Here’s Year 3 medical student, Beth Coiley sharing an insight into her downtime from medicine – upwards into the mountains.
I absolutely love doing anything outdoors in the mountains, be it trail running, walking, scrambling, trad climbing or wild swimming. I’ve been heading into the Scottish Highlands in summer and winter since I was very young, and was determined to carry on doing just that at university. Although medicine rightly needs plenty of time spent studying, these are the things I love the most and it’s been really important to me to make time for them.
As it’s been my intercalation year this year, I’ve been lucky enough to get in lots of brilliant trips away. Earlier this year I headed over to El Chorro in Spain for sport climbing, and I’ve also been down to Wales bouldering and trad climbing, as well as heading away into the Highlands with the mountaineering club on several of their weekend trips.
Most recently, I went on a winter climbing course, and will be putting those skills into practice over the next couple of weekends whilst the wonderful snowy conditions are in. Last summer I travelled around the Highlands with friends and (despite picking the worst possible weather window) managed to have some amazing days trad climbing, running, swimming and scrambling from Glencoe up to the Cairngorms, Torridon and Skye. I’ll hopefully be doing more of the same this summer, as well as going down to the Alps to get some routes done on Mont Blanc and in the surrounding area.
I hope to make a career out of the outdoors and medicine one day. I love practicing and teaching rope safety and skills, and will hopefully have completed my rock climbing instructor qualification by the end of this year. This will allow me to take people out rock climbing safely and is a brilliant stepping stone towards the more advanced qualifications on offer, which I’m aiming to work towards gradually as I move through medical school. I’d love to work in the Highlands and perhaps further afield doing expedition and emergency medicine, particularly as part of a mountain rescue team. The feeling of knowing how to plan your trip into the mountains and most importantly that you can adapt those plans if conditions change is such a valuable one. Being able to problem-solve your way out of any situations that might arise and require self-rescue, helping your partner, or escaping off a route gives you a real sense of confidence and calm when you’re thinking about heading into the hills.
It’s such a privilege to be able to experience the beautiful scenery, space, joy and freedom of being in mountains. It’s what makes me the happiest in the world and I can’t wait to have even more adventures this year and in the future.
