Whichever mountain activity you want to try, you'll find the following tips invaluable. They are common sense, but so often easily forgotten:


1. Know what motivates you
Know and understand what motivates you to do what you are doing.


2. Know your limitationsDevelop an awareness of where your personal physical, mental and (vitally) technical limits lie. Despite what most people think, we generally tend to reach our technical and mental limits long before we start to push the physical limits.


3. Stay Hydrated
Ensure you are drinking enough fluids prior, during and after doing an activity and this will do wonders to enhance the quality of your days out on the hill, crag or wall. It's easy to do but so often completely overlooked by climbers and mountaineers.


4. Listen to your intuition
Intuition is often ignored and very underrated. Go with it or at least listen to what it is saying. There are times when everything looks good e.g. the route is in good nick, you are fit etc, but your emotional response to the situation is anything but positive. If you can rationalise the emotion then good, if not learn to trust your gut feeling.


5. Learn from your mistakes
A clever person once described experience as the sum total of a collection of near misses. Use your near misses, epics and mistakes to good advantage - reflect on them, draw conclusions, then apply them in future adventures.