Tips for Expedition Season
With expedition season kicking off, we asked a few experienced expeditioners to share their tips, kit recommendations and most memorable moments.
Captain Simon Chaplin, Gwent and Powys ACF County Duke of Edinburgh Award Officer
Memorable expeditions?
My best expedition was a trip in 2019 to Everest Base Camp in memory of my mother who had passed away. A special moment during that trip was sitting with my son (a cadet at the time) at the base camp for Ama Dablam. Our Sherpa cook had prepared us a lunch of fresh bread, garlic soup and lemon tea, which we shared while overlooking snowy mountains.
Another memorable moment was from an Army Cadets expedition, The Open Gold, which took place at Otterburn Camp last October. The group I was overseeing had to divert their route due to fallen trees in a forest so we missed each other for a checkpoint. I returned to my vehicle to find a note saying: ‘Don’t worry we R still alive’, which made me chuckle and showed they could cope with anything.
Favourite Expedition/Camp Game?
A good game I’ve played with cadets to fill time at camp and help the team gel is ‘truth and lie’. One cadet picks someone they don’t know in the team, then takes them somewhere the rest of the group can’t hear their conversation and asks them for three statements about themselves: two that are true and one that’s a lie. They then rejoin the team and introduce their new friend, giving the three bits of information, and the group has to decide which is the lie.
Lt Gina Allsop, Sports Officer and Adventure Training Officer at Sussex ACF
Memorable Expeditions?
The first was DofE when I was 13, which gave me my first taste of adventure and freedom. The second was with the Army; I was in the Army ski team and went on the tour leaders’ course, where you go off-piste into back country. It was thrilling because we were going to places that people hadn’t been for weeks and cutting our own tracks. At one point, we got avalanched in and had to build a snow hole to sleep in before we could get ourselves out. That was character-building stuff!
Essential Kit?
If I’m doing a solo expedition, I always take my Garmin watch as it has all my maps and can also send a satellite signal if I fall or get stuck somewhere. I also take my phone, a spare pair of socks, a pack of cards and my favourite treat to boost energy levels and mood: a vegan ‘pork’ pie.
Advice for Cadets on Their First Expedition?
Enjoy it! It’ll be tough, but it’ll also be amazing. You’ll get to meet new people and build connections. Pack your kit well in advance and do some short trial walks beforehand with it, so you can make sure it’s comfortable.
Upcoming Expeditions?
At the end of April, I’m doing a Scotland 300, which starts with a 100-mile walk of the West Highland Way with all my full kit – on my own and unsupported. Then I’m jumping in a kayak and paddling down a glen, and then, when I get to Inverness, I’ll get on a bike and cycle another 100 miles back. It’s to raise money for ACCT المملكة المتحدة.
Gilly Moncur, SO3 Training Regional Command, and Diversity and Inclusion Adviser Scotland
Most Memorable Expedition?
Climbing Kilimanjaro, which we did over eight days – five days’ gradual climb to acclimatise, one day’s final steep ascent and two days of rapid descent to avoid altitude sickness. The last kilometre along the ridge was literally one step in front of the other, but being at the top (pictured – Gilly on left) was amazing. Our heads were swimming with the altitude, exertion and euphoria.
Tips For First Time Expeditioners?
Try to get your map-reading skills as good as they can be before you go. Apps like Ordnance Survey are great but if your phone battery runs out or there’s no signal, you still need to know where you’re going. Have the right maps to cover the whole of your expedition (I like 1:25,000 best for walking). Have a compass and know the basics of using it, and study the map beforehand to get a feel for the route and terrain.
What Kit do you Always Pack?
A different pair of footwear for evenings in the camp (usually trainers or Crocs) to give my feet a breather.
One of my personal luxuries is my map case, where I keep my maps and compass. It has a pocket for a pencil, an emergency whistle and a magnifying glass.
Good Expedition Games?
A good one that helps everyone get to know each other is to ask each person to show the latest photo on their phone and reveal to the group why it’s important to them.
Your Perfect Exped Snack?
A trail mix created from a packet of mixed fruit with cranberries and apricot, to which I add some mixed nuts and seeds. I try to avoid snacks with artificial sugars if I can, and this one provides lots of energy.
Lt Col Richard Phillips, Deputy Commandant Kent ACF
Memorable Expeditions?
One was a solo trip following the Chemin de la Liberte (Freedom Trail), a five-day mountainous trek across the central Pyrenees from France into Northern Spain. It was the route used by prisoners of war escaping to neutral Spain from German-occupied Europe during the Second World War. I saw very few people on the route, so maintaining my own safety was very important.
The second expedition was during a half-term in 2018 when I took my two daughters (then aged 12 and 14) on a self-guided trek traversing Hadrian’s Wall from Newcastle to Carlisle. It was fantastic to spend quality time with them and to complete an expedition I’d been trying to do, but which kept being postponed due to operational commitments. The girls were apprehensive at the start, but they talked about it as one of the best things they have ever done.
Advice to Cadets Going on their First Expedition?
Pack light! Take a look at everything in your rucksack and ask yourself if you really need it. The extra phone battery shouldn’t be necessary if the phone is just for emergencies. An electric toothbrush is a bit of a luxury that won’t be needed – just use a normal one. At the end of an expedition, I always ask cadets what they learnt, and they nearly all wish they’d packed lighter.
What Would you Never Go Without?
Lightweight flip-flops. After a long day of trekking, you need to give your feet some air.