by Ian | Feb 26, 2013 | Training
Ad+Venture is here again promising to be another great trip to the Lake District.
Open to all Hampshire Explorers and Network (subject to availability), this is your opportunity to find out what HSX is all about.
Typical activities include hiking, climbing, wild camping, abseiling, navigation, mountain leadership skills and of course some QSH (quality shopping hours).
We will be leaving on Thursday 28th March and returning 1st April.
Staying indoors at Great Towers, Windermere.
The cost will be £140 for HSX members and £170 for non members.
HSX members please use this google form to sign up.
Non-HSX members should use the above form, plus drop David, the event organiser an email here: davidh-e@hotmail.co.uk
Deadline for this is 3rd March to give time to book minibuses etc.
by Ian | Feb 18, 2013 | Training, Trip Report
Every February half term HSX head of to Scotland for a winter skills week and this year is no exception…. We’ve had this great photo sent down for us all to enjoy what they are…. Just a bit jealous as I right this in Southampton… 🙂
by Ian | Feb 1, 2013 | Trip Report
This year for our January Training Weekend saw us visit Dartmoor for the first time in a while for our ML focused weekend. The rain had been coming down hard all week, so expectation weren’t high for a sunny weekend in Devon.
23 of us travelled down (13 Nepal Expedition Team Members, 3 Ferny Crofts Bursars & 7 HSX Members) to be based out of the Tavistock Scout Hut which like all Scout huts seemed to come out of the same mould (picture a scout hut, it looked like that).
Saturday morning after an epic breakfast and a Mountain Rescue lecturette from Richard Batstone the Nepal team headed out for an overnighter starting from Two Bridges very close to Dartmoor Prison, which looks very oppressive from the outside. They were heading North for a few kilometres before camping out overnight.
The Bursars went on some Micro Navigation Skills Training with Dave, Rich Brimelow & Chris Laws. The rest of us headed up to Okehampton camp to take in the scenic North Moor.
Sunday we swapped over and met the Nepal team from their very wet overnight camp, luckily only one tent got flooded throughout the night, unluckily it was the leaders tent!!! Bad Luck chaps…
All in all a good weekend, thanks to Steve Knaggs for organising..
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 | Nov 7, 2012 | News, Training
Hi all,
Christmas is fast approaching and with it the annual HSX Adventure Race, Christmas meal and forum!
The Christmas weekend will be Saturday 22nd – Sunday 23rd December. We’ll be in the lodge at Ferny Crofts and the weekend will be kicking of with the Adventure Race on Saturday morning. The Christmas meal will be on Saturday evening followed by the forum on Sunday morning.
The Adventure Race will have classes for first-timers and veterans. Prizes for winners… Celebrate in the evening and come along to the forum on Sunday to find out what HSX will be doing over the coming year and how you can be involved.
Cost of the weekend is £20. If you can only make it to the meal then the cost is £5.
If you’re interested in coming along and you haven’t had the official email from me, then please email info@HSX.org.uk
Thanks
Richard Batstone
Event Director
by Ian | May 1, 2012 | Training, Trip Report
Day One
The Bursars, Russ and Slattergator travelled up early Thursday in the Russ bus we left just before 5am! The early start gave us an enjoyable afternoon walking up Skiddaw and then we found a little man with ice creams on the way down. Later in the day we met up with the other Torneo that contained the Nepal team plus Hannah, Besty and Chris Laws.
That evening due to a slight hiccup in the accommodation we had fish and chips for dinner, we then got to Great Tower where due to the hiccup we were to spend the night on the floor in the ecology room (luckily they had new mattresses for us to sleep on). Before we splet though Ollie (Event Director) and the other drivers did spend some time planning the next day whilst the Nepal team and Bursars explored the site – for many of us our first trip Great Tower.
Besty, Hannah and Chris Laws made a good choice by opting to sleep out overnight, rather than sleeping in a room with 20 other people. Everyone else arrived late that night – we did all switch to HSX time (1hr forward to make the most of the daylight hours).
Day Two
Breakfast was at 7:30 – two brioche (different shapes) and a cereal bar as there was no where to cook. We then split down into three groups – Multi pitch, Walking & Nepal team. The multi pitch team went to the Langdale Valley and climbed up near Stickle Tarn, for some it was our first multi pitch, so we mainly concentrating on gear placements. The walking group met the three over nighters (apparently Chris still snores) and did a 12km walk up Hellvelyn. For theNepalteam this was their first group activity to Bowfell.
That night we moved into Windermere lodge where after dinner in preparation for his ML Assessment Steve Knaggs gave a talk on flora and fauna. Educating us on everything from symbiotic relationships to Parmelia Saxatilis.
Day Three
The Nepal team plus a few others went single pitch climbing, for some their first experience of real rock. Three Bursars plus Dave went for some more multi pitch – because of Steve’s talk we were able to identify the moss we were trying to climb over. Steve and Mike had an epic day’s scrambling. Alan, Besty, Chris Laws and Rich Batstone did a section of the Bob Graham Round. This left a few of the others to summit Scafell Pike. That evening we had roast dinner – it was good.
In the evening we socialised with other network members – getting to bed at an unreasonable hour.
Day Four
TheNepalteam went for another walk to the old man of Coniston. Stu demonstrated how well waterproof trousers foam if you forget to rinse them and it rains. He must be congratulated on actually wearing them as opposed to getting soaked with your trousers nice and dry in your bag.
Ian, Jeremy and Rich Brimelow went mountain biking.
The climbing group did the piece of classic rock “Little Chamonix”. If the wind blows and your gear falls out it suggests more work is needed on placements.
Joe did a talk about rope work for his ML and how important the over hand knot is, brilliant laugh practicing different types of abseils inside.
Day Five
The journey home – started unreasonably early, 6am in fact.
By Rosemary..
