Snowdonia Challenge Weekend

According to a study in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, it takes 50 hours to make a casual friend, 90 hours to make a real friend, and 200hrs to make a close friend. It is also generally understood that in the face of challenge and hardship people become closer and bonds are made which is why all team events normally involve a good problem to solve. We can all understand the value of a true friend, particularly with the support and feedback you get from them, so it all makes complete sense to take your company away for a weekend, throw them into communal dorms and tip them out of their comfort zone, all in all increasing bonding and cementing friendships. If happiness comes from a sense of belonging along with the opportunity to give to others in need then we have also increased the happiness scale of our colleagues and we are moving towards a more cohesive and motivated team. 

It was an awesome trip, and the excitement really began to develop as we planned and started to collate the required trip items on the packing list, which we wrote to specifically offer a degree of choice to keep it accessible for anyone…

Trepidation set in with the weekend’s challenges when it was discovered that someone had brought his all-in-one down suit, snow gaiters, crampons, and ice axe. This was fortunately quashed when we realised he had climbed the 7 peaks of the world prior to being a Scrum Master and he was to deliver a presentation on this immense achievement in the evening. 

As a team we climbed the highest mountain in Wales, Yr Wyddfa, fuelled by Haribo and humour and paddled in its outflow lake (Llyn) at the base, powered by a full English and an unwillingness to be the first to test the cold water temperatures. We refused to queue for the trig point now shrouded in cloud so instead found a beautiful slate sign round the side of the cafe to capture our mountain feats. 

Canoeing ended in wet clothes and shivering bodies with people being pushed off the pontoon or being cajoled into participating in the Butterfly Data synchronised diving act, but we had great fun paddling around and returning to our inner child. 

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A weekend like this gave us precious moments of deep conversation and memories that are cemented in our brain because we physically lived them. It means we are a few more hours on in our friendship timeline and we possess a greater respect for each other's unique skills.