Our first Warrior Selection was on Dartmoor - housed in the Plume of Feathers Pub in Princetown. 3 teams, 21 people, horrible weather. Perfect conditions to give people a taster of what it's like to be on an extreme polar expedition.
We called for people from all walks of life and echelons of society; and they came. From surgeons to groundworkers, pilots to farmers, office-wallers to captains of industry. The mix was amazing.
We trained them in every aspect which made them relatively safe in what is an inherently unsafe environment. At minus 40 degrees living is relentlessly difficult and immediately dangerous.
We undertook 7 major expeditions gathering vital scientific data for our science partners - nearly 500 people trained and purposed to discover what was happening to our Polar Regions.
Training started in the UK with Warrior Selection. Designed to give you an essence of what it is like to be on an extreme expedition - what Jim calls the "embuggerances of expeditioning". It was tough at times, particularly for novices, both mentally and physically but everyone enjoyed it afterwards!
Everything you can think of that allowed you to become a really good expedition team member. From planning and safety, through medical training and critical crisis management, through technical rope work and camp craft to the all important soft skills of teamwork and leadership - empathy, consideration and kindness.
Split into basic and advanced courses we got you on skis, pulling sleds, learning to cope with living in polar bear territory and how to survive at minus 40 Celsius, etc. All culminating in a training expedition of 8 days, putting all you had learnt together for a bonanza of scenario-based tests.
Finally the purposeful, worthwhile often ground-breaking flagship expedition. Hugely developmental and truly life-changing and life- affirming - camaraderie never forgotten.
