Category Archives: Expeditions

WildMedix Mt Kenya Mountain Medicine Expedition 2018

One of our expedition participants, Dr Stephan Thaele, produced this amazing video along the way by working a little on it each day on his phone as the expedition unfolded.  What a great source of memories!

Staying safe in the wilderness

Having spent many years enjoying the wilderness across 6 continents (hold on Oceania, I’m coming), including wintering over in Antarctica and years of service in mountain rescue, and then gaining the perspective afforded to me by having my own serious wilderness accident, I am very mindful of how we balance the risks and rewards of wilderness adventures.  Greg Hill captures the essence of some very simple but powerful advice for staying safe in this brief video.  Watch and reflect!

Transcribed here in my words:

Greg Hill’s 5 Rules for Staying Safe in the Wilderness

  1. Be afraid – be aware of the risks, and cognitive of the risks.
  2. Be prepared – get educated, find mentors, be guided, get good equipment, take the courses, develop your own mountain sense.
  3. Have a great team – find good partners.
  4. Have a plan – prepare for eventualities, have an escape route
  5. Be vigilant – maintain situational awareness, reassess plans fluidly.

Actually, that sounds like a good set of 5 rules for prehospital emergency medicine, anaesthesia, or any other high-stakes game!

Kilimanjaro Mountain Medicine Expedition 2016 – Photo teaser

A few photographs from the 2016 WildMedix Kilimanjaro Mountain Medicine Expedition, courtesy of our expedition photographer, Chanel Rossouw (@chanel_r).  More to follow!

World Penguin Day!

Seems a bit out of place to be celebrating World Penguin Day as I fly north to the NWAC congress in Vancouver, but any excuse to think of penguins! One of my bucket-list items is seeing every species on Earth in the wild. I’ve done all of these and am about 70% through the list. Check out the infographic or watch this quick video if you are curious about these charismatic birds:

Penguin_infograpic Click here to download this as a printable PDF – thanks, Quark!

 

Midlife Meanders

As must be apparent by now, the Hofmeyr clan is quite fond of the occasional long stroll…if by stroll you mean expedition far and wide in as much wilderness as we can find, preferably carrying our necessities on our backs.  Franelise and I both grew up hiking and camping, albeit in very different environments, and have been able to enjoy some great wildernesses together, culminating in our off-season circuits in the Falklands and Patagonia.  My brother Stephen was well on his way through the 2650-mile Pacific Crest Trail in the USA when he had to return to SA unexpectedly, and plans to return with his new wife Kristen to complete it.  Now my dad David and step-mom Jane are about to depart to walk the Camino Frances (Camino de Santiago, or Way of St James) across Spain to Santiago de Compostella over the course of the next 6 weeks.  They have started a blog, “Midlife Meanders,” to allow us all to track their progress and read about the experience.  Check it out!

Random Photo – Glacier Walking

A small group of glacier walkers is dwarfed by the magnitude of the ice as they descend towards the edge of the Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentine Patagonia.
A small group of hikers is dwarfed by the magnitude of the ice as they descend towards the edge of the Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentine Patagonia.

A quiet moment on call has me trying to make inroads into the photographs from our Patagonian explorations last October.   Here’s an image that was immediately emotive:  A group of hikers on a guided exploration of a small part of the Perito Moreno Glacier as dwarfed by the immense magnitude of the ice.  I love the mystery and majesty of glaciers; the idea of such harsh hardness being in constant flux, constantly flowing between accumulation and ablation while appearing immobile.  You can explore a glacier for an entire day, convinced of its permanence, and then return the next to find the landscape changed, fresh and beaconing with new discoveries.  The mute whiteness from afar disguises endless shades of blue, and the stark purity of the ice unfolds to reveal the pebbles and dirt it has collected along it’s course, like a child of the wilderness who can’t return from an adventure unsoiled.

Patagonia photos are coming…

Yip, the blog has been somewhat silent the last few months.  Life, in contrast and by way of explanation, has been very full.  I hope to post some more content soon, but rest assured that I am working on it in the meantime.  Here’s a random snippet:  Fran in Torres del Paine, Patagonia, looking epic (and relieved) in her First Ascent gear, descending from the (closed for winter) Garner Pass.

Fran looking epic in her First Ascent winter gear
Fran looking epic in the snow