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HSX Cambodia @ The Lake District

HSX Cambodia @ The Lake District

After a slow start being stuck in Winchester due to heavy bank holiday traffic, HSX eventually headed up the motorway towards the beautiful Lake District without too much delay. We arrived at 1.30am at Great Tower Scout Activity Centre; bed was the one thing we were all ready for, so we hit the sack.

Following a fairly good night’s sleep, it was great to get together with everyone for bacon sandwiches and meet more members from HSX. Liam then proceeded to brief us about the plans for the day and a few house rules for the weekend.Climbing at Farleton Crag

Team Cambodia departed at 9.30am (HSX time) for Farleton Crag, a huge limestone pavement east of the M6. Along with Steve and Tom, we completed some bottom and top rope climbs after a short walk to the crag and then finished the afternoon off with abseiling.  As a general trend for Team Cambodia, people with longer hair (Bradley and the girls!) were more successful at climbing and keeping their dignity. It was nice to be as a whole team again because we had some quality bonding time. Meanwhile, the other members of HSX either enjoyed a day of climbing at White Ghyll or walking after wild camping at Angle Tarn.

Whilst Friday kept in line with the tradition of beautiful weather in the lakes Soggy after Jacks Rakefor HSX, Saturday took a complete U-turn as water and wind came in fast and frequently throughout the day. With an earlier start of 7:00am for breakfast, Team Cambodia had a departure time of 8:00am for Jack’s Rake (Jake’s Rake if you prefer) on Pavey Arch along with another group, whilst some members were running on the Kentmere Ring. Although one successful group did manage to reach the top of Jack’s Rake, Team Cambodia decided to turn back after Stickle Tarn as the winds continued to crash against the rock, as little shelter could be found as the fog thickened over the water and base of the scramble.

Another early start looking for the Easter bunny made us all jump out of bed, but to the great disappointment of no chocolate!  With another breakfast of bacon sandwiches, Team Cambodia was told to pack for a day of micro navigation at Skelwith Country Park, whilst other members of HSX could scramble up Harrison Stickle or Micro Navigation around Grisedale Forest. Although we only covered 5km in 4 hours, the day was very enjoyable as Team Cambodia were taught some very useful navigational skills like leapfrogging and got to improve our individual map reading skills and using contour lines. Despite the constant moist nature of the day and the occasional surprise hail storm, the weather held up pretty good. The same cannot be said for those up Harrison Stickle, who saw more hail and rain. Team Cambodia were also faced with the challenge of dealing with 3 injuries at the same time ( Tom broke his leg, Matt got hypothermia and Liam had a panic attack) which showed how we could work well together as a team, but still very much needed guidance on what to do in a first aid situation. It turned out that these injuries were in fact not real, but just a test to see how the team would cope. Once we were all dry, Matt taught us a few Confidence rope skills at Great Tower which was a nice skill to learn, especially as it was an activity we could do inside.

All in all great weekend was had by all despite the weather.

Special mentions to Craghoppers as the team were presented with our Cambodia Uniform (Kit Review to follow soon).

One month later

One month later

Well according to Robert Plant and Jimmy Page there are two paths which lead to the Stairway To Heaven, a legendary song that was inspired by a ‘trip’ to Cadair Idris.  On the weekend of the 22nd to the 24th of January HSX also climbed the Stairway To Heaven, enjoying a wet and windy weekend in the mountains to the south of the Snowdonia national park.  Wikipedia however claim there are three main paths (the Pony Path, the Fox’s Path and the Minffordd Path) to the top which is a height of 893m.

Our Cambodia Expedition Team along with other members of HSX set of from Ferny Crofts on Friday evening for the long drive to Mid Wales, arriving late at Joe and Dobby’s house.  We all piled in, found our rooms and hit the sack for a well earned rest.  Up early on Saturday morning, with sausage sarnies and porridge filling us all up before a briefing about who was in which team.  Our team was all of HSX Cambodia (minus a couple, who were missed) with Dobby and Steve joining us; there wereMountain View three teams in total.   The first task was to complete route cards for our weekend walk, with the aim of climbing Cadair Idris and camping out on Saturday night.  When we left the comforts our hosts house the weather was good, with a mix of blue skies and cloud.  We headed off in the mini buses to our start point.  The walking was initially on roads before heading off onto tracks with a gentle climb to warm us up.  Lots of catching up since our last weekend and conversations about what we had been up to over Christmas and the start of the New Year was a great way to begin the walk, and spirits were high all weekend.

A focus of the weekend was to learn and develop our map reading and navigation skills.  We took it in turns to lead the group along our route and all of us did so with confidence and great skill.  We learnt about the Four ‘D’s’ which are distance, duration, direction and description – and these are key to successful route planning and navigation.

The walk up to Cadair Idris was initially quite gentle however when the terrain became more challenging our expedition leaders took over navigation.  The weather continued to be dry and mild and the mood of the group buoyant.  Cadair Idris is not in the same league as the more rugged and higher peaks of Snowdonia however it looked really exciting to climb, with patches of snow still on the ground and some seriously strong winds to contend with higher up.  We decided to leave packs at the bottom of the climb to save time and energy (although little did we know that some gremlins would take great delight in adding a few extra pounds of weight in the form a rocks to most of our packs!).  The route up was initially straightforward and sheltered and as we gained height the terrain became steeper.  Although the tracks we had been following died out, the route was still obvious and the need for map and compass was for a lot of the time unnecessary.Half way up Cadair

Lunch was eaten on the go and we got to the top of Cadair Idris early afternoon.  The views were stunning and gave an amazing 360 degree panorama.  After a short stop at the top we began our walk back down retracing our footsteps.  The wind continued to blow and thankfully for the time being kept the clouds and rain away.  On the descent we bumped into the other two HSX teams, having a quick chat before going our separate ways again.  As we left the hill side and began the walk in to our camp for the night Mountain side Matt enlightened the group on the link between Cadair Idris and Led Zeppelin.  Interestingly there are numerous other myths and legends associated with this peak.  With bottomless lakes and the suggestion that if you sleep alone on the slopes you will wake up as either a madman or a poet!  However the mountain’s name is generally understood to refer to the mythological giant ‘Idris’ who was said to have been skilled in poetry, astronomy and philosophy.

As we neared our camp site the weather began to change and rain started to fall.  Our pace quickened and as we arrived at camp and started to put up tents, the rain got worse.  Tents up, dinner cooked inside the tent porch and hungry tummies fed we turned in for a very early night.  Sleep was not initially on the cards, and to honest not a great deal was had by Tom, Ed or I.  The sound of the wind and rain kept us awake on and off, and Ed getting acquainted with the inside of the tent which seemed to spend most of the night flat packing on his side kept some of us amused (not Ed!)

Up early and with rain still falling we had a quick breakfast on the go whilst packing up camp before a short walk back to the mini bus.  Wet packs were stashed in the back before meeting up with the other two teams and commencing our drive back home.  As we left the mountains behind, we took lots of great memories – the sense of achievement at having climbed Cadair Idris and getting to know both the HSX Cambodia team members and HSX members in general even more.

We arrived back at Ferny Crofts just after 3 giving us time to sort out wet tents before our lifts home arrived.  Another brilliant week end.  Thank you to Joe and Dobby for the use of their house, to those who arranged the weekend and those who drove.  Most of all thank you to HSX Cambodia, we make a great team.

Report by Bradley Carter

Photographs by Tom Mawby & Liam Foster

#OperationChristmasDinnerFor40People

#OperationChristmasDinnerFor40People

With Christmas quickly approaching, we were all ready to attend our first HSX Christmas weekend, which was made even more exciting by highlighting the fact that in a year’s’ time we will be on our expedition!

Saturday Morning started straight away with our first ever attempt at the annual Christmas Adventure race. We managed to enter 3 teams into the Amateur Category, and we were sure that our team, “Pumped on Coffee,” would do great, we took advantage of our head start after plotting our route on the map, however after a few teams overtook us at the first checkpoint and having to slow down due to injuries we resorted to strategy, managing to catch up with a few teams quite quickly by taking small paths across the bogs.

Soon we were neck and neck with a group of teams, so we knew we needed to gain some extra points, luckily a herd of horses were close, giving us the perfect idea for our selfie, hopefully putting us in front of the rest. Even though trying to get all three of us next to the horse in one picture was a challenge in itself we did it!

There wasn’t any debate on whether we should try to get the big 80 point checkpoint unless we took the train, which probably was against the rules, so we gained some extra time to gather some of the slightly smaller points. On the way we chatted about fundraising ideas as well as jumping over several water logged lands and streams, surprisingly not falling in. Soon we found ourselves on the outskirts of ferny crofts, where we were staying the night, so we immediately picked up the pace to jump the fence and get back to the croft 20 minutes early with all of our points (some of them being guessed numbers for extra points), and lead an unsuccessful gamble for more points in return for our pen.

Bradley & Kenneth Running                                                Tom & EdDave, Becky & Cerys

Half an hour later the whole Cambodia Team was back and in high spirits, excited to know who had won. However there was no time for celebration as we had to start our new mission; cook-christmas-dinner-for-40-odd-people-and-let’s-not-burn-the-turkey! After an hour or so of Christmas powered chopping, slicing, peeling, and chatting we had finished preparing, and started working on our presentation for the forum the next day.

Soon we were summoned back to the kitchen to start the important part of the meal; the cooking. Its safe to say our kitchen was organised; no spillages, if you forget the oil, and no problems that couldn’t be solved, *cough cough* deep fried parsnips, so overall it was great, especially as we sung Christmas songs the whole way through. When 7:30 came along we were ready to serve on time!

Dinner went very smoothly, with lots of laughs and some flying food, it was a great chance to talk to everyone in a non-competitive way. Soon after everyone was split into different groups to take part in the quiz. This meant we got to socialize with some of the HSX members we otherwise wouldn’t have spoken to, while discovering how little we know about quiz sections like “World” or “London”.

Sunday

Up and ready the next day by 07:30, we were tired and adequately enthusiastic for PT. Several pushups and 1 kilometre later, we found ourselves chest deep in a freezing cold river, squatting and then wading under a bridge. That’s definitely one way to wake yourself up! On the, slightly squelchy, way back, we ran looking forward to a shower and bacon for breakfast.

10 am signalled the start of the forum where our team was up first to present Cambodia, we spoke about our previous training weekends, fundraising and what we are looking forward to do on the trip. The rest of the meeting went well, with a few jokes made from other members along the way, and it was great to see what everyone had done over the past year, and are planning for the coming year.

The weekend was a great experience as we got to know the members of HSX really well as well as getting to know about all the other crazy adventures HSX run, which we are looking forward to taking part in, in the future.

Becky and Cerys – HSX Cambodia Team

HSX Cambodia in North Wales

HSX Cambodia in North Wales

With most HSX members packing their bags for the October weekend the week before, some of the Cambodia Leaders and HSX members didn’t get back into the UK until the early hours of the Friday morning from their trip to Kalymnos. With a few hours’ sleep, (thankfully other members of HSX were driving) on Friday evening we set off to North Wales, collecting people from the Tesco in Winnal, Winchester and Eastleigh Train Station.Willys Crag

The drive seemed to last a long time, with people fighting back their tiredness with excitement for the weekend ahead. The unknown for some people who had never been to the mountains! With the traditional stop of at McDonalds for a ‘dirty burger’, we reached our accommodation at Cornel Scout Centre by 01:00 on the Saturday morning. All of our excitement on the drive up now seemed to have fizzled out as we finally crawled into our sleeping bags for a night of broken sleep thanks to those infamous first night camp nerves.

Getting up at 07:00 for breakfast we discussed the plans for the day and left the centre at around 08:30. The Cambodia team went to tackle Tryfan; via the North face scramble, proving slightly challenging to me and other members, who had never been on a roped scramble or exposed rocky steps, but we reached the summit with no issues. On the way down, the participants tested their mountain navigation skill to get the group back to the car, using slightly unorthodox routes on occasion and with varying degrees of success.

On the sharp edge

The rest of the team completed the Snowdon Horseshoe, and were lucky enough to get some breaks in the clouds to take advantage of the views and see just how exposed the ridge of Crib Goch is.

 

On the second day, Cambodia Deputy Leader Liam, took us to Willy’s crag where we got our first taste of outdoor climbing on real rock! We did a couple of top rope climbs each and got a master class in setting up different systems up for groups from Liam.

 

Meanwhile, the remaining members of HSX did multi pitch climbing on Little Tryfan, looking at placing gear, leading two clients and improvised rescues before meeting up at 13:00 and heading back to Hampshire.

 

I found the weekend challenging and exciting, whilst also experiencing outdoor climbing for the first time and realising I need to improve my mountain navigational skills…. significantly. It’s safe to say, I’m super excited and keen for the rest of our training!

HSX Cambodia Team

 

 

HSX Cambodia – Training Begins

Training Begins

We have just had a very successful start to our training, with an action packed weekend at Ferny Crofts Scout Activity Centre; The home of Hampshire Scouting. The weekend was a great opportunity to bond with the team and marked the start of our journey to Cambodia with activities focused around developing skills that would be used on expedition, particularly bush craft and survival activities.

Saturday morning was kicked off with an activity I’m sure all Scouts have done before – PioneerinRiver Crossingg! The first challenge was to build a bridge from one side of the lake to the other and safely get the whole team across and back again. After much debate, the team came up with the idea of building loads of A frames and strapping them all together to span the distances. This was going well with the team making slow progress, apparently A frames are heavy and awkward to move when your stood on a three inch pole over a deep, dirty, cold lake. But we did make it to the other side with only a few shoes getting wet.

I’m sure you can guess what happened next…. In short the bridge worked going across the lake because all the A frames were tensioned and leaning out so when you try to go back across they all lose tension and fall over. Luckily a member of the Leader team is study Engineering and for saw this problem…. Or maybe not!

The rest of Saturday was spent doing bush craft activities; fire lighting, knife craft & backwoods cooking and discussing the next 18months of training and what to expect. At 19:30 chicken, lamb, vegetables and potatoes were all served which had been prepared outdoors and slowly cooking throughout the afternoon. Potatoes being a personal favourite! With a warm dinner inside them, participants were set off foIMG_0178r a night hike route where challenges would be set at three checkpoints along the way. Challenges including pacing and navigation points, a problem solving task and a team building task all designed to access knowledge and team dynamics so the remaining training weekends can be pitched at the correct level. We promised we wouldn’t mention one team getting lost and stumbling back over a 1hour late…. With everyone officially worn out, we headed out into the forest, climbed into our hammocks and enjoyed the night out under the stars. Which again, a member of the leader team didn’t fall out of….. Cough, Cough, Dave…..

At 07:45 Sunday morning the team were woken up and put through their paces with a physical training session to start increasing fitness to prepare for trekking and mountain climbing. The run was led by Matt with help from HSX members Jamie and Alan and consisted of running, leap frogs, Spartan crawling, press ups, sit ups, fireman lifts and a team challenge around the Ferny Crofts Adventure Course. This was followed by the traditional sunny BBQ with other members of HSX, the County team and participant’s parents and acted as the perfect opportunityBBQ to bond and speak to members about their experiences in HSX.

Our next training weekend, will see the team head to North Wales in October. We still have spaces for participants so if you would like to know more you can find an information pack here or apply to become a participant.

HSX Cambodia Leader Team.

 

 

HSX Cambodia – Location, Location, Location

The HSX Cambodia Expedition will spend a total of four weeks in country undertaking three main tasks; a community project, an adventurous trek and culture touring. We have highlighted our favourite places we will be visiting below.

Siem Reap  

“Siem Reap is a fast-growing city with plenty of new hotels, restaurants and Angkor Watnightclubs. But chances are, you’re here not because of the city itself, but for what’s nearby: amazingly well-preserved ancient temples” Trip Advisor

This is exactly what we will be doing in Siem Reap; home to the famous Angkor Temples we shall be fully immersing ourselves in the local culture and way of life.  It will not be until the end of our trip that we visit this area, but the old saying is best till last… Whilst within the city the participants will have the chance to explore and get to know more about the local people through our links with the Cambodia Scouts. We will be undertaking the local ‘temple challenge’ which adds an element of adventure and competition to visiting the temples.

Phnom Pehn

“Cambodia’s capital can be an assault on the senses. Markets exude pungent Phnom Penhscents; and all the while the sounds of life, of commerce, of survival, reverberate through the streets. But this is all part of the attraction” Lonely Planet

Our first stop in Cambodia is Phnom Pehn and this seems fitting given its title as capital of Cambodia. During our first initial days in country the team will have the chance to explore the city with the leaders and get their first taste of travel and expedition life. We will be visiting the Royal Palace and National Museum which we believe is vital for our participants to learn and be knowledgeable about during the trip.

Cardamom MountainsCardamom Mountains

The Cardamom Mountain range appears in the South West of Cambodia and borders of Thailand with the highest peak being Phnom Aural and standing at 1,813 metres high. The largely inaccessible range formed one of the last strongholds of the Khmer Rouge, driven out by Vietnamese forces during the Cambodian–Vietnamese War. Tourism is relatively new to the Cardamom Mountains which is great for us as it provides the expedition team with a chance to see a real wilderness and how it compares to some of the UK’s mountain ranges but also some rare wildlife. This region will be home to us for six days as we undertake our trek.

 SihanoukvilleSihanoukville Beach

Surrounded by white-sand beaches and undeveloped tropical islands, Sihanoukville is one of Cambodia’s most sought after destinations. Named in honour of the then head-of-state, Sihanoukville was hacked out of the jungle in the late 1950s to create Cambodia’s first and only deep-water port. To the team it will be our Christmas venue! Spending some much needed time after the trek relaxing and having some down time. The team will have the opportunity to go swimming, snorkelling and tuck into the not so traditional fresh fish cooked on an open BBQ for Christmas dinner.

 

Cambodia will offer everyone on the expedition a chance to indulge themselves in local culture, visit rare and beautiful locations, generating memories that will last a lifetime. For your chance to be involved and become a participant click here: http://goo.gl/forms/8OV6pVz2Ku