood on that peak. I would never have seen the light dance across those lakes. Sometimes the most beautiful moments are waiting just beyond the point where we first wonder whether we can continue.

Descending to the refugio for the night, we discovered that the cabin was going to be cosy! A number of travellers had gathered and were eating, chatting about their day and their journey and resting weary limbs. After an exhilarating first day, I was excited to chat with them. They were all men. It was striking just how few female hikers there seemed to be in the Sierra Nevada. In almost any other circumstances, bedding down with twenty men for the night would certainly have raised a few giggles! Some of the conversations flowed entirely in Spanish, which made them tricky for me to join, while others switched into English and opened up a wonderful mix of stories, laughter and connection. The German boys were communicating in English too. Those guys were funny – having brought huge tins of pasta with them, hefting them across the mountains from Pampaneira which is quite a trek from the Refugio at just under 30kms. They had also received advice to take water with them for the full trek – then found out there were mountain streams everywhere! – and were carrying 10 litres each – a total load of 20kg. My pack suddenly felt a lot lighter! It was also a pleasure to meet Mateo from Cadiz. He’d spent 4 years in the UK returning to Cadiz for sunshine… a perfect story that aligned with me!

The day ended perfectly with ClaraAlive bliss… the perfect sunset – weary limbs, adventures and smiles…exactly where I was meant to be 🫶🏻

Day Two: Two Mountains, Two Energies

Day two tested every part of me.

Twenty kilometres. 1,900 metres of ascent and descent. Twelve hours in the mountains. And two summits, Mulhacén and Alcazaba.

Setting off at 8.30 after the most exquisite breakfast greetings with our local Ibex, we ascended directly to Mulhacén – steep, bare, unforgiving, relentless. Every step required focus. The mountain felt intense and demanding. There was no room to drift into thought or become distracted. I had to stay completely present, watching my feet, feeling the wind and concentrating on the next piece of ground in front of me.

There are moments in life when we need that energy. The determination to keep moving. The strength to stand our ground. The power to push through something that feels bigger than us. Yet strength is not always loud, forceful or fierce. Summitting a short time later, after the steepest uphill climb, we hit the magnificence of Mulhacén – wild, powerful and unapologetically masculine. The wind tore across the mountain, fierce and relentless, as though it wanted to blow me away.

The descent from Mulhacén was sharp, steep, winding and unknown. We had to weave our way down a sharp descent, stashing some of our pack on the mountainside to ease the journey to the second summit. My poles jammed constantly in the rocks, until the landscape opened out into the 7 lakes, las siete lagunas. The landscape transformed from hard bare rock threaded with solid metal into a lush green oasis, the bells of cows tinkling melodiously, vibrant azul of the sky reflected perfectly in the lakes. There I could take a breath, refill my water bladder with fresh, pure, ice cold glacial water and take the first steep, steps upwards towards the sheer rock face of Peñón del Globo, with Puntal de la Cornisa rising nearby, before continuing on towards the majestic summit of Alcazaba.

We passed the stunning splendour of snow encased lakes, the perfect azul contrasting with the pure white of the snow. Climbing up and up across huge boulders of stark mountain magnificence to reach Peñón del Globo and the pass that would lead us across glacial snow to the summit of Alcazaba. 

Where Mulhacén had felt wild, Alcazaba was serene. Calm. Majestic. Deeply feminine. There was an incredible stillness to it, a quiet beauty that did not need to fight for attention. It simply existed in its own magnificence.

Two mountains.Two completely different energies. One unforgettable day.

The contrast stayed with me. The masculine energy of movement, determination and force.The feminine energy of calm, intuition and presence. We often feel that we must choose one or the other, that we must either push forward or surrender, be strong or be soft. But perhaps we need both. There are mountains we climb through sheer determination, and there are moments we experience by allowing ourselves to become still enough to receive them.

That day, I felt both energies moving through the landscape and through me. I felt it so deeply… it moved me. I felt revived… renewed… a sensuality that stayed with me.  The fierce determination required to keep walking, and the deep alignment that came when I stopped, looked around and allowed the beauty of the mountains to reach me. The physical challenge was immense, but the day was about far more than numbers, distance or elevation. It was about being completely alive inside the experience.

It was also about the people we met along the way. We met Amador from Spain and Nadine from France. Nadine particularly stood out to me. There were very few women in the mountains, and we both felt how lovely it was to connect with each other there, in that deeply feminine energy. Our conversation was beautiful and uplifting. It was about travelling, freedom, how we have served our employers, our families and now it’s our time. Our time to find joy, flow, embrace our desire and our wanderlust. Nadine lives in Chamonix 8 months of the year and for the other 4 she is free to be the beautiful woman I discovered. 

There are some people we know for years and never truly connect with, and others we meet unexpectedly on the side of a mountain and immediately feel an openness and understanding. Nadine lifted my day. That is one of the greatest gifts of travelling into the unknown. You do not know who you will meet. You do not know which conversation will encourage you, make you laugh, help you feel understood or remind you of the importance of human connection. We began that morning as strangers from different countries. For a short part of the journey, on the summit of one of the most beautiful mountains I have climbed, our paths came together. And the day was more beautiful because they did.

11 hours into the trek, I hit a wall… we had descended from the peak and followed the valley around the circumference of Mulhacen. My rucksack felt like it weighed twice the weight I had been carrying all day, my big toes were extra sore from miles of descent and I could not walk another step. I was walking alongside the most stunning scenery and was so drained from only eating salchichón, nuts and dates I couldn’t walk another step. My shoulders were sore. My rucksack descended to the earth. Removing my boots and exposing my hot, tired feet to the elements,  I sat immersed in this tranquil beauty, drawing energy from the serenity caressing my exhausted limbs. Having carried my sleeping gear across 2 summits, I considered spending the night in the open air surrounded by beauty, with visits by the Ibex and the mountain foxes. I saw my guide, waiting patiently further down the road, and taking wealth from the stunning vista unfolding before me, rallied myself to join him, convincing me that the refugio was only round 2 more curves. Raising the energy, we chatted about crazy topics that took me to our rest for the night. 

My legs had climbed, descended, balanced and stretched across terrain I had not known I would face. But I had done it. Twenty kilometres, 1,900 metres of climbing and descending, twelve hours and two extraordinary summits. 

You do not always know what you can achieve until you are already doing it.

Day Three: Waking in Paradise

Before the final summit, there was a gift. Waking in paradise. The beauty around us was stunning, astounding, nature at its very best. Only mountains, open sky and that extraordinary feeling of being somewhere wild and completely alive.

Then the ibex came to say good morning. They moved so naturally through the landscape, graceful and completely at home among the rocks. Curious, waiting to say hello and to see what breakfast might look like today. Seeing them felt incredibly special. We had entered their world, not the other way around, and for a few moments we were allowed to share it with them.

It was a beautiful beginning to the final day, a moment of calm before we continued towards Pico Veleta. 

By then, the rucksack was still heavy.The route had not suddenly become predictable. My guide’s legs had not become any shorter, and my Spanish had not miraculously become fluent overnight. But something in me had changed. At the beginning of the trek, I had wondered whether I could do it.

By the third day, I knew I could keep moving even when I did not know precisely what lay ahead. I had carried the rucksack. I had crossed the steep rock faces. I had stood against the wind. I had climbed through fierce masculine energy and walked into feminine stillness. I had met ibex and strangers who became part of the story. I had watched the sunlight turn mountain lakes into diamonds. And now, the day held the summiting of Pico Veleta.

The final summit was not only the completion of the route. It was a spiritual awakening, the culmination of every uncertain step that had brought me there. The climb was sheer, I took a call from the estate agent 20 minutes from the summit “where are you?” “3500m on the side of a mountain in the Sierra Nevada…an unbelievable view I’m looking at talking about a house viewing!”

After 40 km, thousands of metres up and down, experiencing pure joy , exhilaration and majesty, I was ready to tackle the gigantic boulders that lie at the summit of Pico Veleta. I had a renewed energy to leverage myself up and crown that summit….and there, laid out in front of my eyes.. was our whole journey. I could see the other two summits proudly displaying their splendour in front of my eyes, the path we had traversed, the sheer rock faces we had climbed. The energy was magnetic, the feeling euphoric, and I was immersed in a gentle sensuality, an encompassing peace. I was exactly where I needed to be.

Go, Fly, Be You

We often think we need certainty before we begin. We want to know exactly where we are going, how difficult it will be, whether we will succeed and what will happen when we arrive. But adventure does not work like that.

Neither does life. Sometimes you have to begin without knowing the full route. You may feel apprehensive. The thing you are carrying may feel heavier than expected. The path may become steeper and more exposed. You may not always understand the people around you, and they may not always understand you. You may have to communicate through instinct, expression, trust and a little creative gesturing. You may have shorter legs than the person leading the way. But you muddle along. You find your rhythm. You keep taking the next step. And somewhere within all that uncertainty, life gives you diamonds on the water, a conversation with a soulmate from another mountain in France, fierce winds, majestic stillness, ibex arriving in the morning and a version of yourself you could not have met by remaining exactly where you were.

Your adventure does not have to be three days in the Sierra Nevada.It might be travelling somewhere new. Starting a project. Walking into a room where you know nobody.Learning a language.Taking the first step towards a dream you have been quietly carrying. It might simply be doing something before you feel completely ready.

Go and do it.

You do not know who you will meet.You do not know what you will find.You do not know how difficult it will be.Most importantly, you do not yet know what you can achieve.There may be no perfect route and no perfectly written script. But there is a whole life waiting to be lived.

Love always,

Clara 🌸 

ClaraAlive

No script, just life ✨🌸💫 

For more adventures, honest reflections and reminders to live fully while life is happening, subscribe to ClaraAlive and come along for the journey.