“When it came to taking my gap year I had choices to make.  I wanted to spend some of the time travelling and experiencing new things, but as a student, I also had to think ahead and save some money for college.

 

In the end I decided on a Leading Edge expedition.  It gave me time to earn money, while I was busy planning for the expedition, the selection weekends and training.

   

I met other young people from across the UK and from different backgrounds that I don’t think I would ever have met otherwise.  We learned to appreciate each other’s skills and get along with each other in the hardest of circumstances.

We rock climbed, mountain biked, camped, canoed, caved, hill walked and pony trekked.  In the summer we headed out on expedition together.  The expedition lasted four weeks and that month changed my life”. 

[19-year-old student]

 

www.leadingedge.org.uk

The Dorset Expeditionary Society, which approves Leading Edge Expeditions ventures, is a registered charity that has seen over fifty major expeditions take place in the last nineteen years.  There are many different types of trips on offer each year, from climbing trips in South America, Canada and the Alps to building a school and health centre in Kenya.  There are also peer led trips – in 2005 these are going to Italy, Mexico and Peru. The Dorset Expeditionary Society is so keen to promote young leaders that they provide grants to members to allow them to undertake Young Leader’s courses.  More info is available at: www.gapyearexpeditions.org.uk

Every year the DES funds an expedition to Snowdonia for students from the Greenhill Centre of Weymouth College, and every year the determination, resilience and team working of these youngsters never fails to impress the Leaders and helpers. The following is Richard Blackwell’s account of the 2004 venture.

Sun! Glorious sun! What a treat after the horrendous weather of the previous year.

Day 1

As usual we head straight for Snowdon with nothing stronger than a gentle breeze, the Crib Goch ridge is a definite starter, and after 50 minutes we split up. Clive, John, Ben, David and Dan continuing along the Pyg track, the rest of us heading up the Crib Goch. Tim has a rope with him, but such is the confidence of the youngsters it is never put to use, and both Crib Goch and Crib y Ddysgl are quickly climbed. The groups meet up on the summit of Snowdon, and descend via the Watkin Path. At the col between Llewydd and Snowdon, Tim, Richard, Bill and Rachel head down the spur to Glas Lyn so that they can return via the Miners Track and collect the Minibus. We meet up at Nant Gwynantand, wash ourselves down in the river – better this than the freezing cold showers on the campsite!!

Day 2

The students have been promised an easier day. From the road to the summit of Tryfan is only one kilometre, but the steepness of that 1km is unrelenting. The north face of Tryfan is fun to climb in that however many times you do it, you are unlikely to ascend the same route twice. Numerous gullies, short slabs and false trails lie in wait, and David, Max, Julie and Nikki rush on ahead eagerly searching out the best route. Occasional push-ups and pull-ups are used to get Dan and Ben up the more difficult moves, but the rope is not required until close to the summit. Here a short exposed move has to be made up to a col, and soon after that there is an awkward slab, which in wet weather could be extremely testing. From the top of the slab the twin summit boulders of ‘Adam and Eve’ appear, and soon we are relaxing on the top watching a nervous climber jumping the gap between the two. The students have been encouraged to summit with the usual verbal nonsense which emanates from David the comments that 1) “All Lecturers are liars!” and 2) “Richard, you are pure evil!”

Day 3

In the morning, a delightful circular walk taking in the spectacular Aber Waterfalls, and higher up superb views of Anglesey and Puffin Island. As the College has a National Trust card we pay a visit to Penryn Castle, and round off the day with an abseil down a slate quarry at Padarn Country Park

The day of departure was a time for the students to reflect on their achievements. They have done wonderfully well. The Staff were particularly impressed by their team spirit. The way they helped and supported each other was quite remarkable. But, as usual, the last word lay with Ben.

“I would just like to say…………………….………....” and 15 minutes later we get on the bus for the return journey!!!!

Richard Backwell

Weather terrible. Will go to the Swan every Thursday with John H. Those evenings are marginally easier. Have tried to descend ridge but beaten back by ferocious winds. Forced onto my knees to avoid being blown off. Fortunately Ollie had set up a belay. Seemed like an eternity before I was able to retreat. How exhausted I feel. The wind is knocking me about like a bully in the playground. I crave the warmth of my sleeping bag. As I stumbled back to the camp I thought about Christopher and his mental strength on Mt Blanc. I miss him and I could hear his words of encouragement “Come on Budgy!” Mark and Ollie are talking to me but my responses and actions are very laboured. They are great companions.

Back at camp. The lenticular cloud hovering above the summit is ominous. Ollie insists we build higher ice walls. Cutting and carrying blocks of ice saps the last drop of energy. This is a beautiful but hostile world. This is the death zone and we all knew it.

The wind is hitting the tent like a sledgehammer. The tarp (shelter for cooking) is ripped to shreds and is flying around like some ghoul brought to life by the wailing wind. Occasionally the wind drops for a few moments and all is still. Could this be the end of the storm ? We wait knowing by now that this is just a brief lull. We are being toyed with. The wind gathers the troops for another assault. You can hear the commotion far away. And it comes screaming across the small plateau and smashes into our protective ice walls. Despite this protection, the tent rocks furiously and we force our bodies against the sides. The wind attacks from another angle shaking the tent. Shards of ice formed by our breath rain down on us. I should have gone on that SAGA coach trip to Skegness !

No one has been snoring. Ollie made the point that we haven’t slept. The storm and altitude see to that. We are running out of food, fuel and water. But we remain in good spirits. I wonder how the other teams are fairing. We are prisoners in a tent in sub zero temperatures. The walls of the tent and sleeping bags are lined with a film of ice. At any moment the tent could be ripped apart: fortunately we three have plenty of mental stamina.

The wind has finally breached the top layers of the walls. Urgent repairs needed. Getting out of sleeping bags and putting on gear is a slow painful process. I am really beginning to feel the effects of altitude and exhaustion. Ollie is already out. He’s very strong and in good shape. Mark is holding down the tent. Chaos outside. Bits of tent from other groups are flying around. Where are the occupants? The blocks of ice are as light as polystyrene. The wind has blown all the moisture out of them! How long could anyone survive outside in these conditions?

The storm has intensified. Ollie has been helping the ranger. The Spanish and Polish groups are in trouble. We accept a Spanish climber who is in bad shape. Now we are four. He greedily consumes a large amount of our precious water. Our new friend seems to me to be the size of a Spanish Pavarotti. He is coughing badly and is clearly in trouble.

We cannot accommodate our Spanish friend another day. Our own survival is on the line. We explain he must return to his expedition leader. He nods and leaves the tent vomiting. Back in the UK would we ever have contemplated such course of action ? There is a world of difference between armchair ethics and being up here in the teeth of a brutal storm. Nature was out to nail us all.

We are dehydrated, unable to melt snow for drinking water. My pee bottle contains all the evidence. What little there is of the foul smelling dark yellow liquid is clear indication that I can’t spend much longer at this altitude. It feels like I’m on a mixture of mind bending drugs. Lying here at this altitude is taking its effect upon my already exhausted body. Getting down the ridge back to the safety of Advanced Base Camp is on my mind, and, I’m sure, on Ollie’s and Mark’s.

I am told one month can change your life.  That's very true, but twenty seconds on top of a mountain can as well.

An even earlier start..up at 03.45, and out of the door and onto the bus at 05.00!! It was a fairly long and nervous bus ride to the base of the mountain, but again, an extremely beautiful one.  Cotopaxi is an active volcano (apparently due for an eruption...) and is an almost perfect cone shape.  It rises to a height of 5897m - a big mountain! 

We were all excited by the sight of it!  Those of us who were not climbing then piled out of the bus with one climber's kit in a full rucksack and a few kit bags with pots, pans, food and ropes and set off to the refuge.  I had been warned about this very short walk..it is at such high altitude that physical exertion is extremely exhausting, and it is all volcanic ash, so every step you take up, you slip back a little...so a walk that was about 3/4 mile took over an hour!  We got there though - just about.  In the refuge we laid out the climbers' sleeping bags and kit, and then cleaned all the pots and pans in the kit bags so that they would be able to use them later.  Once everything was prepared, we took a few photos of us and the peak (an incredible view from below - it towers over the refuge, but, at the same time, looks almost no distance away) and then headed back down to the bus and the rest of the group.  They then piled off the bus and, a few photos later, we waved them off as they set off to the refuge.  Those of us who were left and still feeling ok (2 of the non climbers were not feeling too good because of the altitude and so rode in the jeep) gathered our stuff together and jumped onto bikes and, quite literally, rode down the base of Cotopaxi!  Not many people can say they've done that, so it was just about accepted as a substitute to attempting to reach the summit... There is no point in hiding the fact that we were all upset not to be heading in the opposite direction with the others, but we had a good time and we'll be back to get to the top! 

Sarah Grey

Minto's - Pt. Lenana - Minto's

We were to start at 5am, so up at 4.15am.  Although  it didn't get as cold as it can do at Minto's, we certainly got some rain!  From 12am onwards it poured incessantly putting paid to most of our sleep.  When we peered out of the tent at 4am, the tent creaked with the weight of the snow that had covered it and the ground.

Richard was brave enough to venture out to the porters to see if we would still be able to go up.  Although he couldn't find them on his first attempt due to the mist, he did eventually  and we changed the schedule to leave at 6am.

Still cloudy, drizzling and cold, we clustered in our waterproofs to start the slow plod towards Pt. Lenana.  The porters looked much more relaxed without their heavy loads!  With soggy tents and still raining, Mick decided not to join us.

As we plodded up the valley the cloud dropped beneath us and we walked with views of the peaks and the cloud in the valley below. Reaching the end of the valley at the base of Pt. Lenana we started climbing steeply and it got a lot harder.  it was mostly steep scree and the thin air forced us to stop for breath regularly.

We climbed up into several hidden valleys and above pure icy mountain lakes.  The higher we climbed, the further we saw down to the cloud over Chogoria far below.  The last steep scramble took our minds off our legs, but the altitude kept us slow.

Finally we hauled ourselves, relieved and happy onto the summit.  Unfortunately the 30 minutes we spent at the top were shrouded in cloud, but we feasted on our snacks and had time for a group victory photo!

The sun went but it stayed clear as we headed down, giving us great views every stop of the way.  Although we were tired the descent went quickly and we were soon back in the valley above Minto's.  

We returned to Minto's exhausted, in beautiful sunshine.  Daniel had taken us to see the 'Temple', an astounding huge overhanging cliff - to be approached on all fours!!

It was a slow afternoon, drying out kit and resting from the walk.  More tiring trips were required to give us enough water from the lake, to be treated with iodine, which made it absolutely delisious!!  The water had the neat effect of turning blue when washing out the cup-a-soup mugs!

We finished the evening at 6pm with a dice game (Perudo) as we grew cold, tired but happy.

[Jonathan Hey] 

What I've learned and what I've gained is immeasurable.  There are things I do now, that I didn't do before.  There's knowledge I have now that seems as though I have always had it, it is fixed that firmly.

I knew that I wanted to lead my own expedition.  I had some idea but lacked the confidence.  The Young Leader's seminar Leading Edge organised, gave me the help and guidance I needed.  With the additional support I received throughout the planning stages, the expedition was a great success.

At the end of our travels in South America, a new idea was discussed.  This was for a venture to North Africa led by a small group of young leaders.  And so the Morrocco Expedition was born.  In the next twelve months I needed all the experience I had gained in addition to the support of the Society.  Once in Morocco, our team camel trekked across the Sahara, climbed the highest mountain in North Africa and explored the Western Coast.  The expedition was hugely successful and was repeated by another team of young leaders the following year.

I think this trip has taught me so much that I am not even attempting to write it down.  I have enjoyed it more than words can describe.  In my whole life I doubt I shall again feel so many emotions in such a short period of time.  Pain, joy, fear, excitement - I have experienced these, and so much more.