Tomasz Andrykowski Unit 9.1
Expeditions
There are lots of different types of expeditions from trekking, climbing to sailing, caving there is loads of different types. Different people and groups participate in expeditions for many various reasons, have different sponsors and different styles of living.
Extreme Dreams with Ben Fogle Climb on Mountain Kilimanjaro
Extreme Dreams is a TV show hosted by Ben Fogle. In the episode that I’ve watched Ben chose 5 people to go with him to try to climb the Kilimanjaro mountain. All of the participants were different in some way one of them was a building constructions manager, another was a survivor of the London bombings, another one was a student, one was a doctor and the last one was just a house wife and mother. They have all applied to the TV show to go on to the expedition and were chosen out of hundreds of applicants to go there simply because they were all different, all had a different level of fitness and all wanted to do it for different reason. The expedition was filmed and sponsored by BBC so the participants didn’t have to pay anything which gave more people a chance to climb the mountain as normally not everyone would be able to afford it. The trip took place in Tanzania in Africa climbing the huge Kilimanjaro Mountain. This was a trekking which had to be done with proper equipment. They were all kitted up ready to climb it. During the expeditions there was a lot of problems with the participants as some of them were lacking in physical fitness which later on was clear to see this but luckily there was a specialist doctor with them all the way up to the mountain so he could watch and observe the participants and then make decisions on whether they will be able to walk it all the way up or whether they would need to come back down as further walk could result in more health related problems. The expeditions took couple of days but not everyone was able to complete the trek as they were either not well enough to continue or they just gave up.
Touching the Void
Touching the Void is a film about two climbers who were fascinated by climbing and they wanted to test their abilities on the highest mountains possible. One of them was called Joe and the second was called Simon. They were very well prepared to walk up a huge mountain but not everything went as planned. In the first day they started climbing the mountain and everything was going well until when they were very high Joe has slipped and fell down and when he hit his leg on the wall of the mountain the whole leg broke leaving him with only one active leg. Simon tried everything he could to help Joe and he tried to hold him but after very long time he have realised that there was nothing he could do and he knew that if he keeps the position they’re in now they will both die so he decided that he will cut the rope holding them both together. When Simon cut the rope Joe fell down couple of meters and then went straight inside an ice cave where he was then left alone. When Simon has cut the rope he then went back down the mountain back to their camp thinking that Joe is dead. Joe has survived the fall but was very tired and had a lot of frost bite as well as Simon who also had it from the snowy mountains and freezing cold air. Joe was trying to climb out but he was failing every time he tried but then when he found a small exit he tried really hard and finally made his way out. He then had to crawl all the way back down to their camp because of the broken leg. Joe was very tired and dehydrated because he did not have anything to eat or drink for a couple of days. Joe has made his way nearly back to their camp but just outside it he did not have energy to go any further but when he was shouting Simon’s name Simon has heard him and gone out to get him. The expedition was meant to take 4 days but really it took them a week and left them with a lot of frost bite and made them a lot of trouble. This was all funded by themselves and they had all of the kit for climbing from their previous expeditions. They were also very experienced climbers therefore they thought that they can make it.
Ellen MacArthur
Ellen MacArthur is a British sailor and charity founder. She have always loved sailing and from a very young age she was always living her dream and sailing. At the start when she was sailing she did not have any sponsors and she had to pay for her boat and all of her kit on her own, she did manage to get the money for her boat and for her kit from working. After couple of wins in sailing competitions she got sponsors who would give her money for a new boat or higher spec equipment which would allow her to sail even more and concentrate more on sailing rather than house or job. After she got a very nice boat and had all the equipment necessary to get her to try to beat the world record to sail around the world in a certain time. She has attempted to beat the record and she did it. She held the record of the fastest sailing around the world but was then later on beat by someone else. She is now still sailing but she is also charity founder and she is helping people with cancer.
Top Gear: Polar Special
Top gear is an automotive TV show starring Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. In this special episode on BBC the top gear crew tried to be the first crew to drive a car on the location of the magnetic north pole. They have used a car Toyota Hilux modified to cope with the extreme conditions that they could find there.
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