From Mount Kenya to Myanmar: student expeditions get underway

Issyk Kul, Kyrgyzstan (P. Partensky)

As Imperial's Student Expeditions get underway, we hear from one of last summer's adventurers, taking on an even more grueling challenge this time.

For 60 years, intrepid Imperial students have set out to every corner of the globe on unique and daring expeditions combining adventure with research − supported by the College’s Exploration Board.

This year’s ten expeditions include rock climbing on Mount Kenya, surveying in Myanmar and kayaking in Costa Rica (see panel, right).

Among the cohort of adventurers is a veteran − and in many ways pioneer − from last year’s expeditions.

Ellie in Iceland

In 2015 mathematics student Ellie Johnstone along with alumnus Jack Redvers Harris completed the first fastpacking expedition in the Exploration Board’s history. Fastpacking is a cross between backpacking and fell running, using lightweight kit − stove, tent and supplies − enabling exponents to cover great distances over challenging terrain, almost entirely self-sufficiently. Indeed Ellie and Jack traversed 400km across Iceland in just 12 days, averaging around a marathon in distance a day.

Now entering her fourth and final year of study, Ellie has set her sights on an even bigger prize – and has convinced more hardly souls to join her.

Andreas Fieber with the team's food supplies

Kyrgyzstan is a wild, mountainous, sparsely-populated country in Central Asian, nestled between China and Kazakhstan with a population fewer than six million. A team which includes Ellie, Andreas Fieber (PhD in Civil Engineering), Jocelin Knight (3rd year Geology) and Khoa Nguyen (4th Year Computing) will attempt to fastpack around Kyrgyzstan’s ‘Issyk Kul’ lake, the second largest mountain lake in the world at around 182km long and 60km across.

They will trek deep into remote mountain territory through a series of three to four-day excursions covering distances of around 110km at a time and carrying only the bare essentials.

Having met through Imperial’s cross-country club the trip is sure to be the team’s biggest test yet, with mountains as high as 4,000m awaiting. “Kyrgyzstan is outside of our comfort zone in terms of the terrain, and it’s not very touristy so it’s remote, too,” says Ellie. “The high altitudes will be a particular challenge as we don’t know exactly how we’ll all react – it’s going to be a real push for all of us.”

Issyk Kul Lake, Kyrgyzstan

“Last year was the first ever fastpacking expedition granted by Imperial’s Expedition Committee, and this year there are two more, so it’s great to see more Imperial students getting inspired to challenge themselves and go further,” she says.

“Learning to plan, pitch and prep a trip like this alongside my studies has been an invaluable experience as there are a lot of different skills involved,” she says. “I’ve still got a year left on my course so who knows, if this trip goes well maybe I’ll do another next summer.”