long time! mud, yomping and london
Well this is my first post since before starting 15 months of training at Commando Training Centre and plenty has happened in the meantime!
We're coming into the last week of the first period of training before two weeks of Christmas leave. I haven't been back to Hampshire since the end of August so I'm looking forward to some home cooking and spending Christmas at home.
Training has been so jam packed and intense that a full account would take yonks so here's a quick summary. Following the initial weeks of being messed around and generally made uncomfortable, we moved into the phase of real skill development and physical training. This involves runs with weight, rope climbing and high rope techniques. Yomping, which is carrying full rucksacks over large distances of rough terrain, plays a major part of our thoroughly cold and wet field exercises. Extremely tough and mentally exhausting but rewarding.
I was able to head to the Royal Geographical Society Explore conference in November as a panelist and speaker. I've attended for the last three years and I've never failed to be impressed by the sheer quality and enthusiasm of the delegates and staff. An expedition journalist at Explore later quoted me in his publication Expedition News;
In an expedition sponsorship session, Alex Hibbert, 22, a member of the Royal Marines, discussed the merits of cash versus in-kind sponsorship. “Don't spend six months trying to get a pair of socks,” he said. Hibbert adds, “Consider the polar region as a blank canvas and do something that's never been done before.” Last March, Hibbert led the Tiso Trans-Greenland Expedition - 1,374 miles and 113 days, unsupported and without sled dogs.
We're coming into the last week of the first period of training before two weeks of Christmas leave. I haven't been back to Hampshire since the end of August so I'm looking forward to some home cooking and spending Christmas at home.
Training has been so jam packed and intense that a full account would take yonks so here's a quick summary. Following the initial weeks of being messed around and generally made uncomfortable, we moved into the phase of real skill development and physical training. This involves runs with weight, rope climbing and high rope techniques. Yomping, which is carrying full rucksacks over large distances of rough terrain, plays a major part of our thoroughly cold and wet field exercises. Extremely tough and mentally exhausting but rewarding.
I was able to head to the Royal Geographical Society Explore conference in November as a panelist and speaker. I've attended for the last three years and I've never failed to be impressed by the sheer quality and enthusiasm of the delegates and staff. An expedition journalist at Explore later quoted me in his publication Expedition News;
In an expedition sponsorship session, Alex Hibbert, 22, a member of the Royal Marines, discussed the merits of cash versus in-kind sponsorship. “Don't spend six months trying to get a pair of socks,” he said. Hibbert adds, “Consider the polar region as a blank canvas and do something that's never been done before.” Last March, Hibbert led the Tiso Trans-Greenland Expedition - 1,374 miles and 113 days, unsupported and without sled dogs.