Tremendous trekking

So…in the last four days field base has been a very busy place. Ruks, our host country Project Manager, has been working with us all. Ruks is the director for the National Adventure Foundation in Karnataka state in Mysore. The National Adventure Foundation is an organisation running all kinds of different activities all over India. Ruks is an Adventure Sports Instuctor for Karnataka and she has loads of experience running activities like rock climbing, trekking, rafting and parasailing. Ruks works with children and young people from all different communities and backgrounds to teach them about adventure activities and also works with groups on cultural exchange. It’s great to have Ruks on the team, she’s providing us with lots of tips and knowledge about Indian culture and the activities we’ll be doing on the adventure phase.

Above: Jocelyn (our photograher), Margaret (logistics) and Ruks (PM) plotting a trek route.

We’ve been doing loads of training this week to prepare the PMs and field base staff for the arrival of the venturers. We’ve covered loads of really useful stuff that will be passed on to the venturers for when they are out on their projects. On Monday we went through navigation, satellite phones and plotting routes…lucky we did that as Tuesday was the start of trek training.

After plotting out our trek route during training, on Tuesday morning all the staff split up in to Alpha 1 and Alpha 2, and got all their it together for the trek. It’s amazing how much you need for one night! Quite a few of the PMs looked like snails with their huge back packs on!

Above: Alpha 2 trek group just before setting off.


Above: on the way to the camp site.

The troops trotted off on their first trek. Luckily Amanda taught us navigation skills so well that we all managed not to get lost (phew). We even managed to avoid having to use our casivac (casualty evacuation) and medivac (medical evacuation) procedures! What an achievement! We tested our radio skills keeping field base updated regularly and we learnt quickly what to keep at the tops of our bags (Miriam ate lunch out of the packet as her mess tin was buried at the bottom). It was great for us all to get out of field base and see a bit of Mysore. We all managed to arrive at our camp site for the night in one piece complete with all our kit.

Above: the view from the camp site

We all put up our tents, dug our slop pit (where you put all your left over food and tip your water after washing up), set up our cooking area and dug out our short drop (extremely luxury toilet). Once we’d set up Miriam and Anne gave us some more medical training (all our hearts do beat which is a relief!).

Above: digging (or watching) our luxury loo.

We had a great evening making dinner and sitting round the camp fire. M-J even bought the shop out to us so we had crisps and chocolate while doing a fun quiz. Fortunately for us it managed not to rain all evening. Unfortunately it tipped it down all night! We were in our cozy tents though and nice and dry. We woke up to the sound music from the temple on Chamundi Hill (that was if you weren’t already awake listening to the snoring!).

We set off yesterday morning as one big group. By the time we had packed our kit it’s fair to say we were all soaked through. It was definitely monsoon weather! We trekked up to the temple on Chamundi Hill but not via the 1000 steps this time and with 20kg back packs on! It was quite tough going in the driving rain but we were all triumphant when we reached the top.

When we did reach the top there were loads of people queuing to get in the temple, the queue stretched all the way around the top of the hill! It was quite a sight! We buddied up on the way back down the 1000 steps and made it safely to the bottom without any slippages. Speed (or lack of it) is definitely the key!

Above: the top of the hill and the queue!

Above: Rich (PM) at the top of the hill in the crowds!

There was no rest for the wicked when we got back to field base, it was a quick turn around and then out for the swim test for the PMs. We all trundled off in to town and completed the swim test in monsoon drizzle, to be honest it wasn’t like we weren’t all still soaked through from the trek any way!

Then, last night, this happened…

Lewis (PM)

Miriam (PM and medic)

But what is it all about?? Check back later to find out.

Keep the comments coming in, they are all being passed on to the staff. Once the venturers get here the blog will be a great way of their friends and family leaving messages too, these will all get passed on regularly to venturers and staff.