Over the years Ellie & I have occasionally attended events at the Royal Geographical Society here in London and always enjoyed them. Recently, at Ranulph Fiennes’ Transglobe Expedition series of events, I got to chat with the RGS’s Expeditions and Fieldwork Manager, Tom Allen. This is how I learned about the RGS Explore Symposium 2024, in essence, an expedition workshop for anyone who is interested. There is no other requirement, no previous experience necessary, you don’t even have to have a plan to do an expedition in the future. At £125 per person, with discounts available for students and others, the event is very reasonably priced, too.
TURNING ELLIE INTO AN EXPLORER, STEP ONE
Almost a bit to my surprise, Ellie immediately agreed to join me at the Royal Geographical Society, when I pitched the Explore idea to her. I was rather pleased (and still am!). It is my hope that one day in the not-so-distant future, my wife will join me on an expedition. Nothing too extreme, not to the North Pole or up an 8,000er, but perhaps something involving long-distance trekking or so, without extreme elevations. While Ellie had initially been convinced that I was turning slightly mad, when I told her that I would like to join the Northwest Passage Expedition earlier this year, she is now gradually warming up to the idea of going on expeditions. I’m so proud of her.
THE FIRST DAY OF THE RGS EXPLORE SYMPOSIUM (MAINLY FRIDAY EVENING)
This year’s symposium at the RGS is taking place from Friday 1 to Sunday 3 November. Friday only has one scheduled event. Two hours in the evening with various presentations, so no one has to take a day off work, unless they want to. For those available during the day, they can register for access to the Map Room and study reports from previous expeditions throughout the day. I would have loved to do that, but did not find the time, unfortunately. We did attend the networking drinks for the first of two hours. Had some lovely conversations with real interesting folk.
THE SECOND DAY OF THE RGS EXPLORE SYMPOSIUM: SATURDAY (FULL DAY)
Today, Saturday, was super impressive. And so much fun, too. Right on time, the day’s events were kicked off at 10am by the RGS’s Director, Joe Smith, who got everyone laughing with his dry sense of humour, followed by the conference chairperson, seasoned polar explorer Felicity Aston, whom I had had the pleasure to hear speak at one of the Transglobe Expedition events. She has such an ingenious presentation manner that is at the same time super-relaxed, low-key, yet charismatic and riveting. No one knows how she does it. She immediately made everyone feel welcome and at ease. Throughout the day, it felt more like being at a family get-together rather than a conference.
All pics (c) BerkeleySqB, except group picture above, left, (c) RGS, and group picture further
below (c) Spike Reid
RAPID BIODIVERSITY ASSESSMENT IN THE CONGO
Next up at the Royal Geographical Society were Merlijn Jocque and Jan Mertens with insights from their Rapid Biodiversity Assessment in Salonga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo 2022, the second largest African country, previously known as Belgian Congo. They had brought some excellent photos with them. It is mind-blowing how many new species the expedition discovered and documented during the relatively short time frame.
WEST BENGAL WATER PROJECT
The two Belgian gentlemen were followed by two female scientists, Swiss-based German Raphaela Betz, and London-based Peruvian Susana Higueras. They talked about their West Bengal Water Project, which looked into ways in which the local communities in Northeastern India were coping with how climate change affected the water situation. Droughts have become much more severe. There is still as much rainfall as before, but instead of being spread over two months, all the rain now falls within a few days, causing flooding and erosion. This part of the world, next to Bhutan and Nepal is very close to our hearts. It is near the highest mountains on earth. Moreover this region includes the biggest river delta on our planet and two of the most powerful rivers.
BLUE & GREEN HEALTH AT THE RGS EXPLORE SYMPOSIUM
The last presentation before the morning networking break (from 11:15 to 11:45am) was about the methods used in a research project on the Outer Hebrides which aimed to discover the best ways to get social housing occupants with limited mobility out to enjoy nature.
NETWORKING BREAK
During the morning networking break, Ellie and I had plenty of further chats with fellow expedition aficionados, some as inexperienced as us, others full-blown full-time expeditioners. I was particularly fascinated by a climber who told me about his previous climbing trips, leading really difficult routes up to grades in the mid-sevens. At the moment he is looking into organising an expedition to Kyrgyzstan to do a first ascent of a 7,000er. With Ellie and me scheduled to visit that country next year, it was a great opportunity to learn more about it.
FELICITY ASTON’S PRESENTATION ABOUT EXPEDITION PLANNING
Perhaps surprisingly, almost everyone managed to arrive back in the Royal Geographical Society’s big auditorium after the break for the conference chair’s presentation about expedition planning, which was based on the drawing of a gingerbread man on a skateboard. Unexpected, but rather witty, and it worked.
LEGACY-DRIVEN EXPEDITIONS AT THE RGS EXPLORE SYMPOSIUM
What followed was a brilliant presentation by Mark Evans about “Working backwards to move forwards: legacy driven expeditions.” I personally have no interest in the Middle East, which is Mr Evan’s go-to region. However, this did not in the slightest impact the value I derived from the presentation. I had previously never done much thinking about the legacy aspect, like what is left from an expedition after it has ended. For the Northwest Passage, other people had done all that work, years before I joined. The legacy, in this case, and to me, seemed relatively obvious, not requiring much thinking: raising awareness of climate change; assisting with research into climate change (by providing scientists at New York University with data we collected on our trip, using equipment they loaned to us). Turns out that you can actually spend a whole lot of time on thinking about the intended legacy of your expedition and make this the main thing.
HOW TO WRITE SUCCESSFUL FUNDING APPLICATIONS
Chad Staddon’s “top tips for successful grant applications” might perhaps not have been the most thrilling subject, but nonetheless a very important topic, and clearly this man has more experience than most, having covered both sides: as hugely successful applicant with a 40% success rate, and as a consultant working for the grant awarding organisations, deciding which applicants will get the dosh.
The Funding Q&A that followed then, saw Mr Staddon being joined by the conference chair, and two further experts.
LUNCH BREAK WITH MORE NETWORKING AT THE RGS EXPLORE SYMPOSIUM
Lunch break was pleasantly long at 1.5h. People were given the option to join the ‘Getting started in the Outdoors’ or a grant applications workshop. However, we decided to split the break between networking and a brief lunchtime walk, gobbling down a Five Guys burger each. All attendees were offered free Firepot expedition rations. Which was funny to me, considering that I had recently spent six weeks living off this food, and wasn’t very eager to have any more of it for the time being. For the avoidance of doubt, I do believe that Firepot rations are among the best out there, on the market, and I would recommend them to anyone.
FIREPOT EXPEDITION RATIONS FOR LUNCH AT THE RGS EXPLORE SYMPOSIUM
That said, any food that you’ve been eating for six weeks will no longer taste great to you, because of the lack of variety, even if you’ve had 10 different dishes. The best spag bol or chili con carne will lose their attraction after you’ve had them two or three dozen times in a short time span. I usually had at least five or six meals a day on top of plenty of snacks. Ocean rowing gives you a good appetite, and I’m a big guy. We had also – out of necessity rather than lack of attention or care – not followed the storage instructions. You are not supposed to store the sachets at temperatures colder than -25C. While our boat Hermione was over-wintering on the cobble stone beach outside of Cambridge Bay at Chez Shaun’s, completely covered in ice and snow, temperatures had occasionally dropped below -55C.
FIREPOT FOUNDER FISHER
If anything, Firepot deserves a prize for the fact that only very few of the rations had developed slight signs of damage from the bad storage conditions. It was interesting speaking briefly with the founder, owner, and head-honcho of Firepot, John Fisher, and learning that he’s currently expanding into my home country, Germany.
NORWAY TO GREENLAND ON A WOODEN RAFT
One chap told us about an upcoming expedition by a friend of his from Norway to Greenland on a Kon Tiki replica. We spoke with two very young folk who are planning expeditions around climate change research, which came in handy, considering that the Northwest Passage Expedition earlier this year also collected data for climate change research and aimed to raise awareness of the issue.
JAMES LEVELLE, FULL-TIME EXPLORER AND DOCUMENTARY FILMER
Perhaps the most interesting conversation was with one of the panel members at the ‘Getting Started in the Outdoors’ workshop (which we missed out on): James Levelle. He had turned expeditions into his day job a very long time ago, and produces documentaries starring himself, which he then sells to places like the Discovery Channel. What a life.
BELINDA KIRK, THE ADVENTURE MIND
Following the break, Belinda Kirk talked about her difficult childhood, how it had badly affected her self-esteem, and how taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award had changed her life, when she was a little girl. She later on founded the charity The Adventure Mind and wrote a book of the same name. It’s all about how to design outdoor challenges in order to improve mental health and wellbeing. We both had very well-hydrated eyes after the presentation.
REMOTE AREA RISK INTERNATIONAL
Matthew Davies from Remote Area Risk International did a very useful talk about field safety management. For example, it was interesting to hear that even for expeditions traffic accidents are the most likely cause of death, followed by drownings. To me it was counterintuitive how he gave high priority to many rather mundane tasks such as checking tyre pressure, making sure the vehicle’s lights all work well, avoiding driving at night or doing exhausting activities during the day in hot climates, etc. All participants were given access to a detailed four-hour video course about risk management, Mr Davies had prepared to be accessed after the end of the conference, from next Wednesday.
THE “MOUNTAIN AND TREKKING” WORKSHOP – HIGHLIGHT OF DAY ONE
My personal highlight of the first day of the symposium were the expedition logistics and safety workshops, of which all participants had to choose one. We opted for the “mountain and trekking” workshop with Tom Davis-Merry, Anna Shekhdar, Spike Reid, and Nathan Hudson-Peacock. Mr Davis-Merry, a former army officer, talked a lot about his climbing and skiing expeditions in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan, which all sounded fascinating.
DO A FIRST ASCENT FOR £1,500
When he talked about how some of his expeditions to that region had cost less than £1,500 per person, including international flights, local transport, and food, it really almost blew our minds. He showed us one photograph that he took on one of his recent expeditions to Kyrgyzstan, with a dozen tall, snow-covered mountain tops in it, and said: none of these summits have ever been climbed. You can pick one of them, and do a first ascent. It doesn’t even have to be a tall mountain that requires expensive equipment and skills. Take a 4,000er and do a trekking expedition to its top. The speaker doesn’t know it, but he gave Ellie and me an idea for our first expedition together. Neither of us had been aware that there are opportunities like that out there, so affordable and doable, yet involving something big like a first ascent.
WORKSHOPS WE MISSED OUT ON AT THE RGS EXPLORE SYMPOSIUM
As always with simultaneous events where participants have to pick one event, we felt a bit sorry for ourselves, that we had missed out on all the following workshops: “polar and arctic environments,” “tropical forest expeditions,” “marine projects,” “desert and savannah expeditions,” “challenging road trips,” “designing outdoor challenges to improve mental health and wellbeing,” and “responsible travel and ethical fieldwork.”
LEAVING EARLY, BUT LOOKING FORWARD TO DAY TWO
Due to other commitments, we had to leave at 5pm sharp and missed out on the film screenings (“Flora, Fauna, Funga”, “Amu Darya: River to a Missing Sea,” and “Alone Across Gola”) as well as the Explorers’ Bar and the optional Wagamama dinner. Can’t wait for tomorrow’s second and last day of the conference. We have already decided to return again next year. This is too good an event to miss. If you are interested in expeditions, then I cannot recommend Explore enough.
Looking for more interesting things to do? Check out my blog posts about Frameless, the immersive art experience, the Go London hiking group (Snowdonia trip), stand-up paddleboarding, stand-up comedy (learning how to do it), open water swimming, running, rock-climbing, ice-climbing, trekking, jetlevving, bobsleighing training, and caving.
