Arctic to Amazon

Back from the Salar!

2010-09-14T11:59:00.001+01:00

I have been back from the Salar for a week now and have updated the web site with a day-by-day diary of the expedition and some nice photos. Please see

http://salar.arctictoamazon.com/

I will start posting articles about the expedition here shortly!

Fund-Raising for Charity

2010-08-04T20:02:00.000+01:00

Raising money for charity as part of the Salar attempt will give me a massive psychological boost and, more importantly, will provide benefits for a very worthy cause.

I have chosen East Anglian Air Ambulance, a local charity which provides a valuable service in life threatening situations such as road traffic accidents, incidents involving people in inaccessible places, cardiac arrests, etc. On average the EAAA are called to four incidents a day and need over £3M a year to keep their two helicopters in the air.

My charity donation page is at:

http://www.justgiving.com/salar

Slight Change of Plan...

2010-08-04T19:33:00.000+01:00

My leg injury is much better and I decided to attempt a return crossing from Uyuni to the far side of the Salar and back again. The whole trip will be of course unsupported (i.e. will not pick up any supplies mid-way). The map below shows my new planned route.

From Arctic to Amazon

What's in Your Fridge

2010-07-30T07:09:00.001+01:00

You can learn a lot about someone by the contents of their fridge.

For example, if you looked inside my fridge right now you would find fruit, meat, Greek yogurt and...a high-power emergency light blinking.

From Arctic to Amazon

One of the problems when camping in the Salar de Uyuni is the possibility of vehicles driving across during the night (sometimes with their headlights off!).

So is there a danger I will be run over by a 4x4 while sleeping?

Image via Wikipedia

I think it is extremely unlikely that a vehicle travelling on a 10000 square Km salt flat will actually pass through any particular point the size of a 1-person tent. But for my own piece of mind I decided to use signal lights around my tent at night.

FoxFire is a rugged, super bright light which is designed for use in emergency helicopter landing zones, disaster sites etc. I got one for £28/$43 the other day for testing as I need to determine the battery life in very low temperatures.

And what better way of doing that than sticking one in the freezer at -18C, loaded with 4 Energizer Lithium batteries (which are less affected by cold than alkaline batteries).

It has been blinking since Tuesday night now and still going strong.

My Training Program Until the Expedition Begins

2010-07-29T19:17:00.000+01:00

Due to an injury I decided to not do any more running in preparation for the Salar de Uyuni expedition. The injury itself is getting better and I probably could run but I don't want to risk it turning into something debilitating so close to the expedition.

So my plan is as follows:

Weekdays
On weekdays I alternate between the following schedules.

Schedule 1 - Morning

Cycle 30k

Agility workout

Cycle a further 15 minutes

Strength workout

Schedule 1 - Afternoon

Easy walk 1 hour

Schedule 1 - Evening

Flexibility workout

Core strength and balance workout

Schedule 2 - Morning

Weight training

Schedule 2 - Afternoon

Easy walk 1 hour

Schedule 2 - Evening

Digging in the garden for 30 minutes (don't ask)

Flexibility workout

Saturday

Tyre pulling several hours

Sunday

Long walk somewhere nice.

Salar Expedition Equipment – Head Protection

2010-07-27T19:13:00.001+01:00

Each environment has its own requirements for head protection. And although I am not convinced you can lose most of your body heat through your head (newer research indicates otherwise) , I do accept it can make a considerable difference warmth-wise.

Image via Wikipedia

Many westerners go for a hat/cap and headnet in the jungle. I think this is OK if you are not exerting yourself too much. Try it when doing a massively physical activity and the heat combined with humidity quickly makes it impractical. Mosquitoes and flies tend to go for the legs anyway.

A different story in the Arctic where high winds and freezing temperatures can quickly give you frostbite on the ear or nose. Even there, when engaged in very physical activity a lighter woolly hat or no hat at all may be possible – depending on temperature.

In the Salar I expect massive swings from night-time temperatures of -20C to day time temperatures of +15C. And so I have selected my head protection accordingly:

Terra Nova Windy Balaclava

This is a windproof, balaclava with a small wired visor. I got one yesterday for £23/$35. My normal cold weather balaclava is an OR Gorilla which has a great detachable face mask. However, I have heard good things about the Windy and I know it has been used on a number of expeditions with good results. It also has a visor (the Gorilla doesn’t), which I think may prove useful in the Salar.

Injinji Desert Hat

Image via Wikipedia

This hat has been used extensively in desert stage ultra-marathons like the Marathon des Sables and I have never heard anything bad about it. The newer model has a longer and wider neck cover. My
only concern is its performance under high wind as the neck cover does not cinch in the front. I got one for £22/$34.

Is there a single piece of headgear that would protect against wind, cold and the searing sun?

Possibly.

The traditional middle-eastern headscarf called Shemagh was designed to do just that. I have had a shemagh for many years now and its versatility is astounding. I have never used it while doing intense physical activity though so its performance in that respect is unknown to me. I will give it a good test in the Salar and will keep you posted on the results. I wouldn’t be surprised if yet again a traditional approach proves superior to our modern-day technological contrivances.

Image by gaak0-0 via Flickr

My route Across the Salar

2010-07-23T22:22:00.001+01:00

The map below shows the approximate route I will be taking across the Salar. I will be travelling from West to East.

My starting point is a tiny village at the west edge of the desert called Llica. My ultimate destination is the town of Uyuni. However, I believe that the safest exit out of the Salar is 20km north of Uyuni, at a village called Colchani. From there I will take the road to Uyuni.

View Salar Crossing Route in a larger map

Salar de Uyuni – Challenges (Part 3)

2010-07-22T22:08:00.002+01:00

The third sequel of my “Salar de Uyuni Challenges” post where I discuss some of the problems the expedition may run into.

Image via Wikipedia

A Classic Trangia Stove.

Stove and Fuel
I have always used Trangia stoves on my expeditions (where I could not have an open fire). They are virtually indestructible as there are no moving parts and work at very low temperatures. However, they are heavy and fuel-thirsty and because they are not pressurised are slow to boil water.
For the Salar expedition I decided to try a pressurised stove. I went for an MSR XGK EX, which I bought for £110 from an outdoor equipment website.

Flying with stoves and fuel bottles however always carries a risk of the equipment getting confiscated. I hope the fact that the stove and the bottles are brand new and unused will minimise that risk but I can’t be sure.
I will write a review of the stove when I get back (if everything goes OK and I get to use it).

Image via Wikipedia

Expedition Fitness: Is There Such a Thing? (1)

2010-07-19T22:14:00.005+01:00

Image via Wikipedia

Do expeditions require a special kind of fitness? Or, to put it another way, is there a type of fitness you or I can have that would help us cope in an Expedition?
This question, as it stands, is too generic to be answered properly. Let’s break it down a little.

Fitness
The first thing that strikes me is that fitness can be physical or mental. To simplify things for this post let’s focus on the former.
So what is physical fitness? In his excellent book “Get Fit Not Fat” Greg Whyte lists four components of fitness:

Flexibility of muscles and joints
Muscular strength
Muscular endurance
Cardiovascular endurance

Image via Wikipedia

That’s a nice and simple definition and can serve as a good basis for an exercise program. But is it complete?
In its October 2002 edition, The Crossfit Journal defines fitness as follows:

Cardiovascular/respiratory endurance - The ability of body systems to gather, process, and deliver oxygen
Stamina - The ability of body systems to process, deliver, store, and utilize energy.
Strength - The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply force.
Flexibility - the ability to maximize the range of motion at a given joint.
Power - The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply maximum force in minimum time.
Speed - The ability to minimize the time cycle of a repeated movement.
Coordination - The ability to combine several distinct movement patterns into a singular distinct movement.
Agility - The ability to minimize transition time from one movement pattern to another.
Balance - The ability to control the placement of the bodies center of gravity in relation to its support base.
Accuracy - The ability to control movement in a given direction or at a given intensity.

A more comprehensive definition. But it seems to me that a definition of Fitness should be relative - not absolute. Relative to the requirements, stresses and pressures placed upon you by the environment.
I may be fit for one thing but not fit enough for another; I may be fit for playing football at home but not for hauling a sled to the South Pole. Or the other way around.
And what are the demands placed upon you by the environment on an expedition? Well, that depends on the type of the expedition.

Expeditions
Up until recently the term “expedition” was used almost synonymously to “Exploration”. These days the same word tends to mean different things to different people: from a gap year adventure, to a tough trek, to a high mountain climb.
My definition is as follows: An expedition is a physical and mental challenge in a remote area with a definite purpose.
So this narrows it down a bit and leaves us with physically challenging activities in remote areas: deserts,

Image via Wikipedia

jungles, ice caps, mountains (deliberately ignoring underwater expeditions here).
Each one of these environments would pose different challenges to the adventurer: heat, cold, humidity, wind, altitude etc. In addition the purpose of the expedition may impose challenges of its own:

An expedition to ski across Greenland would pose different challenges than one to cross it with dog teams.

An expedition to cross a jungle would be very different than one to cross the same jungle but living off the land without external food or water.

An expedition to run across a desert with a support team and one to walk across it solo and unsupported are two very different propositions.

Image by David_Turner via Flickr

All these factors will affect training regime to be followed in preparation for the expedition. In a later post I will describe my approach to Expedition Training.

Get a Grip: Warm-Up (2)

2010-07-17T19:38:00.003+01:00

My body’s response to any particular work-out programme varies with time. Assuming I start with a new work-out I always go through the following phases:

Shock. The body, faced with a new and unfamiliar task, struggles to cope. Aches and pains and the realisation that I wasn’t as fit as I thought. This period is brief and I take it very easy.

~~Horror~~ Adaptation. Performance increases rapidly. This is the most dangerous period for getting injuries because it is difficult to tell if I am overdoing it.

Plateau. Performance remains flat. It is possible to squeeze out some more performance by making small changes but essentially my body is now fully adapted to the workout and considers it “business as usual” – no need to improve further as it is perfectly capable of meeting the current level of demand.

When I reach a plateau it is time for a change. And because these changes are the rule rather than the exception I feel it is very important to

Have a repertoire of different exercises for any given fitness “target”, (e.g. a target could be “shoulder strength”)

Make sure my exercise regime includes a variety of elements like running, weight lifting, cycling, so that if I hit a plateau in one of them I can shift my focus on another for a period.

Anyway, the topic of this post is to describe some more of my grip warm-up exercises. So here goes:
This is an exercise I learned many years ago. I basically open up my hands and then make them into fists as fast as I can for as long as I can. It doesn’t sound challenging but believe me it is.

When my hands start burning I may move on to using a light weight to warm up my thumbs. I use a plate with a “lip” for this so that I can hook my thumb under it.

I make sure I let the weight drop all the way down and lift it all the way up.

Sometimes I use a bar for warm-up. An Olympic bar, like the one in the picture, is heavy enough (20kg) to be used without additional weights for warm-up.

Shamonyi Shopping Centre

2010-07-14T22:49:00.009+01:00

Moshi, Tanzania. During the day it’s so hot and humid you feel faint. Nevertheless everybody seems to be out and about. Some people sell random stuff and others wait in the sun and 40 C heat to be hired for work.

The words "shopping centre" would perhaps invoke images other than a single small room packed to the ceiling with boxes of soft drinks, no working fridge and a guy standing outside - probably because there is no space inside. The sign above the door says "food shop" in Swahili.

People make do with what they have - and it’s not a lot. This guy was selling among other things pieces of used eyeglass frames and bracelets, used shoe polish tins - some without lids, an AA battery bent out of shape and a razor blade that wouldn’t actually cut anything.

These people have something we have lost in our throw away society - respect for even the smallest material possessions. In those parts when your eyeglasses break you don’t buy another pair - you go out, get some spare parts and fix them yourself. We'd do well to take a leaf out of their book.

And then of course there was the two guys with the chicken...I can only assume they were trying to sell it...

Get a Grip: Warm-Up (1)

2010-07-12T22:11:00.002+01:00

My first introduction to hand strength was when I, as a 13-year old, joined an Olympic wrestling club. Grip strength in Olympic wrestling is massively important and the coach used to start each training session with a good grip workout. Often my hands would be so exhausted after a session that I would get cramps in my palms during the night.

A strong grip is always an advantage as it improves control of hand tools and is a key component in sorts as diverse as golf, wind-surfing, skiing and climbing.

In the jungle a good grip is necessary when moving outside established footpaths, where you have to hack your way with the machete.

In this series of postings I will be showing several hand strength exercises that I use and have had good results with.

I will cover warm-up, stretching and main workout.

Warming Up

Normal Grip - Open.

As with all body parts I always try to warm-up before my main hand work-out. One of the tools I use for that is a pair of hand grips. People often don't realise how versatile these things are and that they can be used in a variety of ways to achieve the desired result.

Normal Grip - Closed.

I start by using a "normal" hold using my whole palm and do a few reps with each hand. This exercise favours the fingers further from the thumb so I then reverse the grip to work index and middle fingers.

Inverse Grip - Open

Inverse Grip - Closed.

I then move on to work the thumb itself. Note the modified grip I use.

Thumb - Open

Thumb - Closed.

Then I begin to isolate the top two or bottom two fingers like so:

Top Two fingers Only - Open

Top Two fingers Only - Closed

Bottom Two Fingers Only - Open

Bottom Two Fingers Only - Closed.

There are different "strength" hand grips on the market and I make sure to use the appropriate strength for a warm-up, i.e. not too challenging.

Salar de Uyuni - Challenges (Part 2)

2010-07-10T20:47:00.006+01:00

Water

Image by Jessie Reeder via Flickr

There are no sources of water in the Salar de Uyuni so I will have to carry all my water with me. I am assuming I will need 8 liters per day. I will need to find containers that will not burst when the water freezes in them. The weight of the water (and the rest of the stuff) means that I will not be able to carry everything on my back, so I am going to need some other means of...

Transportation

I will need some sort of cart to put everything in. I will then be pulling the cart by way of a harness/attachment system. There are two options:

Get it from the UK and carry it to Bolivia
Get it built while in Bolivia before the expedition.

A cycle trolley will have to be modified to be used for walking.

Image by magnusvk via Flickr

The problem with buying one from here is that it might not be large enough or strong enough to take what I need to carry: the volume and weight of which is impossible to determine with accuracy before my departure.

Getting the trolley built there has obvious drawbacks: I may not be able to find the people and equipment to help me build one.

Hard Ground

The salt on the Salar is so hard it will be impossible to use normal tent pegs. Securing the tent will be very important due to the high winds that blow across the Salar.

One solution would be to stake the tent out with bottles of water. The issue with that is of course that bottles will gradually empty and after a few days they will not be heavy enough to hold the tent.

Image via Wikipedia

The solution I am going for is to use very strong tent pegs and a hammer to drive them into the salt each night.

I plan to carry the pegs with me but I intend to buy the hammer in Bolivia.

What might happen of course is that once driven in the pegs will be very difficult to pull out. It is of course impossible to determine if thi is the case unless I go thre and try. The other thing that is impossible to determine beforehand is whether the salt will break and crumble when the peg is hammered in.

Different Kinds of Tent Pegs

The photo on the right shows (from left to right):

A normal low quality tent peg
A high-quality low-weight Hilleberg peg made from aluminium
A snow tent peg
A hard ground tent peg - basically a massive nail.

Hard Ground Pro Tent Pegs

Hard Ground Peg Close Up

I haven't tried these "Hard ground pro" tent pegs before so I will post a review when I come back from the Salar. They are certainly quite heavy so you wouldn't want to use them unless the ground was really hard and there were no other means of securing your tent.

Salar de Uyuni - Challenges (Part 1)

2010-07-08T21:09:00.009+01:00

There are several challenges I will be facing while making the crossing. Below I have listed the ones I expect to cause issues (I am sure there will be unexpected ones too).

Cold

The obvious problem is that my water will freeze, which means drinking and cooking will become very

Image via Wikipedia

difficult. In the arctic or high mountains this is not a problem as you can melt snow using your stove. In the Salar there is no snow cover and I will be carrying my water with me in bottles.

If the temperature does not drop too far below freezing during the day frozen water will not be a problem - there will be enough liquid water in the evening for cooking and I can take a bottle with me in the sleeping bag for the morning.

If the water is frozen solid thoughout the day the only way out I can think of is by having a bottle on my person, under the jacket so that it doesn't freeze. I will use that for cooking and take a frozen bottle of water in my sleeping bag for the morning. Doesn't sound very appealing. Does anyone else have relevant experience? Any suggestions?

Wind

The place is extremely exposed and at a very high altitude so I do expect almost constant, strong, freezing wind. although it is tempting to think a tail wind would be preferable a very strong tail wind can cause knee problems as you are constantly trying to resist being pushed forward by it.

With high winds and very low humidity windburn will definitely also be a problem.

Sun

It is hard to overestimate the amount of sunllight reflected by a bright wide surface at 4km altitude. In Greenland I had sunburn in the indide of my nostrils, the roof of my mouth and the underside of my eyes, the latter because my sunglasses did not have "guards". This time around I have armed myself with a pair of Julbo Explorer glacier glasses. I haven't tried those before so when I come back I will write a review.

For head protection I will go for a shemagh. I will post a description of how this can be used at a later date.

The pictures below and on the right show the glacier glasses and shemagh. The yellow bits on the glasses are the guards which apparently stop light/wind/etc. coming through.

Salar de Uyuni Expedition - Salar Info

2010-07-07T19:07:00.003+01:00

My next expedition will be to cross Salar de Uyuni solo and unsupported.

Salar de Uyuni at 10.5 thousand square kilometers (4,000 sq mi) is the world's largest salt flat and is located in Bolivia. Salar de Uyuni (and the smaller Salar de Coipasa) are what is left from a series of prehistoric lakes, the last of which dried out about 13,000 years ago.

The desert is at an altitude of 3.7 km (12,000 ft) and is basically a pool of brine 2 to 20 meters (7 to 66 ft) deep covered by a hard salt crust with a thickness varying between tens of centimeters to a few meters.

In the wet season lake Titicaca overflows and discharges into Salar the Uyuni (via other intermediate lakes), which means there are a few cm of water on top of the salt crust.

I have picked August/September (the dry season) specifically to avoid this: Average precipitation is then just a fraction of that during the wet season (December to March). However, temperatures are also much lower with an average surface temperature in July/August of -10C (14 F). So I expect night-time temperatures to drop to -20C (-4 F).

Photo from Wikipedia, author Anouchka Unel

Photo from Wikimedia Commons, author Martin St-Amant

Photo from Wikimedia commons, author Lion Hirth

Map of Bolivia. Salar is the white bit at bottom left.

View Larger Map

Piranha Anyone?

2010-07-05T21:27:00.009+01:00

People often ask me about the basic tools you need to fish for piranha....
Well ok they don't really ask but I like to tell them anyway ;-)

What you really need is some fishing line and a reinforced hook. All the rest you can do without.
The algorithm goes as follows:
1. Find small insects or grubs to use as bait for small fish
2. Catch small fish
3. Fillet small fish and use as bait for piranha.

Piranha are very shy and suspicious and they need to satisfy themselves that what they are about to bite cannot bite them back. So you cast your line vertically and let it rest on the bottom of the river. It will take them a couple of minutes before they start biting.

If you cast from the bank rather than a boat you risk your line getting tangled to the infinite number of submerged branches in the river.

Image via Wikipedia

The little fella I got in my hand is a red-bellied piranha (Pygocentrus nattereri) - reputably the most ferocious of all.

In my experience the danger is minimal. The native people think nothing of going for a dip in waters brimming with piranha. I personally have bathed several times in isolated pools with piranhas in them in the dry season.

The only tricky bit is when removing the hook from one you just caught - you can easily lose a small but important part of your finger that way...

Image via Wikipedia

Sponge Cake-Fuelled Madness

2010-07-04T15:13:00.007+01:00

Today it was tyre-pulling day. For those not familiar with the term this means attaching a bunch of old tyres to your person by means of some kind of harness and rope and dragging them behind you to the amusement of everyone around you.

Here's a car boot full of tyres.

Today the program included

Running an 8k lap cross-country without any tyres for a warm-up.
Running another 8k lap dragging one tyre.
Dragging three tyres for an additional hour.

At the end of each lap I took a break to drink lots of water.

Then there was the small matter of the sponge cakes...

Now don't get me wrong - I normally don't touch the stuff. However, during long workouts I need something to get my blood sugar up; and boy are they good for that!

Tyres almost ready to go.

Here's where I run.

I forgot to mention I dragged them barefoot!

Back for more cakes!

My First Posting!

2010-07-04T14:33:00.002+01:00

Hi. My name is John (or Yanni if you prefer the greek equivalent) and I live in the UK.

I use challenge as a means to improve and develop myself and have been on expeditions to several parts of the world from the Arctic to the Amazon.

My expeditions tend to be very physical and my training reflects this need for physical fitness.

However, I also view each workout as an adventure in itself and try to make it as challenging as I can - even if there is no expedition in the horizon.

This often causes people (including certain family members) to believe I am a complete nutcase and, come to think of it, they are probably right :-)

Arctic to Amazon

Back from the Salar!

Fund-Raising for Charity

Slight Change of Plan...

What's in Your Fridge

My Training Program Until the Expedition Begins

Salar Expedition Equipment – Head Protection

My route Across the Salar

Salar de Uyuni – Challenges (Part 3)

Related articles

Expedition Fitness: Is There Such a Thing? (1)

Related articles

Get a Grip: Warm-Up (2)

Shamonyi Shopping Centre

Get a Grip: Warm-Up (1)

Salar de Uyuni - Challenges (Part 2)

Salar de Uyuni - Challenges (Part 1)

Salar de Uyuni Expedition - Salar Info

Related articles

Piranha Anyone?

Related articles

Sponge Cake-Fuelled Madness

My First Posting!