Why i do every expedition myself

As the founder of Team GC, an all women expedition company based in Hampshire, I go on every trip myself. Here’s why.

It’s been a long summer, and honestly, one of the best. I’ve spent it properly catching up with family and friends, the kind of catching up that doesn’t happen in stolen half hours but over long, lazy afternoons and evenings that run later than planned. Work slows right down for me at this time of year, and I like it that way. I need the space to switch off, potter about, be outside, and let my head recalibrate before the next chapter of Team GC gets going.

And when I do finally sit still long enough to reflect, there’s one moment that comes back to me, more than any other, from every single trip we’ve ever run.

There’s a point on every Team GC expedition that I look forward to more than any summit, any sunset, any finish line. It’s the moment someone realises they’ve just done something they genuinely didn’t think they had in them.

I’ve seen it on a mountainside in the rain. I’ve seen it in the middle of the desert at 5am, legs shaking, watching the sky turn orange. I’ve seen it happen quietly, almost privately, when someone thinks no one’s looking. And every single time, I’m right there with them, because I don’t send people off on Team GC expeditions. I go with them.

It was never a clever business plan, it just made sense

When I started Team GC, I didn’t sit down and think “ooh, this’ll be my unique selling point.” I just couldn’t imagine building a founder led expedition company any other way. These trips are hard. They ask a lot of people, physically and mentally, and I wasn’t willing to ask anyone to do something I hadn’t done myself, alongside them, in the same weather, carrying the same wobbly nerves at 4am.

So I’m there. Every route, every horribly early start, every blister, every “why on earth did I sign up for this” moment at the bottom of a climb that looked a lot smaller in the brochure.

The bit that keeps me hooked

Honestly, this is what does it for me. It’s a big part of why we’ve always kept our groups small. Small group expeditions mean nobody gets lost in the crowd, and it means I can actually be there for each person’s moment, not just watch it happen from a distance. I love seeing what people carry home that has nothing to do with the destination itself.

I’ve watched women arrive barely speaking to anyone and leave as the loudest one in the group chat. I’ve watched people who swore blind “I’m not outdoorsy” cross a finish line they built entirely themselves, step by step, over days that properly tested them. I’ve watched friendships form in that particular way that only happens when people go through something hard together, side by side, with no way out except forward.

Everyone takes something slightly different from it, and that’s genuinely the joy of this job for me. Not the trip itself, but who someone is when they walk away from it.

Doing it together, for something bigger than us

Every single Team GC expedition raises money for charity. It’s not an add on, it’s woven into every trip we run, and it’s added something I wasn’t expecting to the whole experience. Watching a group train together, fundraise together, chivvy each other along in the months before we even set off, and then take on the challenge knowing every step is going towards something beyond themselves, it changes the whole feel of the trip.

It’s one thing to push yourself. It’s another to do it while raising money that’ll genuinely help someone else. That combination, personal growth alongside doing some good, has been one of the most rewarding parts of running Team GC.

Come and do it with us

If you’re sat on the fence about joining an expedition, here’s what I want you to know. You won’t be doing it alone, and you won’t be doing it with someone watching from a distance with a clipboard. I’ll be right there with you, on the same climbs, at the same ridiculous hour, cheering just as loudly as everyone else when you cross that line.

You don’t need to be ready. You just need to say yes. Together, we’ll do the rest.

If you’re after a women’s adventure holiday that’s founder led and run in small groups, come and see what Team GC is all about.

Dare to be different · teamgc.co.uk

Trekking High Atlas Mountains for charity.