The mountains are the place where I recharge my batteries. After the toil of a steep walk you stand on the summit with the fresh wind on your face, looking out over mile upon mile of hills and valleys, to the endless sky with its sweeping clouds and changing lights.

Mountains are places of beauty, and most of their beauties are not hard to reach, requiring just a little effort and energy. But this ease of access belies their need to be treated with respect. Every year people die in the mountains, usually because they underestimated the potential dangers. The most important safety rule is to assume that the worst may happen and then work out how you can prevent it or cope with it. You must be able to cope with getting lost, staying out all night, someone becoming ill or injured, getting too cold, too wet, too hot or too dry.

National mountaineering organizations will give you specific advice about walking in your area. Ask for it and follow it. They know – they are the ones who rescue people who have not asked for advice. If none of you is experienced in mountain walking it is best to find someone who is to help you. A large group of people with diabetes on anything other than a short walk should have an accompanying doctor; BDA/OB course groups are accompanied by BDA and OB staff on their first expeditions and shadowed by staff (who only intervenes in emergencies) on subsequent expeditions.

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Team work and shared responsibility are an important part of these OB courses. Each student is there as an individual to try new activities and overcome personal challenges, but the participants are also part of a group and are expected to keep an eye out for each other. It is rare for BDA staff to have to treat hypoglycemic attacks. Generally fellow students deal with them at the first sign that all is not well. Students teach each other how to monitor blood glucose levels and all sorts of new tricks with injection techniques and diabetic problem solving. As the course progresses they take a pride in sorting themselves out. Weaker students are supervised by more able ones, with continuous encouragement and support. Many of the activities are team challenges with everyone in the group contributing. The idea of taking responsibility for other people may come strangely to a young person who has been diabetic for a long time. Generally, the person with diabetes is the one who is looked after. Yet because of this, people with diabetes are good at looking after other people and are sensitive to their needs.

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