Expeditions
The declared policy of the school on overseas expeditions is that we will send a party every two years to a wilderness area where they can gain leadership-training experience and get a wider view of the world as a whole and third world problems in particular. Advisers accompany the groups to minimise any danger and we include a qualified medical adviser where possible to increase the element of safety. Students are encouraged to take on actual daily leader roles and it helps them with their personal development in terms of understanding the true extent of their abilities when faced with adversity. They write a communal diary of their experiences and are encouraged to discuss their feelings about what they are going through. In the past it has produced a number of students who have gained such confidence that they have gone on to wider ventures on their own afterwards. Many proceed to Raleigh and one has even gone on to row across the Atlantic!
Solihull’s tradition of engaging in regular major overseas expeditions goes back to 1992, when the first party left to explore the remote Zanskar Valley in the Himachal Pradesh region of Northern India. That expedition involved a 3-week wilderness trek over 3, 5000m Himalayan passes and found students having the need to deal with the culture shock of the subcontinent and 3 major different religions.
Enthusiastic reports of those returning and a staff realisation of the immense personal development that such ventures could bring led to a second exploration in Bolivia and Peru in 1995. Here, faced with the numbers who wanted to go, we experimented by creating two groups. One spent their main phase in upper Amazon Basin jungle areas, travelling by canoe. The other trekked round the remote Apolobamba area in the northern part of Bolivia. Both groups enjoyed a wonderfully instructive, if demanding walk along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, carrying full packs and climbed the mountain Cerro Mururata.
We then changed to a two-year pattern, convinced that students needed to be in the sixth form to get the most out of expeditions in terms of leadership training and also that there was easily enough demand to make alternate year expeditions viable. The aim was now established that all sixth formers should have the opportunity to go on a major expedition during their time at the school.
In 1997 a group went to the Northern regions of Chitral and Hunsa in Pakistan. They undertake an arduous 14 day trek up the remote Shimshal Valley and climbed the 6020m peak Mingli Sar II. The group learnt a huge amount about themselves, combating illness and coping with food problems on the trek.
The 1999 Expedition went to Tibet, via Kathmandu in Nepal. Culturally there was the double challenge of conditions in Kathmandu and on arrival in Chinese-dominated Lhasa. Tibet was then not very tourist conscious and we had to find our own trekking opportunities amidst a wealth of immersion into the Buddhist culture. The highlight was the visit to Everest base camp and the appearance of the great mountain out of the mist on the following morning.
Ecuador was the destination of the 2001 venture. In spite of snow conditions preventing the intended climb we still trekked over 3500m passes having to camp in 10cm of snow. The group did manage to reach the top of Ruminahui at 4712m. The group mountain-biked through mountain and jungle areas, experiencing a wide spread of different conditions.
2003 took us to Peru. An adventurous programme included a ten-day trek at 4000m around the Cordillera Huayhuash, followed by a climb of Mount Pisco. The group went on to visit Cusco and to trek the Inca Trail to the old Inca stronghold Machu Picchu.
Nepal was the destination in 2005, to trek from Namche Bazar to Everest base camp. Trekkers climbed Kala Patthar and made their way back to Namche via the testing Renjo La above Gokyo. A second phase of the expedition took the group to Lhasa and a tour of the Buddhist shrines, followed by a drive to Rongbuk monastery and a visit to Everest Base Camp, where the mountain was wonderfully clear. There was the greater challenge of dealing with some quite aggressive local nomadic vendors, in a country where the Chinese influence is clearer every year and their rail road-building programme expands every year.
Chile Expedition 2007
2007 saw a change in the type of region the school expedition was to visit. We went to the Atacama desert in the north of Chile. This presented the two groups with a different set of challenges; we had temperatures from 25oC in the daytime down to –20oC at night. As you would expect for a desert the lack of drinkable water was to play a big part. The groups confronted everything we attempted with great enthusiasm and energy. The highlight of the trip was the 7 hour climb up Volcan Licancabur 5916m. More details about this trip can be found on the Chile 07 page of the website.
In 2009 two expeditions left our shores. The Sixth form with Mr Brough headed to the Ladakh region of India for four weeks trekking. Their highlight being able to see the Dalai Lama and climb Stok Kangri at 6153m. the group had some amazing experiences in this remote and rarely visited corned of the world. The trekking often took them over 5000m passes up some of the steepest paths our trips have ever visited. The Middle School headed off to Norway for a very different type of expedition. It was a shorter trip three weeks but was action packed. In less than 24hours after leaving school the group where on the water kayaking up the narrowest, deepest Fjord in the world. Our campsites being the shoreline and cooking on open fires. I was very impressed with the way they handled the 40km of travel. The second phase took us onto the Jostedal ice field. The superb weather meant we could spend 5 days walking and living on the snow. It gave the group a real feel for what it must be like to work in Antarctica. How could this be topped? With a week exploring a remote valley with a blue ice glacial tongue that the group had the experience to walk up. I was very impressed with the way the students coped physically and mentally with all that faced them.
We are well on our way with the organisation of the 2011 expedition to Alaska. Eleven students from Yr 11 to Yr 13 are taking part. It is based around the very successful 2009 Norway expedition which had an emphasis on Leave No Trace and bushcraft. We are spending four weeks in southern Alaska trekking in the area around Seward to the ‘Lost Lake’. Canadian Canoeing in the Swan lake area for seven days and finally spending a week on the huge Root Glacier . Any sixth form student interested in joining the group should contact Mr.M.J.Garner.