The 130 strong group of Harrow students return to Bangkok this morning after their week spent journeying to Pak Koh Lam a Karen village in the Chiang Dao region. Here they helped to install a new water pumping system in the village for the school.

The materials and pump for the project were all funded by the Harrow students themselves.

Reto, Num and the Widl Planet crew kept things running logistcally and on the river.

Well done to all.

Wild planet photographer Danny “Kojack” Bowes was along so images to follow

Robin

The 2009 season is now complete safe and sound and all of our clients are off to the various holiday locations around the globe. We have an early start in the new year with the 5th January seeing the Year 9 Harrow students begin their raft training for their February Mae Teng Expedition. This years expedition, the largest yet ( 120+ students) aims to provide a new pipeline into the hilltribe village of Sop Khai.

Merry Xmas and Happy New year from the Wild Lodge/Wild Planet crew. :)

I am sitting in Nan waiting for the group to arrive, they have sucessfully negotiated the overnight train from Bangkok and are now on their way to the staging point. Today will see an 8km trek into the Valley staying overnight in the Phu Pha foundation followed by a short 4km trek to the put in at Sop Muang tomorrow morning. Sun is out, conditions are good with the river running at medium level and after the pre trip survey the only thing of note at the moment is a tree we have to portage in the morning of river day two (not the guides favourite pastime :) so things are looking good for a great descent.

Robin

Reto has finished the initial set up of our new Wild Lodge in Northen Thailand in the Muang Khong valley. Images will be posted later. This will be developed along with the local community over the next few months.

Plans are being made with Sal Madden to conduct the first trip on the new self-supported 3 day route from Muang Khong to summit Doi Chiang Dao, Thailands third highest peak at around 6,600 ft.

I have just returned from a recce in the valley area with the team from AIS and our local guide P’Mu and after a hard off road day it looks like we will be putting together a challenging journey program for their Yr 9 students involving an exploratory trek around the Muang Khong valley and a decent of the Mae Teng River in small self contained groups. We found some great free camping sites out towards Hui Nam Dan a Lisu village and will be posting some images shortly

Cheers

Robin

A blog entry by proxy from Alex B, back from a survey trip in Angkor Wat!

Robin,

We found a multitude of great trails, mostly winding through beautiful countryside, and some leading to more remote Temples. We (re)discovered Beng Melea, which 8 years ago was nearly inaccessible. Today a new paved road leads to the place.

Thanks to the slowly developing rural area, we found great dirt trails to reach it.

We managed a few 60km to 70 km loops, which will be part of our programs.

Cycling through rural Cambodia is always a pleasure and at this period, despite some rain, the experience is just awesome. I still think that Angkor Wat and its area is best visited by bicycle!

The Wild Lodge and NorthernTrails team are planning biking tours in Angkor Wat, starting this November, from the Wild Lodge.

Coming soon is our scheduled trips in combination with cycling at Kao Ito, near the Lodge, and in Chiang-Mai.

During our sojourn, we stayed at the comfortable Pavillion Indochine,

(http://www.pavillon-indochine.com) a hotel I can strongly recommend.

On the road again, Alex

An excerpt from a rescue article posted online via the Playak blog…….

“Setting out on a section of river, all the fun points that we rack up by going off of boofs, shooting down slides, and generally whooping it up with our friends can only be redeemed by safely reaching take-out all together. Paddling is a bizarrely individual-team activity in that while we rarely set out alone, it is primarily one’s own self relied upon for rescue when one’s line deviates from plan A. That said, when plan A gives way to self-rescue, and self-rescue doesn’t cut the mustard, we must be ready to act.

When climbers set out with ropes, they are securely tied to each other with figure-eight follow-throughs, ready to catch a fall when one falters. Paddlers ropes are thrown in the moment when molotov cocktails are going off all around. This adds an element of chaos to whitewater safety and all the more reason to evaluate and refine your approach to safety as you progress.

Looking back over the season at a number of rescues in which I was either a rescuer or a rescuee, I have a number of insights (reminders really) to offer…

1. Carry a ROPE. If switching between creek boat and playboat, don’t forget that string! Unless you have go-go gadget arms or spidey-web shooter things, if you don’t have your rope, drive shuttle.

2. Probably a good idea to carry a break-down paddle, first aid kit, and unplanned overnight stuff to make you better at carrying that lug-nut kayak and ballast your boat with hole-punching power. Plus, having that stuff can make you look/be super-cool once in a while.

3. Listen to your spidey-sense. On one particular trip of the summer, I went first through a rapid on beta from the scout, caught an eddy below as instructed, and gave the “good” signal. I then saw that the next rapid was not so good and wasted no time in jumping out with a rope just in case the eddy was missed. Because of this foresight, I was able to keep a friend from swimming into the next rapid (which swallowed his paddle). Getting out is a good stretch for the legs and a good habit.

4. No, Really! Carry a ROPE! If you don’t have your rope with you when you’re out of your boat, you might as well be fill_in_the_blank. If you find a good spot to set safety, open the throw bag and play out some length so it’s ready to throw. If you anticipate throwing a short distance, consider throwing coils of the rope instead of the entire bag so there is less length to potentially entangle a swimmer or snag on rocks.

5. Use multiple forms of rescue. If there are enough people, someone on the bank with a rope should be backed up by someone waiting in their boat in the water. Ropes are good for snagging people, boats are good for the secondary concern of chasing down equipment.

6. When the clock stops, use the time-out. When someone is pinned, getting beat-down, or swiming, look alive and get ‘em out! Once it is a matter of picking up the pieces and putting humpty-dumpty back together, catch your breath and think things through.

7. Use smart pendulums. If a swimmer climbs out of the drink and ends up on the wrong side of the river to be re-united with their boat, a good plan is to use a tow-tether to ferry the empty, right-side-up kayak over to them. If this is not advisable in the scenario and the swimmer needs to be rope-pendulumed across the river, take the time to do the following:

8. once the rope has been thrown to the stranded paddler on the other side, decide the best point to hold the rope from. By moving the hold-point further away from the river, the pendulum vector will bring the swimmer across the river more quickly. This strategy must be balanced with conserving down-stream movement, which can be done by moving the hold-point up-stream and closer to the river. In actual practice this will be informed also by available footing and/or anchor points.

9. use anchor points when possible. A tree’s root mass will probably hold better than popeye the sailor man jacked-up on vitamin B12. A few wraps around the trunk will do the trick. Occasionally a rock chocked between other rocks will work as an anchor, but test this first by tugging on it. If no anchor is available, the more the merrier for people holding on to the rope.

10. modify the hold-point as the swimmer jumps in to take their pendulum ride. If there is room to move further away from the river while holding the rope, doing so can help the swimmer get across. The same can be accomplished by grabbing the mid-point of an anchored rope and moving away from the river with it.

11. Use those cool rings on the back of your PFD. If a swimmer is clawing on a slick wall trying to get out of the drink and someone goes to give them a hand, ‘biner a rope to their ring. If the footing sucks enough that the swimmer needs help, the helper may well end up needing help.

note: They are called “strong-swimmer rings” because they are used in “live-bait” rescues in which one jumps into the drink to help a brother/sister out. These are rare and are more about improvisation and bravery than strict protocol, so I won’t go into further detail.

1. Like sitting in an emergency exit row, “if you are unwilling or incapable of performing these tasks, please move to a different…” Make sure that the people you paddle with also accept these terms and conditions.

2. If you think that running a given rapid may well result in any of the above being needed, consider not running it! Self-rescue is your best option and self-preservation is the instinct that resulted in your lineage surviving from a protozoa to the being that you are today! Wheras climber’s ropes are securely fastened before they slip and fall, paddler’s are not. If you think you may need a clutch save, consider the consequences of a missed-throw or a bungled catch. If the outcome is unacceptable, take a stroll down the side-walk.”

If you paddle regularly and the above seems al double dutch then get on a training course for your own and your paddling buddies sake !!!

Friday 25th September 2009

The group has arrived, set up camp and eaten their last prepared meal! They will be cooking for themselves from now on. Route planning for tomorrows trek is in full swing… watch this space for developments and photos…

…and this does what exactly?

 

Saturday 26th September 2009

First day of trekking after a good nights rest under canvas… All were up early creating gastranomic delights…

 

 Can you guess what it is yet?

 

 

 

Graham delivered his best course yet last weekend. 28 staff members gathered at the lodge for a weekend training course giving insight to adventurous group leadership. A wide range of subjects were covered and the attendees went away with a few additional skills to add to their trip leaders tool kit.

Sitting here for the last hour watching some major electrical storm going on, seeing large amounts of water fall, and realizing that the roofing and drainage whilst being adequate cannot cope with horizontal rain blown by the wind.
Time to consider drop down clear blinds like they use in the southern island resorts. Three years plus in and still learning !!