Belize 2011 – Date change
New Sponsors On Board for Peru
We are pleased to announce 2 new sponsors who are kindly offering their support to our Peru team. Many thanks for your generosity.
For any other sponsorship enquiries, we would be delighted to hear from you – hsxonline(at)gmail(dot)com
Sunny Scotland 2010
The annual HSX Scotland trip this year had 35 people in total attending which included the Peru team as part of their UK based training for the expedition this summer.
This year was full of snow and cold conditions as low as -12ºc, The first two days of the trip were filled with essential winter mountaineering skills to help them get through the week. The third and fourth day was spent building a snow hole from scratch then testing them out by cooking and sleeping in them for a night. The fifth day of the trip was another practical training day on snow and ice climbing techniques that were then put into good use over the next couple of days as the Peru team leaders took them climbing in breathtaking Scottish scenery.
Over the week HSX members climbed Ben Macdui (1,309m) and Cairngorm (1,245m). Also people went Skiing, Dry tool climbing, swimming completed Mambo’s Direct and visited John O’ Groats.
By Phil Nutbeam
HSX head to Snowdonia
HSX set off for North Wales on Friday 22nd Jan, we made good time at untill we arrived and couldn’t find the keys. An opportunity for a quick doze while Dave set off to Anglesey to find them.
I had drawn the short straw with the bursars and ended up with the sofa for sleeping on – wish it had a guard rail as I fell off both nights!
After getting to bed at 02:30, Saturday saw us get up early and after breakfast two groups set off for the Ogwen Valley, one heading up through the Devil’s Kitchen and the other doing Heather Terrace on Tryfan, whilst a third group headed for Snowdon. We hiked most of the day on the hills managing to find some patches of snow, for quite a few of the Peru team it was the first time in Snow boots.
In the evening we headed back to the lodge in Capel Curig for a tasty evening meal prepared by Brimlow and helpers, most of them crashed early as I tried to re acquire the sofa!
Sunday saw the Peru team head off for PT round the Lake at Snowdon, another team went off for a hike up Moel Siabod, a few of us went to find some bouldering but it was too wet so ?Rhys and I went off to Plas Y Brenin the outdoor centre to do some indoor bouldering whilst Besty and burser Tom went for a run up tryfyn.
After Lunch and a clear up we left for Hampshire. A good fun weekend enjoyed by all.
Mark How
HSX set off for North Wales on Friday 22nd Jan, we made good time at untill we arrived and couldn’t find the keys. An opportunity for a quick doze while Dave set off to Anglesey to find them.
I had drawn the short straw with the bursars and ended up with the sofa for sleeping on – wish it had a guard rail as I fell off both nights!
After getting to bed at 02:30, Saturday saw us get up early and after breakfast two groups set off for the Ogwen Valley, one heading up through the Devil’s Kitchen and the other doing Heather Terrace on Tryfan, whilst a third group headed for Snowdon. We hiked most of the day on the hills managing to find some patches of snow, for quite a few of the Peru team it was the first time in Snow boots.
In the evening we headed back to the lodge in Capel Curig for a tasty evening meal prepared by Brimlow and helpers, most of them crashed early as I tried to re acquire the sofa!
Sunday saw the Peru team head off for PT round the Lake at Snowdon, another team went off for a hike up Moel Siabod, a few of us went to find some bouldering but it was too wet so ?Rhys and I went off to Plas Y Brenin the outdoor centre to do some indoor bouldering whilst Besty and burser Tom went for a run up tryfyn.
After Lunch and a clear up we left for Hampshire. A good fun weekend enjoyed by all.
Mark How
HSX do the Brecons
HSX do the Brecons, by Chris Slater
Last weekend saw HSX head off to the Brecon Beacons for a fun filled weekend out in the hills! The weekend was a really busy one with 31 people heading up including the Peru Team and Mark and David from the Malawi team. Staying for the first time at the Glasbury-on-Wye Scout Hut, the HSX members slept inside on the floor of the hut next to the fire evicting the Peru team outside to sleep under canvas in the garden.
Saturday saw us divide into 5 teams, Smudge, Brimelow, Christian and Batstone headed off to do some climbing leaving the remaining 4 groups to tackle the Brecon Beacons. Starting from the village of Pencelli my group consisting of Lawso, Rhys, Hayley and Bursar Anton also joined by Dave?s half of the Peru team we scaled the dizzy heights of Fan-Y-Big, Cribyn and Pen-Y- Fan. The remaining two groups started the same route from the opposite end with the aim to meet half way to swap keys for the Tornados. After a great start of Lawso leaving his walking boots in the Tornado heading to the opposite end of our route we were soon on our way. Part way round we stopped for a half hour of kite flying shenanigans in the relatively blowy conditions (with Dave narrowly avoiding slamming the kite into the back of Anton?s head!!!). On our descent from Fan-Y-Big we met the other two groups swapping keys and hearing of Bursar Tom leaving his waterproof jacket in his tent (Muppet!). The day was topped off with a quick trip into Brecon for some QSH?s before heading back to the hut to cook dinner (we missed not having Russ!!!).
After dinner we were entertained by Everest Dave attempting a first attempt at traversing the wooden beams in the roof, complete with thermarest crash mats below for safety naturally. Not to lose face Bram soon scrambled up to have a go followed by Rhys, Bertie and McNab. Being Halloween we brought the obligatory pumpkin to carve, I took it upon myself to handle this important job, but was soon relegated to scooping out the insides, Bram just couldn?t stand seeing someone else having fun!!!
Sunday morning started off very wet, but in HSX we?re not put off by a bit of rain so we headed back out into the hills, with one group off to practice micro-nav, another group off for a 10km run and the Peru team off to do some PT after an epic drive to get to a waterfall. Luckily my group, off to do micro-nav manage to stay dry with the rain stopping as soon as we got to our destination. We all reconvened at the hut shortly before lunch to tidy up and have some grub before hitting the M4 for the homeward journey.
Oh and if Katie is reading this I?m still waiting for my cup of Tea!!!
Malawi Expedition – Trip report
Below we have a few word from Expedition Member David Cribb. Pictures coming soon.
Well, I think in general we had a pretty good expedition. Now that we?re all back in the UK and most of the group has gone back to work or college or school, we?re often seeing things that remind us of our time in Malawi, still making jokes made in Malawi and genuinely happy that we saw this trip advertised 21 months ago.
The training, I think we all agree was essential, and the 18 months prior to Malawi made sure that we all got to know each other, work as a functioning team and generally improve on all the skills we would need out in Africa. By the end of the training we were much better prepared for expedition that we were at the beginning. When we finally touched down in Malawi we were as best prepared as we could be.
Our first impressions of Malawi were the views from the minibus from the airport. We could instantly see that this was very unlike the country we had just left behind, and the talk from DFID in the British High commission really opened our eyes to what this country was really like. When we left the fairly modern capital of Lilongwe on our route down to Songani & Makwawa we further saw what the country was like, with mud huts all along the road.
Our time at Makwawa will be one of our main memories of the trip, building the school along with the Malawian scouts really helped us to get an idea of what life for some of the people out there was like. By the end of the 2 weeks we had also made good friends with the Malawian scouts and we?re all still in touch with them now. Overall our time at Makwawa was highly fun and we managed to experience bits of Malawi, such as haggling, with a hands on approach in places like Zomba Market.
The other two main Projects in Michuru and Blantyre were also highly exciting, whether it was fighting fires, building thatch roofs, watching hyenas or seeing a traditional Malawian dance. Once again we managed to experience different aspects of Malawi whilst still all enjoying ourselves.
One of the other exciting moments was our ascent of Mt. Mulanje. I don?t think many of us had done any mountain climbing of a similar standard to that before, the closest some of us had perhaps got to was the Lake District or Snowdonia. It was a challenging few days but eventually 5 of team Malawi made it to the top.
One thing the entire group was looking forward to right from the beginning of the trip was the Safari at Liwonde National Park. We were lucky enough to see Elephants, Kudu, Water buck, Hippos, Impala?and Crocodiles on a Jeep, Canoe and motor boat safari.
We were also looking forward to our time on Lake Malawi. Whilst staying at Nanchengua (sp?) Lodge we able to hire a catamaran and a speed boat and spend a few hours snorkelling and swimming in the waters surrounding an uninhabited island. We were also able to do some banana boating in the afternoon.? We then moved on to Cape Maclear where, after kayaking across lake Malawi to get to it, we spent a few days on the uninhabited Domwe Island relaxing, learning how to catch fish with only a Mosquito net and a barrel, beating Joe?s time in climbing Domwe Island and learning how to scuba dive.
Towards the end of the trip we began looking forward to home, but then at the same time began thinking about all the things we would miss, the friendliness of the Malawian people, the wonderful landscape, the unique Malawian food (yum Nsima!). The last two nights in the country at Fat Monkeys and back at Mabuya Lodge were spent reminiscing about our 6 weeks and figuring out the best bits to put into the presentation.
Another long journey back to the UK involving a 2:00 flight from Lilongwe, a 5 hour stop in Nairobi and an 8 hour flight back to London Heathrow and we eventually made it back to the UK. 24 hours later, with presentation rapidly prepared we were giving our presentation to friends, family, sponsors and HSX.
A wonderful 6 weeks and an excellent expedition!
Just a few thank yous, I?d like to thank the rest of the team for their company, teamwork and help over the last 21 months and for making the trip as good as it was, Especially Matt, Joe and Emily, the Expedition Leaders who ensured that everything was organised so that we could have a great trip.
I?d also like to thank HSX for initially organising the trip and supporting us throughout our training and expedition.
Finally I?d like to thank all the corporate sponsors and everyone that donated towards the trip because without the money, we wouldn?t have been able to do anything of the amazing things we eventually achieved.
David Cribb