Kentrek

Jungle training and remote first aid

2020-06-22T06:08:00.000-07:00

Jungle Training and Remote Medicine at Cannock

This particular weekend was organised by World Challenge for Expedition leaders going into remote and Jungles areas in the summer. This two day course covered a number of topics such as:-

Jungle Psychology
Personal & Group Equipment
Health & Hygiene
Dangerous Flora & Fauna
Jungle camp craft – fires, cooking, camp layout, basha/hammock, safe water, machetes & parangs
Jungle & Tropical Medicine

Mount Khuiten Expedition

2020-06-22T06:06:00.000-07:00

Khuiten Report Aug 2019

Mount Khuiten Expedition

Expedition Leader: Ken Findlay

3rd – 19th August 2019

Ulaanbaatar

A team of five clients and myself set out with the intention of climbing Mount Khuiten, Mongolia’s highest mountain in August 2019.

When Steve and I arrived in Ulaanbaatar our luggage was still somewhere in Moscow, and we did go through several permutations about what we would do if they did not turn up. However true to our guide’s words, they duly arrived the following morning. There is something quite satisfying in being reunited with old friends.

We started in the capital Ulaanbaatar for a couple of days whilst all the team arrived from various parts of the UK and the USA. Our Mongolian guide was very helpful in taking us on a cultural journey around the capital, visiting various museums and culminating in visiting Sukhbaatar Square in front of the Mongolian Parliament. Here we could see the number of new buildings that had been built in the last ten years, making it a strong commercial centre in central Asia.

Sukhbaatar Square a place where School Reunions meet up and is a popular place for wedding photographs

Looking towards the Blue Sky Tower in UB

We were also treated to an evening of culture, music and dance at a local Theatre, which was packed to the rafters to watch the impressive show and experience the legendary throat singing.

Tip: take lots of photographs

Mount Tsetseguun 2256m

On Monday 5^th August, we did our first acclimatisation peak, which lies to the south of Ulaanbaatar. The smooth tarmac of the centre soon gave way to the rutted roads I remember from when I was here in 2002. This is the highest mountain in the Bogd Khan National Park. It was founded in 1778, which makes it one of the oldest protected parks in the world. It was a very pleasant walk through the forests, which gave us shelter from the heat of the sun.

The walk took around three hours up to the summit rocks and an ascent of around 572m. As we had lunch at the top, the heavens opened and it poured down, this carried on all the way down the mountain. At times, we had to dodge the tributaries that had formed and were racing us as we descended.

Tip: take your time walking up this.

Mt Tsetseguun summit

Arriving at Olgi airport

Flight to Olgi

On Tuesday 6^th August, we flew to Olgi in the Western part of Mongolia and were then transported to a camp just outside Tsa. The baggage allowance is only 15kg, so inevitably, we were all over the weight and we were charged $5 per kilo (as expected).

Tip: wear all the heavy gear

Walk into Base Camp

Wednesday 7^th August, we were driven to the Oigor River National Park gate to start the walk of around 11km to Base Camp. We only had light sacks as most of our gear was going to be transported by Bactrian camels. The walk allowed us all to drift into our own thoughts as we got the miles under our feet, stopping for drinks and photo opportunities. All the while gazing across the horizon for the first glimpse of our snowy peaks.

Tip: take your ear plugs

Camels transporting bags to BC

Base camp looking up the glacier

Base Camp and beyond

It was a busy place when we arrived with at least eight other expeditions there, from all corners of the world. Our tents were already up, and we were greeted with hot tea and biscuits, a lovely and welcome surprise.

Thursday 8^th August, we did some glacier work and looked at group travel on the glacier and a couple of useful knots. We practised walking up and down slopes, ice axe breaking, clipping into a fixed line and abseiling.

Looking down the Potaniin glacier

Friday 9^th August, we all went up to ABC as the horses took up the food supplies. It was amazing how they managed on the snow. The route up the glacier took a line to the right of centre up the dry glacier. It was easy going with just the steady metallic noise of the crampons on the ice to break the silence. Further, up the glacier it became transformed into a wet glacier with a few crevasses here and there. At this point, the wind got up and we soon had light rain. The final push took us behind a rock island and up a snow slope to be greeted by a row of tents and ABC, with a great view of Mount Khuiten in front of us.

During the evening, the wind began to pick up and it snowed through the night, along with some very impressive thunder and lightning. There was a fair covering of snow in the morning with the wind blowing the snow through the front flaps.

Throughout Saturday 10^th August, it was a little frustrating to see lots of fresh snow on all the slopes on the mountains around us. We made the best out of a bad day and once we had a break in the weather, the team played cricket and baseball with the snow and an ice axe. We also managed to build a snowman with some very interesting attachments.

ABC with Khuiten in background

ABC

Mount Nairamdal 4,180m

On Sunday 11^th August, we woke up at around 8.30 a.m. as the wind and the snow had stopped. It was blue sky and quite mild outside the tent. After being cooped up in the tent for most of yesterday, it was good to get out, stretch, and walk about.

The plan had been to climb Mount Khuiten this morning, but aware of potential avalanche danger, we compromised and went up Mount Nairamdal 4180m. This seemed a much better and safer option given the snow conditions. After having a quick breakfast, we roped up into two groups and set off across the glacier towards Nairamdal.

The snow was still reasonably firm but there were some crevasses on the way up towards the ridge on Nairamdal. We were followed by a group of friends of our guides, who were going to snowboard down the face of our mountain. It was a straightforward route up the mountain, with the occasional step collapsing and going up to our knees in snow. It took us a couple of hours before we got to the summit with views into both Russia and China, it was a fantastic viewpoint.

Nairamdal summit ridge

Going down to Base Camp from ABC

After a few minutes on top, we quickly descended part of the way to watch the snowboarder come down the face, before going back to the tents for lunch. Once down at ABC, the group decided to go back down to BC and climb Malchin Peak in the next two days. It was good to get back down to Base Camp to relax and tend to sore feet.

Malchin Peak 4,037m

On Tuesday 13^th August, most of the group went up Malchin peak, which turned out to be a full day. There were several other teams going up the mountain from Israel, Italy, Spain and Norway. The route up followed a path for most of it up the rocky broken ridge, before reaching a couple of snow ridges followed by mixed ground leading to the summit. It was straightforward enough, but it took a long time both up and down.

Malchin Peak

Breakfast time

Wednesday 14^th August, we walked out of Base Camp down to the White River Valley Gate of the Altai Tavan Bogd National Park. The walk out was broken up by visiting a family in a Ger which the team brought gifts for the children. We then camped for the last time on this trip near the exit from the park.

We were picked up by our transport the next morning on route to Olgi but on the way, we stopped off to meet an Eagle hunter.

From Olgi we stayed one night before flying back to Ulaanbaatar from where it all started two weeks previous. Here we had a couple of days with members of the team getting various flights home. We managed to see more sights such as Chinggis Khan and his horse immortalised in metal in the middle of nowhere two hours out of Ulaanbaatar.

We did cram a lot into the two weeks we were there, and thanks to our guide who was fantastic and to the 19-year-old cook at Base Camp/ABC who prepared some of the best I have ever tasted on an expedition.

As on all expeditions the weather was the deciding factor on what we achieved, and though our initial objective was not reached, all the other peaks in the programme were summited.

As for Mongolia, well what a beautiful place it is, full of colour, vibrant and proud people, a wonderful landscape and great food. What more could you ask for?

Interesting Statistics

3,210 T = £1

2,667 T = $1

Shave/Haircut cost 37,000T

Three mountains climbed.

Three museums visited.

Total ascent = 3,710m.

Total of 78.6 km walked.

Corsica Outlook Expeditions Trip July/August 2015

2017-02-05T14:33:00.004-08:00

Memories: Corsica Outlook Expeditions Trip

July/August 2015

This was my first trip with Outlook Expeditions, as I was there as an assistant Expedition leader. I was with the Verulam School for St Albans and we were a team of 16 including myself and the expedition leader.

The students were doing their assessment for the Duke of Edinburgh gold award .

The planning day was very good as the students all checked their gear and headed out to the local supermarket to do all their food shopping that they would need on the Corsican high level route across the mountains.

We flew from Gatwick to Nice, before taking a ferry across to Corsica.

Our Ferry

Islands off the Northern coast of Corsica

The crossing was very calm and very hot in the middle of the day. It was busy with lots of holiday makers on board, some also doing the high level route.

After our arrival we quickly settled in at the hotel and briefed all the groups on the coming days ahead. Each group was given an amount of money to help them buy provisions for the coming days on the trail.

I manged to have a couple of hours to walk around the town and take some photos in the lovely sunshine.

A view of the town from the Citadel

Streets in the centre of town

The lovely blue waters of Corsica

A lovely bay with the mountains behind

The famous citadel at Calpi

The next morning I received some sad news that my mother of 99 years had passed away, so I had to leave the expedition and return home to organise the funeral. But Corsica had left me with a good impression and somewhere I will definitely return to.

What a beautiful country and one that I will come back to and complete the high level route through the Corsican mountain range

Knaresborough ‘My kind of town’

2016-03-05T15:41:00.001-08:00

Knaresborough ‘My kind of town’

The historic market town of Knaresborough in North Yorkshire is mentioned in the Domesday Book. The imposing Norman Castle dates from around 1100. The town grew to service the castle with trade blossomed which led to a market being established.

Although the market was first mentioned in 1206, the town was not granted a Royal Charter to hold a market until 1310, by Edward II.

A market is still held every Wednesday in the market square.

Having moved here in January 2012, I find this market town a fascinating place to walk around. It is full of history and I keep discovering new sights of interest.

The River Nidd is a tributary of the River Ouse and it flows through the centre of Knaresborough. The river gets its name from the Celtic word for ‘brilliant’.

The viaduct which runs over the river was completed in 1851 and carries trains from York to Leeds. It stands 78ft above the river and each span measures around 56 ft across. It was designed by Thomas Granger, who also worked on the Arthington viaduct just on the outskirts of Pool in Wharfedale.

Knaresborough Castle dates back to Norman times around 1100. The town grew and started to attract traders to service the castle. During the Civil War the castle was under siege in 1644 by Cromwell and his Roundheads. When the castle fell it was pulled down in 1646 by order of Parliament. Some of the stone was taken by the locals. Today you can find this type of stone in some of the buildings in the centre of Knaresborough.

St John’s Parish Church was built around 1100 and is as lovely inside as it is outside. Such a peaceful and tranquil place to visit.

The Tour de France came through Knaresborough in July 2014 and passed my front door.To celebrate this Graham Anderton designed cycling sculptures, which are situated near the World’s End public house.

So there we are! A little tour around my town. In fact it's my kind of town - Knaresborough is !!!!

Ken ‘Man of the mountains’ Alpine trip to the Swiss Valais

2016-02-19T15:12:00.002-08:00

Ken ‘Man of the mountains’

Alpine trip to the Swiss Valais

On the track up to the Valsorey hut below the Grand Combin, opposite is the ridge leading up to the summit of Mont Velan.

There is some truth in the phrase ‘third time lucky’, as I was returning to the Grand Combin in Switzerland for a third attempt on the South West face on the Grand Combin. The first time had been a bit of an epic in that I was hit by falling rocks whilst soloing on the South West face as I was around half way up the route. Suffice to say I beat a hasty retreat, then the following year I went back only to have bad weather that stopped me going up.

So this time I went back with the determination that I will succeed this time, after a three day walk in to the Musso Bivi hut, we set off up the West Face at 1.a.m and climbed solo (un-roped) and got to the summit 4184m at 4.30 a.m. to great views of the Mont Blanc range on one side and the giants of the Valais e.g. Matterhorn, Monte Rosa on the other side. Feeling good we then went over the other summits of the Grand Combin, the Combin de la Tsessette 4141m, and Combin de Grafeneire 4314m before traversing the mountain and back to the Bivi.

Keith going up to the summit of the Tsessette 4141m

From the Bivi we then walked 12km over glaciers down to Lake Chanrion before starting our next journey in the Zermatt valley.

Sunset picture ah !!!!!

Our next journey was over to the Breithorn 4164m, which we did from the cable car station (route goes up the snow slope on the right) on our way to the Rossi Volante Bivouac hut.

Breithorn 4164m

The hut was full to bursting with people so we had to Bivi up at the top of the buttress (see pic below), it was a cold night, around -12 Brrrrr.

From our Bivi we had to traverse over Castor 4226m as the snow ridge shows below and then climbed the whole ridge of Liskamm both summits West 4479m and East 4527m before coming all the way back and climbing Castor 4226m yet again to get back to our Bivi site.

Coming over the ridge on Castor 4226m

The 5km ridge on Liskamm

Above is the superb ridge on Liskamm which is over 5km in length which was absolutely fantastic climbing on a knife edge ridge interspersed with rock towers, great climbing, but very windy. From here we made our way back down and stopped off at the Hornli hut on the Matterhorn, but we were too slow and had to stop and turn back at the Solvay hut.

The West ridge in all its glory

Our final destination was the East Ridge on the Weisshorn standing at 4506m and a lovely shark fin ridge to climb up; it is one of the most majestic mountains in the Alps. We had a great Bivi sport and the weather was kind to us, the route was 8 hours long so we had a 14 hour round trip back to our Bivi, then another 3 hours of walking back down to the valley. It was a great route full of great climbing with lots of exposure in a fantastic situation, a real treat to end on.

Coming back down the West Ridge

So for me a very successful time and getting closer to completing all the Alpine 4000ers, only 11 more for me to climb.

Over the 20 days we were out there, we climbed a total of 11,758 m which equates to 38,801ft of ascent; we camped high or slept out under the stars for 15 nights and used various camp sites for 5 nights.

Kentrek Introductions

2016-01-08T07:05:00.002-08:00

Hi

Welcome to my blog. My name is Ken Findlay and I am an experienced mountaineer and College lecturer since 1992 with over 28 years of teaching experience in Further Education. I am the director of Kentrek.co.uk. Our philosophy is about getting people of all abilities and ages into the great outdoors, exploring new areas and pushing personal boundaries. Our website reflects my personal philosophy in relation to the outdoors. I am passionate to promote the benefits of outdoor education and to make it available to all.

This photo shows a group of my college students going up towards Striding edge below Hellvellyn in the Lake District after having consulted the map to increase their navigational skills.

The photo above shows the team being guided down from Swirral edge on the other side of Hellvellyn, on the way down towards Glenridding. this was part of the three day residential, which included lots of team building sessions. the team participated in a number of walks during the week’s residential.

TEAM-BUILDING

The students below participating in a team building session at the Glenridding youth hostel.

Memories of a mountaineer

I have climbed over 200 mountains worldwide and been on 13 self-financed expeditions.

Above setting up camp for our attempt on the Grand Combin in the Swiss Alps.

Ken on the summit of the Durrenhorn in the Swiss Valais, I do Alpine presentations on the Kentrek website.

Ken on the summit of Nevado Pisco in the Cordillera Blanca in Peru, this runs as part of the Expedition presentations.

Ken in the Alps in 1986 with the Zinal Rothorn behind, Kentrek includes Alpine presentations.

The Tien Shan team of 1995, this is one of my favourite expeditions, which included the first ascent of Angel Peak, a dangerous and difficult peak (below).

I am a member of the British Mountaineering Council (BMC), the Alpine Club (AC), the Fell and Rock Climbing Club (FRCC) and the Leeds Mountaineering Club (LMC).

Mountaineer of the year award

Mountaineer of the year award for the new route ‘Noodle Ridge’ on the 2002 Mongolia Expedition. This was a tough route that took me and my partner over five days to climb, no tents, just sleeping bags and bivouac bag.