Let it glow

I thought I'd try something new and do a bit of a product review for this blog post - let me know what you think!

The luminAID is a solar-powered, waterproof, inflatable light. You can pack it flat, but when inflated it morphs into a powerful lightweight lantern. It recharges in the sun, and it's ideal for having fun outdoors or as a tent light, or even to keep at home in case of a power cut.

It was originally designed by two Columbia University architecture graduates to help victims of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. It's since been distributed to other disaster-struck areas, with one of its main benefits being its small size. For the same space as eight normal torches, 50 luminAIDs can fit into a box to provide light to communities and individuals. They allow people to feel safer at night, and able to read or continue to study, even in awful circumstances.

I bought one myself after a fellow TL (Rob - follow his blog) showed me his whilst we shared a tent at our last training week in Lichfield. It was awesome. I usually end up trying to attach my headtorch to the roof of the tent and can only illuminate one corner of the tent, or keep it on my head and accidentally lose it whenever I take my jumper off. Okay realistically it's not that much of an issue.. but a luminAID makes people very happy when they can easily just turn a light on when it's pitch black, plus it saves on precious headtorch battery.

When we're in Zanskar, we won't be able to charge batteries (other than essential ones like those in our YellowBricks etc. from solar panels), so it's reassuring to know that the luminAID can just recharge itself by hanging off my rucksack for a day in the sun. I'll be taking mine on my upcoming canoeing trip across Scotland, so I'll let you know how it fares!

Visit the LuminAID website

I bought mine for around £14 online, but you can also buy them through the luminAID website and contribute to the Give Light, Get Light program. By paying slightly more, you'll help donate lights to individuals who will greatly benefit from a safe, rechargeable light source. It's a similar program to the Toms One for One model. luminAID is currently supporting the victims of the recent earthquake in Nepal, so they've added a Nepal option to the Give Light, Get Light program. Check out their recent blog post on the situation here.

Overall, it's pretty nifty (don't think I've ever used the word nifty before..) and it's a perfect present for that weird outdoorsy person in your life.

Go buy one!

(p.s. I'm not even sponsored by luminAID, I'm just obsessed..)
(p.p.s. please sponsor me, luminAID!)

Explore Ladakh (without leaving your sofa)

For this blog post, I thought I'd use some cool satellite images to make it more interesting and to show you the region we'll be exploring during the expedition.

If you're reading this thinking "what expedition?", take a look at this post: What's this blog all about?

We'll be approaching our base camp from Leh, along the Pensi La. Type 'Pensi La' (La means 'pass' in Tibetan) into Google Earth or Bing Maps and do some exploring of your own from the comfort of your sofa! (A great excuse for procrastination for those of you revising for exams..).

I love maps. Stuff like this makes me very happy indeed. (So does this, but that's not really relevant..)

The overall region we'll be in is Ladakh - as you can see, this region is in the sticky-outy bit (v. technical term) at the top of India, with Pakistan close by to the west, China to the North and the Tibetan Plateau to the east. We'll fly from Delhi to Leh, where we'll spend a few days acclimatising and sourcing food and equipment to take with us to base camp.

We’ll then approach base camp via the Pensi La (the Pensi Pass), which is nicknamed the ‘Gateway to Zanskar’. It connects the Suru valley (NW of Zanskar) to the Zanskar valley region, which is where we'll be exploring. The region is a high altitude desert, with many glaciers and un-summited peaks.

You can see the Durung Drun glacier flowing NNE from the bottom/centre of the image. Hopefully we’ll spend some time on this glacier (and others) measuring melt rates at different points on the glacier, its retreat rate, and take some ice cores. It’ll require technical skill negotiating our way onto and over the glaciers, so by the end of the expedition the whole team will be pretty proficient at ice axe and crampon use (hopefully we won't still be tripping over our own feet every couple of steps and ripping holes in our waterproof trousers!). The TL team will do some recces whilst the rest of the team makes their way up to Basecamp and acclimatises. We’ll explore the area for dangerous places to avoid, good tracks to follow and safe places to cross rivers. We’ll also have a good chance of seeing some of the varied fauna of the Zanskar, before scaring everything away with our presence before the other fires reach them!

The exact final location of our Basecamp is still undecided, as it'll depend on the ground when we arrive and what looks best. Our ~5 day expeditions out from Basecamp will explore the surrounding region - and these will be decided properly once we're out in country.

It's all getting very real and our flights are drawing ever closer... only 11 weeks, 5 exams, 1 half-marathon and a canoe trip across Scotland to go!

Thank you! Bursary from the Sir James Knott Trust

I've just received an incredibly generous bursary from the Sir James Knott Trust!

The Trust is an independent, grant making, charitable trust based in Newcastle upon Tyne in the north east of England. Sir James Knott was a shipping magnate and politician in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Since 1990, the Trust has made nearly 8,000 grants totaling over £25 million, many of them to charities known to have been of keen interest to Sir James Knott, who was a keen philanthropist.

Accepting the bursary requires me to write an expedition report when I get home, which I'll also be publishing on this blog and sending to everyone who's donated money to fund my expedition.

I've been overwhelmed by the help I've been receiving with my fundraising - I'm so grateful!