DfE: Pushing to the peak

KAREEM SAID reveals how he overcame the physical challenges of hiking with a heavy pack in cold, wet weather to conquer long distances and steep summits over a four-day Duke of Edinburgh awards gold practice expedition in the Dales

HAVING done bronze DofE, I dreaded this trip greatly. First of all, it was four days of constant walking, instead of two. That meant more food less clothes, right? That was already the first mistake I made, and we have not even arrived at the set-off point. The night before the expedition came along and as I stockpiled food in my rucksack as if I was preparing for a nuclear fallout, the forecast looked sunny and mildly chilly: peaceful is the word that came to my mind, so I took fewer layers but still enough to be sufficient. And it was. Barely. And so, after squeezing and pushing and pulling zips closed, the rucksack was bursting with excitement and flavour. In other words, it was full of Pot Noodles and energy bars. I try it on and struggle a little bit to keep my back from collapsing and my collar bones from being pulverised, my mother sternly warned me to take a few Innocent drinks cartons out (I had about 16) trying to convince me that liquid is heavy. I took none of her advice and in full confidence responded: “What is the worst thing that could possibly happen?”

The next day came, and I was all ready to get this over and done with, I had an Easter holiday to spend. The bag felt a bit too heavy for comfort, so I took out what was not necessary: gloves, hat and extra socks for warmth. Like I said, in the wonderful weather that I was about to experience, it was completely unnecessary to have these items, which meant more room for food - and what could possibly go wrong? So, I headed to the site with my excitement growing and my survival chances shrinking. I said goodbye to the family, I was not going to miss them much, especially after twenty minutes into the expedition.

A few pictures here and there and we set off as a team from Barnard Castle to begin the great, tedious journey. Twenty-three steps in and I already regretted the excess food that I packed, and having the fitness of a sloth, my regret was exponentially increasing. The great boost of confidence that I had carried me on, but such overconfidence was quickly punished by the Yorkshire Dales weather. The clouds came in and swallowed up the sun in a matter of minutes and all my hopes and dreams were broken down to the dread and fear that I had initially.

The wind came in hard and persistent, weathering the entire team down. Feeling like a truck driving with half its wheels veering on the edge of a cliff, my prayers were long and intense for the two hours of steep narrow incline that we encountered. The rain came in and the temperature dropped further than someone carrying more than half their weight in food and a few extra grams of clothes would have if the wind managed to force them to slip down a certain hill.

I lost sensation in both feet and hands, and already felt like booking an early trip back home, but I couldn't leave my team with a man down. Though I wouldn't blame them for leaving me, as I was dragging them behind significantly. We were the last of the groups to reach Reeth, though we started the expedition first.

Once we reached the camping site, I collapsed on the ground, in what seemed to be my final resting place, staring unto the grey sky above. I had the pleasure to close my eyes for a sweet twenty seconds, before I had to be dragged to set up the tents.

So, we set up the tents, had our pretty-much-ready dinners, did the washing up and then spent the remaining minutes of sunlight pondering about the rest of the trip. The pondering bit was a lonely activity though: it was just me wishing a quick one. But as I headed to the loo block to change into some more warm and comfortable clothing, I realised that the showers cost 20pence for every five minutes. I relay the news, much to the lack of the surprise of everyone else, who really looked at me in what seemed to be “What did you expect?”. Having done half of the AS chemistry course, I could not with my knowledge and experience predict that twenty pence was equated to five minutes. Now that I am writing this, what would be the point of spending money if you still could drain the entire of the water network in the area, so it makes sense that there is a narrow time limit to get warm. Clean, I meant.

Soon it was 9pm, and I was looking forward for a deep sleep into day four and to dream the rest of the trip away. Slightly frustrated from the game of Uno I missed for being too late, I wrapped up myself in a cocoon of insulation. Problem was, it did not keep any heat in, just cold. I never really knew the meaning of misery until this moment. In the damp, freezing chill of the night, my feet were slowly disassociating from the rest of my body. Never mind frostbite, they were frost-gobbled-up. I managed to salvage 45 minutes of sleep. I woke up really early, and after wasting £1.20 in the showers trying to reconcile with my own toes. I headed out to prepare for day number two.

Day two, the trip to Keld, was not much different at all, except it was more wet, cold and misery. But at least the showers were free. And it was the second closest feeling to Heaven. After 52 minutes wait, I blasted the water past boiling point, I did not care how red I was, if I were to sous-vide myself, so be it. I wanted to stay there for ever, the warmth was just too precious. Like all good things, the shower eventually ended, and I tried to preserve as much internal temperature as allowed by the laws of physics. Having missed out on another game of Uno I was all the more determined to make it the next night.

I get up the next day having had no sleep due to cold feet again, which I had to make sure were still attached to me at this point. Day three was supposed to be the hardest day, as we set off to scale the highest peak in the area. The weather was much kinder to us that day, the sun decided to finally make an appearance, with no strong winds. Just us and the terrain. And although I was the dragging element the first two days, I had to channel the DofE Young Leader within and took the lead as I dragged on to the peak. Something about the feeling in my fading legs, and the worn-out bones and the withered joints told me that I had that I had to put the gas to the floor and push my body beyond the limits for I had to catch up to my spirit, already jumping on ahead.

We climbed. The terrain inclined. The terrain got steeper and harsher, we got tougher and gave it more. The fight was there and that sense of conquering the inanimate was really settling in. The encouragement went on. The hill must have been getting nervous, we were inching ever more closely to the top. There was I, the guy who held the group up for the last 72 hours, driving on. We had a gate between us and the glory of the summit. We passed it as a group. Ironically that was the highest point of the trip.

After the many shouts and cheers, what went up must go down. Downhill it went, and the dread that we initially started the day with was replaced with pure optimism. Even after I made it to the camp with a hurt back, shoulder and knee, I was never happier to have climbed a hill. Furthermore, I got to finally play not one but two games of Uno.

The final day came, my toes were intact, and I was finally ready to end what I have started. The news that the journey was shortened due to casualties and distance covered raised our morale. The weather was still miserable, but we did not care at all. I was ready to reach the end. ‘Come on, now’ and ‘We’re nearly there’ did little to motivate us, but as we took to the ancient Roman roads, The Final Countdown started playing in the atmosphere, and the last few steps of the journey, we could almost hear Rocky’s theme tune as we expected the credits to roll.

My knee was gone as we reached the end of the road, and just when I thought I had to be dragged the last few yards, I caught sight of a familiar face approaching. To the group, he was a random middle-aged man, to me he was the sweetest sight for any sore eyes, and my eyes were falling out from the lack of sleep at that point. Back to the point, the group gave me a bit of stare as I fell into the warm embrace of my father a few metres away from the end point. They then clicked that I was not hugging a random person.

We had our cheers and group photos, then the journey home, which was the closest feeling to Heaven. All the misery was over. No more exposure to the weather, no more cold feet at night, and last but not least, no more terrain to face.

I limped my way up and down my stairs, went to my workplace to confirm I was alive and enjoyed the most elite of McDonald’s meals while I was at it.

So overall, I hurt the entirety of the right half of my body, faced the most miserable of weathers and slept the coldest of nights. Physically, the experience was simply atrocious but that didn’t take away from the fun we all had together, as a group.

Hopefully next time, having learnt my lesson, the physical side will improve.