By: Blonde Two
Our Blonde apologies to those of you who do not live in the South West. We keep talking about the Ten Tors Challenge and forgetting that it is not a country-wide phenomenon. Some of you have asked us questions about Ten Tors (this may not have been wise because we can talk about it for hours)!
We will do our Blonde best to explain in a precise and succinct manner;
The Ten Tors Challenge is held on Dartmoor during the second weekend in May. Teams of six youngsters (always six) aged 14-19 leave Okehampton Army Camp on the North Moor at 07:00 on the Saturday morning, aiming to return by 17:00 on the Sunday. They carry everything they need for two days plus a night’s wild camp. Each team is given a set route covering ten different Dartmoor tors over distances of 35, 45 and 55 miles. They have to manage everything from their navigation to their emotions on their own; apart from checkpoints, they have no contact with adults and make all of their own decisions. If they get back before the 17:00 cut off point, they get a medal, if not, they don’t.
It is a really tough mental and physical challenge. The weather can be awful and the terrain very difficult. Dartmoor is a tricky environment in which to navigate and teams require a high level of skill and self-motivation. I have seen many of them walk across the finish line in tears.
Many adults from these parts will tell you that their Ten Tors experience was a life-changing one. Being involved with training has certainly been life-changing for the Two Blondes. I can think of nothing to compare with seeing our own teams cross the finishing line (they don’t always make it), young people that we have worked with, laughed with and sometimes cried with; it is always a complete and utter privilege.
They are very, very lucky to have you.
some tedious practical questions, if I may:
having only been on to Dartmoor proper once, on a warm clear April day (but still got septic blisters from the toxic acidic mud!), when even then it was hard to find one’s way due to the low profile topography (much dead ground – hence the military liking it), it is easy to see why these routes are so challenging, even in good visibility: one assumes the Challenge does not allow GPS devices of any kind – but that the teams are (nowadays) allowed mobile phones in case of serious trouble.
From the 350+ ‘identified’ tors, what are the criteria for choosing them from year to year? does each team route in any one year use the same tors as the others in that class, but in different order? do the teams see the routes before checking-in?
It’s hard to see how such a demanding, varied but controllable exercise could be devised elsewhere in the UK – fancy trying to do that on, say, lakeland or pennine tops, with 400 teams: not possible – too far spread out and too much height gain. Maybe the Northumberland moors like Kielder or the Cheviots, but not many.
Other formats perhaps, but not approaching the same combination of skills and difficulties.
So you ‘trainers’ are both very fortunate and very commendable (yes, you may now arise) in your excellent work: the noblest of duties.
ok , no need for answers – I read the website: excellent and impressive, both civilian and military.
only one more question – who pays?
The army pay but have had to make cutbacks in recent years which has led to some of the more remote tors no longer being used. There is a huge army of volunteers involved both with the training and on the weekend itself – part of the magic of it I would say 🙂