How Extreme Challenges Shape Resilience: Insights from a 25-Day Endurance Expedition
- Alastair Hunt
- Nov 7, 2025
- 7 min read
Updated: Nov 14, 2025
Extreme environments test the human body and the mind in ways that go far beyond the physical. From polar expeditions to mountainous treks, these experiences push individuals to their limits. But how do people maintain their psychological resilience when faced with relentless adversity? A unique study from Nottingham Trent University explored this question during a 25-day endurance challenge across the UK’s highest peaks - and uncovered compelling lessons about coping, mindset and what it really means to stay mentally strong.
As ever, please talk to your doctor or medical practitioner most familiar with your medical history before implementing any changes in diet, exercise or lifestyle, especially if you are under treatment. Links to all studies at bottom of page.
The Challenge: 100 Peaks in 25 Days
The study followed four participants (mean age 46) as they attempted the “100 Peaks Challenge” - a gruelling mission involving Tactical Advance to Battle (TAB), or fast hiking with 30lb (13.6kg) packs, up 100 UK peaks over 25 consecutive days. The team also cycled between base camps and lived in tents in remote areas, facing unpredictable weather, difficult terrain, and high physical demands.
For context: this wasn’t a race, but a tribute event, designed to honour the organiser’s fallen brother. The mission was deeply personal, physically punishing, and psychologically intense.
'Tabbing' is a UK term, better known as 'rucking' in the US. We have a growing library of rucking related articles here.
A New Approach to Studying Resilience
Resilience has traditionally been studied through surveys or interviews after an event. This study broke new ground by capturing psychological responses in real-time, using video diaries, focus groups, and a validated resilience scale (the CD-RISC10). The aim was to observe resilience "live" - as it happened - and track how individuals adapted over time in one of the most demanding environments imaginable.
Two Main Themes: Stressors and Coping
Researchers identified two central themes from the data:
The types of stressors faced (and how they compounded).
The strategies used to maintain functioning - to keep going, even when things got overwhelming.
Stressors were grouped into two categories:
Significant stressors: illness, navigation errors, accidents, logistical breakdowns.
Everyday stressors: weather, midges, fatigue, terrain, and lack of sleep.
What made these stressors so impactful was their clustering effect. Individually, each challenge was manageable. But together, they created a pressure-cooker environment - especially during transitions between base camps, which involved long bike rides and poor recovery conditions. One participant described it as "go, go, go" - with no chance to decompress.
Resilience in Action: Strategies That Made a Difference
Despite the intense conditions, the participants found ways to cope - and their stories offer valuable lessons for anyone navigating adversity, whether in sport, work or daily life.
1. Adopting a Challenge Mindset
A recurring theme was the idea of seeing hardship as a challenge rather than a threat. This mindset helped participants reframe discomfort and stay focused on what they could control. Rather than resist the environment, they leaned into it - accepting poor weather, steep climbs, and interpersonal tensions as part of the process. As one participant put it: “You’ve just got to come back and carry on.”
2. Putting One Foot in Front of the Other
Literal and metaphorical, this phrase captured the team’s daily attitude. Instead of being overwhelmed by the magnitude of the 25 day mission, they concentrated on the next hill, the next step, the next meal. This strategy - breaking big goals into manageable chunks - helped preserve mental energy and built momentum during difficult moments. While we are on the subject of one foot in front of the other, enjoy our article on suitable footwear for hiking and rucking.
3. Using Humour as a Release Valve
When spirits flagged, laughter often became a lifeline. Joking about the absurdity of conditions (“it was brutal… and we loved it”) helped diffuse tension, boost morale, and create brief moments of joy in an otherwise relentless schedule. Humour, when well-timed and inclusive, acted as an emotional buffer - a proven coping strategy in both military and extreme environments.
4. Social Support (and Its Complications)
Support - from team members, the base camp crew, and even social media followers - was vital. Small gestures, like a hot chocolate after a soaking wet hike, had a disproportionately positive effect. But relationships in confined, high-stress settings are complicated. Miscommunication, personality clashes, and mismatched expectations occasionally turned support into a source of stress.
This nuance underscores that while social support is key to resilience, it must be actively managed and adapted to context.
The Cluster Effect: When Challenges Compound
A key finding of the study was what the researchers called the cluster effect. Rather than a single dramatic event triggering stress, it was the steady accumulation of multiple stressors - midges, poor sleep, harsh weather, group friction - that began to wear participants down. These overlapping pressures limited the ability to recover, leading to a cascade of physical and psychological fatigue.
For one participant, the first base camp transition became a turning point - where stressors peaked and resilience faltered. Yet others rebounded later in the challenge, illustrating how resilience is not static. It fluctuates, evolves and is deeply personal.
Measuring Resilience Over Time
The CD-RISC10 resilience scores showed that each team member experienced their own trajectory:
One participant maintained consistently high scores, showing strong resilience throughout.
Another declined over time, highlighting the cumulative toll of the challenge.
Others showed recovery or improvement later in the expedition.
This variability confirms that resilience is not a fixed trait but a dynamic process, shaped by individual perceptions, external conditions, and time.
Real-World Applications: What You Can Take Away
Even if you’re not planning a 25-day mountain mission, the study’s insights can help you navigate your own tough times - whether that’s training for a marathon, coping with work stress or managing a demanding family schedule.
Here are practical lessons you can apply:
Expect stressors to cluster: It’s rarely just one thing that knocks us down - it’s the pile-up. Plan ahead for periods where multiple challenges may hit at once.
Focus on the next step: When a goal feels overwhelming, zoom in. What’s the one thing you can do today, right now?
Use humour strategically: Light-heartedness, even in serious situations, can ease group tension and restore perspective.
Build in real recovery: Physical and mental downtime is essential. When it’s missing, even minor stressors feel unbearable.
Prepare for social dynamics: Tension is inevitable in high-pressure teams. Invest in pre-challenge bonding and open communication to manage conflict proactively.
View resilience as trainable: Like physical fitness, mental resilience can be strengthened over time with consistent exposure to challenge, self-reflection, and adaptive strategies.
For a comprehensive overview of proven strategies, read Building Resilience & Grit, How to Strengthen Your Mind and Body Against Stress.
Final Thoughts
This pioneering study sheds light on how ordinary people cope with extraordinary challenges - not through superhuman toughness, but through adaptability, humour, support, and relentless focus. Resilience, it turns out, isn’t about avoiding stress. It’s about recognising it, reframing it, and responding with purpose.
Whether you're preparing for an endurance event, supporting someone through hardship, or simply trying to stay grounded during a hectic season, these findings remind us that resilience is a living, breathing process. With the right mindset and support, it’s one we can all develop - one step at a time.
Singapore recently hosted its own military style long distance march - the Norwegian military foot march, a 30km hike.
Supporting your body through balanced nutrition, physical activity, stress reduction, quality sleep and meaningful social connection (these are known as the Pillars of Health) are some of the most powerful health 'tools' we have. Changing health for the better is about consistent progress, not perfection, and even small changes can make a meaningful difference over time.
As always, the best health strategy is one you can stick with - one that fits your personal lifestyle profile. Improving health is about finding motivation, prioritising self-care and taking action. If you want to take effective and targeted steps to that fit into your unique lifestyle, The Whole Health Practice is here to help. Whether you want to improve eating practices, beat chronic illness or enhance your overall well-being, our consultations and programs deliver results that are tailored to your needs.
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Alastair
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Studies and Resources
The study involved... Harrison D, Sarkar M, Saward C, Sunderland C. Exploration of Psychological Resilience during a 25-Day Endurance Challenge in an Extreme Environment. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Dec 2;18(23):12707. doi: 10.3390/ijerph182312707. PMID: 34886438; PMCID: PMC8656636.
Other
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Martin J, Hromyak A, Sax van der Weyden M, Weinstein AA, Boolani A. The relationship between grit, resilience and physical activity: a systematic review. Front Sports Act Living. 2025 Jul 7;7:1563382. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1563382. PMID: 40692844; PMCID: PMC12277260.
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Boga, D. (2024). Military Leadership and Resilience. In: Sookermany, A.M. (eds) Handbook of Military Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02866-4_101-2
Biggs AT, Seech TR, Johnston SL, Russell DW. Psychological endurance: how grit, resilience, and related factors contribute to sustained effort despite adversity. J Gen Psychol. 2024 Jul-Sep;151(3):271-313. doi: 10.1080/00221309.2023.2253955. Epub 2023 Sep 12. PMID: 37697826.
Brunyé TT, Goring SA, Cantelon JA, Eddy MD, Elkin-Frankston S, Elmore WR, Giles GE, Hancock CL, Masud SB, McIntyre J, McKenzie KL, Mitchell KB, O'Donovan MP, Racicot K, Ramsay JW. Trait-level predictors of human performance outcomes in personnel engaged in stressful laboratory and field tasks. Front Psychol. 2024 Sep 9;15:1449200. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1449200. PMID: 39315045; PMCID: PMC11418282.
McClung JP, Beckner ME, Farina EK. Assessing the physiological basis for resilience in military personnel. Stress Health. 2023 Sep;39(S1):33-39. doi: 10.1002/smi.3271. Epub 2023 Jul 3. PMID: 37395310.
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