Expedition Planning - Links

[bearbait]

Hi All,

Following on from Chris G's post (Scouting Library) with the Canadian Scout Manuals link I thought some of you may be interested in the publications from the Expedition Advisory Centre of the Royal Geographical Society. Many of their publications can be downloaded for free (although you could buy paper copies and help with their funds!). There's stuff on polar expeditions, jungle, mountain, etc. as well as fieldwork guides.

If you start here and surf around you'll find loads of good stuff...

http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Publications/EAC+publications/Expedition+and+Fieldwork+Publications.htm

They also publish a Bulletin of Expedition Vacancies, which'll cost you the princely sum of £2.50. If you've got skills like scuba, or paramedic or major-league pro skills (doc, scientist, etc.) you could find something to suit. (See http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Fieldwork+and+Expeditions/Joining+an+expedition/Joining+an+expedition.htm )

I've just done the GIS for Expeditions and Fieldwork course with them and found enthusiastic, professional and very knowledgable tutors. The lunchtime grub was spot-on too. They do an Wilderness Medical Course as well as Expedition Vehicle Training (with Land Rover), amongst other courses.

Anyway...enjoy!

 

[Bravo4]

Thanks bearbait, great link. Very nice of them to offer all those publications for free, I can browse at will and if there is something I like I am more inclined to make a purchase, partly becuase they offered it for free in the first place. I'm looking through the Field Manual on Insects and at the top of page 17 it says,
"Haraka haraka haina baraka
Kiswahili saying:
hurrying does not bring good luck."

Maybe I'm just getting a little older and slower, but I think this is a good attitude for expeditions. I would hesitate to call any of my adventures "expeditions" exactly, but I see alot of wisdom in "Haraka haraka haina baraka". This is kind of obvious with things like being mindful of knives, fire, jumping about like you know who; actions that can lead to self-inflicted injuries in remote locations. Mess up a seemingly simple task due to haste and the trip can be over, and then some.

The less obvious in Haraka haraka haina baraka, the flip side, took me a long time to notice. It's subtle and hard(for me) to describe, but luck isn't composed entirely of luck. I have gotten away from the more "quest-driven" goal-oriented sort of expeditions, where getting someplace and, hopefully, back is the main focus. I'm still trying to break my "expedition mentality" of the notion that it has to be a big trip in a faraway place or qualify in any way as a "real" expedition. It has taken me a long time to understand that once I'm out there, what is the hurry? Many places I will probably never get back to, really wish I had slowed down, smelled the roses and all that.

Sometimes you have to cross an area quickly for logistical reasons and have no time to loiter. And sometimes just too much is planned for each day. The 12 guys who once stood on the moon had to actually steal time from their scheduled moon duties to take a few seconds and just admire the view. The astronauts that took that time to look around saw the earth as none of us ever will. Some of the things these guys talk about, their brief moments of applied Haraka haraka haina baraka while on the moon, are really not what you might expect from no-nonsense test-pilot and military types. They really don't hand out the rocket keys to flakes and so when these guys talk about some of their far-out other-world experiences I get the impression that they are genuinely from the heart.

Somebody mentioned the church of the flying spaghetti monster here abouts, and now I'm thinking of becoming a disciple of the tao of Haraka haraka haina baraka. I will certainly adopt this as official expedition slogan next time out. And if it somehow goes all pear shaped, I can just blame bearbait.

Anywhos, part of why I'm kicking around on this forum is my interest in the topics discussed but also to see how other folks go about their adventures from day to day. There is so much great stuff going on here, people contributing in so many ways, I feel obliged to take a turn. For what it's worth,,, if you're thinking about a big trip perhaps consider your motives. Develope your own "style" of expedition and you will always be the "the first" in your endeavors. Nobody is gonna give a turd, but again why do you want to be out there, fame? Coming up on 20 years since my first big trip and I'm just starting to understand where I'm coming from and why I want to go again, and again, and again.

If you're really going for it, check out the Shipton/Tilman grants:
http://www.gore-tex.com/remote/Sate...gename=goretex_en_US/fabrics_content_c/Detail

items to pick up for the upcoming, newly named Haraka haraka haina baraka expedition:
balaclava
baklava
?

 

[bearbait]

Hi Bravo4

My dictionary gives the definition for Expedition,,,
A journey or voyage for a particular purpose, esp. exploration, scientific research, or war.

Whereas for Adventure it gives...
An unusual and exciting experience; a daring enterprise; a hazardous activity.

There is some overlap here; it's really down to the specific intent of the activity I'd say.

I agree with you. Adventure is (or should be) a personal thing: there can be as much pleasure (and certainly less pain) as, for example, successfully completing a piece of DR navigation in mountains in poor visibility, or sailing a boat alone on a passage when normally you'd take a crew, as there is being the first man or woman to reach both poles by camel. Part of adventure is seeing what's out there, meeting people from other races and cultures and maybe with different attitudes and philosophies; experiencing the weather, the climate, the altitude; occasionally plumbing the depth of your own resources, abilities and knowledge; and also to perhaps to stretch yourself - taking a step or two outside one's comfort zone and learning new skills. All should be done for yourself. And you can adventure just as well in the hills close to home as the deserts half a planet away: they're just different adventures.

Expeditions for fame? Fame. What is fame? The modern media seems to encourage the concept of fame, albeit it's existence is very transitory. Andy Warhol famously (!!!) said that "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." Fifteen minutes is longer than many today make with the media's rush to the "next big thing" and the attention deficit disorder many of us tend to show nowadays with the constant bombardment of information - actually it's more like data than real information - via soundbites! And you're generally not considered anyone anyway if you're on the B-List through the Z-List sleb league tables! And even if you're A-List I believe most people don't give a monkey's ckuf. Seeking fame - it seems to me - comes from a hollowness inside, a feeling of incompleteness or inadequacy in some way.(IMHO, YMMV, etc. etc.)

Your comments about taking your time really ring true. I was in the Canadian Rockies last Autumn (you guys call it Fall but it's actually Autumn!). There were the ubiquitous stereotypical Japanese tourists on their coach trips taking photos of everyone and everything. They weren't actually "there"; they were looking at it through the viewfinders of their cameras. The strangest thing was that the coach parties had their own video camermen (and women) who jumped off the coach first and spent the time of the stop filming the coach party, interviewing them and also filming where they were. I guess this is so that when they all get home they can watch a video of themselves being somewhere - probably the closest they actually get to experiencing it! All experiences through a lens and a screen!!!

There is a poem "Leisure" by William Henry Davies:
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this is if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

I think his comments are very valid!

And sure, please blame me for any screw-ups on your expeditions; every expedition needs someone whose role is scapegoat! ("Personal responsibility not spoken here - nothing's ever my fault; it's always someone else's fault." Another fine modern concept!)

Our comments seem to be turning into Zen and the Art of Adventures - must be a book there somewhere?

I too rate this forum: there's a high signal to noise ratio and there does seem to me to be some "esprit de forum".

Good luck with your expeditions...