The Objective
The aim: ascending Cyfrwy Arête on Cadair Idris. Grade 3S★. This is the heart of the project — the destination toward which everything else is oriented.
The Body
Recovery after cerebellar stroke — the physical work, the limitations, the progress. Honest testimony of what the body relearns, one outing at a time.
Practice
Qigong, Taijiquan, and the daily work that prepares body and mind for the mountain. The forms, the sessions, the discipline of showing up.
The Data
The measurable record: Strava, TUG times, the Coed Cymerau baseline circuit, the training ladder. Evidence the body leaves behind.
Reflection
The academic layer: autoethnography, methodology, intellectual framework. Thinking about the thinking. The project’s research voice.
The Mountain
Places, terrain, weather. Eryri as research environment and home. Llyn Mair, Coed Cymerau, Cwm Orthin, Yr Eifl — the landscape that measures the progress.
The Film
The documentary: the archive, the drone, the conversation. Aled’s work. The journey toward Kendal Mountain Festival. Film as a way of knowing.
The Method
Data and method behind Project Gwella: the tools, decisions, and course corrections in how the practice gets recorded, not just what gets recorded. Like a kayaker’s constant micro-adjustments down a river, most of this work isn’t visible until the direction of travel is, and that includes the rolls needed to recover. Dated as of the decision, not tidied up afterward.