Beyond Rescue Norwegian Adventure

TWO NULC UNIFORMED PUBLIC SERVICE STUDENTS RECENTLY SPENT FOUR DAYS IN ARTIC NORWAY WITH THE “GO BEYOND RESCUE “ EXPEDITION AS THEY PREPARED FOR THEIR FORTHCOMING ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION LATER IN THE YEAR.  WITH THEM WAS CURRICULUM LEADER ROB HADNUM

Rob Hadnum – Norway Diary of Events
Thursday 27th March 2014
The intrepid and excited explorers met at NULC for their Norwegian Adventure. The team met during the early hours of Thursday morning, Josie Grey kindly offered to drive the minibus to Stansted Airport, the bags were packed and off we set.

Once at the airport the NULC team met the other sponsors, and it became apparent from the start that all involved would get on famously. The trip to Norway (Torp), took only 2 hours, bags collected we were then met by ‘Topsy’ the organiser of the ‘Go Beyond Rescue’ expedition. We then had a 3 hour journey to the village of Hovden, upper Setesdal’s largest Ski Resort.

We arrived at the village at 19:00hrs, and we were met by the rest of the Antarctic explorers, who were genuinely pleased to see the sponsors, they made us feel at ease immediately. The team were seated at a huge table and the most amazing food was served. As it had been such a long day we then headed off to the apartment for a much needed rest, ready for the activities of the next day.

Friday 28th March
The team met for a continental breakfast at 08:00hrs, once finished we were kitted out with Cross-country skis and boots. Rob, Lisa, Marcus and Charlotte were put into the same team with one of the explores Jas. Jas had the difficult task of teaching the four of us how to cross-country ski, but to be honest we all seemed to pick up the concept fairy well, especially Rob who was a natural at falling over. After 2 hours of practice the team were led into the hills, followed by many controlled falls, face first into the snow.

After lunch each individual team met up for a mass ski into the village of Hovden, it was a 2km ski in the most picture postcard scenery I have ever seen. Also it was a pleasure to see how much Charlotte and Marcus had come on with only 2 hours of Ski School, they appeared at ease on the slopes, unlike Rob and Lisa who did their best to hide their fear in front of the students. When we arrived at the village we had a look around the shops and everyone shared stories of the trip so far, and by the smiles on all the faces, it was apparent all were having a fantastic time.

The evening consisted of an evening meal and a demonstration outside by Brain who showed us some equipment to survive in the Antarctic, the explorers and sponsors then met up for a social gathering in the men’s apartment for tea and biscuits.

Saturday 29th March
Again the team met for breakfast and once finished we were ushered up stairs for a briefing

by ‘Topsy’. The day would consist of a cross-country climb to the top of a mountain range, for some fun activities that consisted of a tent demonstration and digging out holes in the snow to live in. We set off for a 3 km climb, again most people fell over, apart from Rob who had many comments from the instructors about how natural his skiing ability looked (Marcus and Charlotte may disagree). In all seriousness it was Marcus and Charlotte who were the stars of the show, despite a long and difficult climb the two NULC students never stopped smiling and the other sponsors made many comments that praised the efforts of the two students.

Once at the location we set about making snow holes to cook and live in, the ‘Go Beyond Rescue’ team demonstrated how to make the snow hole. Myself and Marcus ignored all the advice and set about making our own construction, after 2 hours of hard work, we were pleased to how off our master piece to the team of current and ex marines, hoping that they may adopt our design features, however we had polite comments such as ‘that’s, nice’ and ‘ good effort lads’, not the response we were hoping for, in fact Marcus went over to another snow hole to cook his food with Charlotte.

Later in the afternoon we gracefully skied back to the apartments (well we made it back), for

the evening meal. However the best was yet to come. We were asked to go outside, and greeting us were three very excited Norwegian guides who each had a skidoo waiting to take us to the top of a mountain. Now apparently they don’t get to use the skidoos that often, only for special occasions, and this was a special occasion, the journey to the top of the mountain in a sledge attached to the back of a skidoo was certainly was of the most exciting things I have done, however I have never been so scared in my life travelling to a location. At the top of the mountain was a huge burning fire, and seats made out of ice, covered in reindeer fur and we listened to stories of Norwegian life, under the stars, it was absolutely incredible. We then set off back down the mountain, in the skidoos, the second scariest journey of my life.

Sunday 31st March
We headed home.  A 12 hour journey via Torp and London.  On reflection this diary extract really does not do the trip justice.  It was an amazing, exhilarating and challenging trip that will live long in the memories of all who took part.

 I would like to take this opportunity to say what great ambassadors Marcus and Charlotte were out in Norway. Many comments were made about their personal qualities and how they must be a pleasure to teach, and I had to agree with all comments made, they were brilliant and I was very pleased that they had the opportunity to participate in such a fantastic experience. They will have memories of the Norway trip forever.

Also the ‘Go Beyond Rescue’ team are the most incredible bunch of people I have had the pleasure of meeting. I can only encourage you to click on the ‘Go Beyond Recue’ website (
http://www.gobeyondrescue.com) and have look at the challenge they have set themselves. They are also doing this for two great charities, ‘Commando 999’ and the ‘the Fire Fighters charity’. Please donate.

Thanks again to  Topsy, Bill, Matt, Brain, Jason, Martin, Charlotte, Marcus, Lisa and Josie and all of those involved in the ‘Go beyond rescue’ team.