I've just got back from a week of training up in Lichfield with the other TLs, the expedition Leaders, and the Young Explorers (YEs). It's been awesome meeting the YEs and seeing the Leaders again, and the excitement seems to be building up in everyone.
The TL team spent the first half of the week on an Expedition First Aid course, run by Lifesigns Group. The course has been developed by Royal Army Medical Corps Trauma Medics and outdoor instructors, so it's highly relevant to the Himalayan expedition and has prepared us well for any incidents that may occur. The skills we've learnt might mean the difference between life and death in the mountains - talk about pressure. Having said this, we'll have six medics with us in Ladakh who will take great care of us and be able to deal with whatever the mountains throw at us!
We learnt about what to do in case of suspected spinal injury, sucking chest wounds and catastrophic bleeding, among other things, and were tested in acted out scenarios. I spent one afternoon as a casualty lying on the floor outside with a fake arm wound and amputated hand, next to a fake snake whilst pretending to be unresponsive. I learnt a lot whilst seeing how the three different teams treated me and dealt with the situation.
We all passed the course, which will last us for three years before we'll need to retrain. Luckily the course also counts towards my Mountain Leader qualification, which I'm working towards at the moment.
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| Feeling cozy in the party tent! |
Friday was spent on a team walk around Cannock Chase, a beautiful area around our campsite. We planned our routes on Thursday evening and set off the next morning, taking a well earned detour to get ice creams on the way back!
The YEs all arrived on Friday evening, so a few of us took on the mammoth task of cooking for 170 people - no mean feat! It was great getting to know them all over the course of the weekend, particularly my 'fire', Dras. A fire is a traditional term for a small group of around 10-12 people, originating from a group sat around a camp fire. All of the fires on the expedition have been named after the main rivers in the Zanskar region of the Himalayas, which is where we'll be going. So there's Dras, Nubra, Zanskar, Chenab, Indus, Markha and Shyok-Suru fires.
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| The Zanskar Himalaya expedition team! |
The YEs all received training on the technical equipment we'll be using in India, the different options for shelter, health and hygeine, and other useful and interesting topics. I helped out with teaching about shelter, prompting conversations about shelter options in different scenarios and giving useful tips on putting up tents. We spent a lot of time sitting under the bright orange emergency survival shelters getting far too warm in the sunshine! During the expedition we'll have an extra communal tent for each fire, similar to a tipi, for us to sit in together and have dinner etc. when the weather's not great.
The TLs ran fitness sessions on Saturday and Sunday morning, running around a nearby hill fort and doing some yoga, as well as some 'wide games' on Saturday evening. We all had great fun playing Wizards, Dwarves and Giants (essentially a giant team game of rock paper scissors combined with tag) and Sardines in the dark, where we almost lost one of the sardines as they were so well hidden!
We also ran through the kit everyone will need to take, in a session that lasted over two hours, whilst wondering how on earth we're going to fit it all into our rucksacks! So much kit-envy, so many opinions, and so much down.
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| Some of the TL team at the end of the week - spot the odd one out with no down jacket.. From the left: Callum, Monty, Anna (me), Becca, Karl, Rob and Steph |
There are now only 13 weeks to go until the expedition! The advance party flies from London to Leh on the 17th of July - it's getting closer..
