by Ian | Apr 2, 2013 | Nepal 2013, News
The Nepal 2013 are delighted to announce that they have been selected as one of seven finalist to take part in this years “Adventure Blog” run by Swedish company, Light My Fire (off of Spork fame!).
The team saw off stiff completion from other budding adventurers from across the globe, being selected from over 100 entrants.
As part of their sponsorship deal the expedition team will be documenting their adventure on the Light My Fire website, uploading pictures and reports from their training weekends, as well as during the expedition itself. This is a great opportunity for the team to show off to a global audience what exciting things the Scouting movement is up to and, more importantly, what HSX is all about… Adventure!
During the remainder of our the expedition programme the team will be road testing a range of Light My Fire products.
You can follow the teams progress at http://www.lightmyfire.com/adventure-blog.aspx.
A huge well done to Rosemary Harrison who helped to organised this.
by Ian | Feb 20, 2013 | Nepal 2013
Hello from the Nepal Team!
After four action packed days in the Cairngorms the team is grabbing a well earnt break this afternoon, enjoying the sites and sounds of Aviemore!
So far we been kept busy learning Ice Axe skills, self-arrests, crampon skills and snowholing techniques. This has been made all the more enjoyable in the sunny alpine conditions and good snow conditions. The views have been fantastic and everybody picked up the skills very quickly and are now confident. Chris, Ollie and Joe were put through their paces with Harold, our trusted Mountain Guru, who signed off their technical competency in winter conditions.
Yesterday we spent the day walking up to Coire Domhain where we spent 4.5 hours labouring to dig our home for the night. All enjoyed their first snowholing experience with clear skies at night, giving an excellent view of the moon and stars over the cairngorm plateau. Awaking to a white-out, the team succesfully navigated off the plateau via 1141 and down Fiacall a Coire Cass before returning to Badaguish for soup, tea and a kick about.
by Ian | Jan 5, 2013 | Nepal 2013
HSX Christmas weekend – 21st to 23rd December 2012
Friday
The weekend started with 10 members of the Nepal team packing bags for Tesco customers in Marchwood. It was busy and hard work, but well worth it as we raised over £500 for the Nepal trip.
Things started to quieten down around 6:30 so we took the decision to head to Ferny Crofts where Alan and Tom had prepared a delicious chilli con carne for us. Chris Laws and Rich turned up just in time for dinner, having been out in the pouring rain setting out the control points for Saturday’s adventure race.
After dinner we counted the bag packing money, and there was lots of time to catch up with everyone.
Saturday
The HSX members who hadn’t arrived on the Friday night arrived around 9.30ish ready for the traditional annual adventure race. Keeping up with tradition – the rain continued to pour! Fortified by Alan and Rich’s bacon butties, the Nepal team joined up with the other HSX members and we gathered our teams in the Lodge.
At 9.50 the maps and punch cards were given out to each team then the teams had 10 minutes to plan a route and be ready at the cattle grid at the entrance of ferny crofts.
The race started at 10:00 by the cattle grid. The aim was to get around the course as quickly as possible, punching the card at each point. The flags were really hidden carefully, and surprisingly difficult to find considering they are bright orange! There were two categories Veterans for those harden adventure racers and the Newbies, designed for those of us who had never entered a race before: The results where as follows;
Veterans
| 1st |
Alex |
Kedge |
| 2nd |
Ian |
Tom R |
| 3rd |
Alan |
Tom P |
Newbies
| 1st |
Sam |
Steve |
| 2nd |
Louis |
Andy |
| 3rd |
Clare |
Josh |
In the afternoon the Nepal team cooked Christmas dinner for 35 people. The starters were deep fried prawns with salad, Pate and salad and Mexican soup with a roll. Main course was a choice of Turkey or Pork with vegetables, roast potatoes and all the trimmings. This was followed by chocolate mousse, a variety of cheesecakes and Christmas pudding. Not many of us had cooked on mass before so everyone doing a little bit towards each meal got the job done. When deciding if the meat was cooked Josh said “it’s still frozen” which was impossible because it had just come out of a very hot oven…..he thought the label on the meat bag was ice- this made us all laugh!!!
Then after dinner there was a quiz kindly set by Alex and Kedge, which was in turn followed by a few games. The games included: “the card board box” game, “table bouldering” game and lastly – “lift someone off the floor whilst they are lying on their back” game.
Sunday
The Nepal team got up for a 7.30 PT session in which they all had to hold onto a pioneering pole whilst running and doing other challenges, including crossing a bog! This helped team work because we all had to communicate with each other to do each challenge. After commando crawling up a hill we were all caked in mud.
This was followed by the HSX Christmas forum during which new people were elected for each position e.g. chairman and event directors. For some of us it was our first time sitting in on the forum so it was really useful to find out about how HSX is run, and what happens behind the scenes to make the fantastic expeditions happen. It looks like there are some amazing trips planned for the future so watch this space!
The weekend was rounded off with the Nepal team doing a presentation for their parents, informing them of what they have achieved so far this year.
Thanks to everyone for a fantastic weekend – Happy New Year,
Clare
by Ian | Nov 11, 2012 | Nepal 2013, News, Training, Trip Report
So it was that time of year again for HSX to visit North Wales and the beautiful landscapes of Snowdonia, leaving at the standard time of 1800 (on the dot! very uncommon for a HSX trip) from Hampshire and heading for the Cornel Scout Centre near Trefriw; half an hour’s drive from Betws-y-Coed.
Arriving weary after the six-hour drive, the group went to bed with anticipation for a good weekend’s worth of climbing and walking to satisfy the appetite. The next morning after a spot of brekkie, two groups were formed; the climbing contingent headed up by Dave, and the Nepal lot that were to take on Mount Snowdon via the Watkins Path during the morning, with a few Quality Shopping Hours later on. Both teams headed to the same place to begin the day, with the Nepal team splitting down the middle and meeting up for lunch later on. At this point it is worth mentioning that the team I was in, although ascending the steeper route to the summit, actually managed to make it before the other team and so can claim victory! After a quick photo opportunity on the summit (not wanting to spend too long there due to the vast crowds brought there by the steam train and the attraction of a warm visitor’s centre!) we had lunch and watched the clouds lift to expose the summit (which only a few months earlier saw Sir Chris Bonington emotionally carry the Olympic Flame to the summit during the torch relay on an amazing cloudless day). After saying farewell we descended the mountain with a sense of achievement; Snowdon being the first mountain for some members of the group and the first taste of dizzy euphoria that you experience when summiting mountains. It is hoped that all the members of Nepal 2013 will get to experience this on a grander scale when summiting Island Peak next year, which gave me this greatest feeling back in 2007 at the age of 16.
After reaching the car park again, the time was now to wait for the climbers to arrive back, which took too long, so the group (minus Rosemary and Rich) went to Betws-y-Coed for some shopping and a cup of tea. This was a slight mistake, since Rich had the lodge key, which we of course didn’t realise until we couldn’t open the door, so had a long wait outside until they arrived. We then had a very pleasant evening meal of caribbean chicken with rice very exotic and were given a presentation by the Nepal 2013 team on the effects of altitude on the body and what they might expect when going to the Himalayas.
The next morning, Nepal 2013 left on foot from Cornel with the aim of taking in the Summit of Crimpau, where awesome views of Snowdon, Tryfan and the Carneddau could be seen, topped off by excellent weather and equally excellent company. The group then stopped for a while to learn about the flora and fauna of Snowdonia, micro-nav and rope-work before heading back to Cornel lodge (‘cough cough’ on time… ‘cough’) and prepared for the journey back to Hampshire in our new team attire, tired but content.
Thanks…
Ollie Robinson..
by Ian | Oct 29, 2012 | Expeditions, Nepal 2013
Sam Howe, from the Nepal 2013 team thought he’d take this opportunity to update everyone on our progress to date.
So far we have 12 Explorer Scouts signed up to the expedition, coming together from all across Hampshire. We are well underway with our 18 month, pre-expedition training programme, having attended three weekends at the Ferny Crofts Scout Activity Centre. These weekends have helped us to develop as a team and have taught us some very useful skills we will need to use when in the Himalayas.
On the first weekend in May we met each other for the first time, undertaking a number of activities to test our team work and communication skills, as well as being fully introduced to our leader team. In June we we helped out at the Ferny Crofts open day by cooking burgers and sausages on the BBQ. Other activities during the weekends have included climbing, high ropes and hiking during the day or night.
On each of the weekends we have had PT sessions, helping us to improve our fitness, which is very important f0r us to make sure that we acclimatize comfortably and enjoy the experience of trekking in the mountains.
My highlight of the training so far was the survival camp when we were given a scenario. We had to walk to check points in the New Forest, where we did various activities like learning about First Aid or using flags to communicate to each other. It has been a very enjoyable experience so far and I am looking forward to the rest of the training we will have.
Keep posted for more information about our training weekends.
Sam Howe
by Ian | Feb 25, 2012 | Nepal 2013
Hi Everyone,
So the leader team are currently busy recruiting Explorers to participate in the upcoming Nepal in 2013 expedition. We’ve done a number of presentations to explorers across the county to promote this exciting opportunity but if we haven’t managed to get to your unit here’s the low down!
The expedition will consist of a 6 weeks in Nepal undertaking a range of activities including:
- A community development project with the Himalayan Trust, founded by Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to summit Everest in 1953.
- Trek to Mont Everest Base Camp
- Climb Kala Pattar, a 5,545m peak on the opposite side of the Khumbu Glacier to Base Camp see the sun rise behind Everest
- The opportunity to climb Island Peak, a 6,189m snow-capped peak
Interest? For more information HSX are holding a presentation into the expedition in the Sky High Conservatory at Ferny Crofts, at 11am on Sunday 4th March. We look forward to seeing you there!!!
Can’t make it? No worries. For more information contact expedition leader Chris Slater at chris.slater@hsx.org.uk and he’ll send you all the information you need.
