The Road to Nepal: Training for the Himalayas

The Himalayas may still be weeks away, but for the Explora Expedition Team, the expedition has already begun.

Nadia, Anthony, Brian and Edd are preparing for their November expedition, and right now, our training ground is considerably closer to home.

Bukit Timah Hill.

Three Loops. Twice a Week.

Their group training is deliberately simple: three loops of Bukit Timah Hill, twice a week.

There are no shortcuts. They’d walk, ascend, descend, recover and do it again.

Three loops may not sound like much compared to what awaits them in the Himalayas, but consistency is the real objective. Each session builds endurance, strength and, perhaps most importantly, the ability to keep moving when their legs are already beginning to feel it.

Singapore's heat and humidity also provide their own form of training. If they can learn to manage effort, hydration and energy here, it gives them another useful reference point for the expedition ahead.

Alongside the group sessions, each of them is also doing their own personal training, working on strength, cardio and whatever they individually need to improve.

Because being part of an expedition team doesn't mean everyone starts from the same place.

It means everyone has a responsibility to arrive prepared.

Six Loops. One Day.

In mid-September, they will be taking the training up another level.

The plan is simple enough on paper:

Three loops in the morning.
Lunch.
Three more loops in the afternoon.

Six loops in one day.

The challenge isn't just the distance. It's finding out what happens when they have already put in a solid effort, stopped for a break, and then have to get moving again.

How quickly do they recover?

How do they manage their energy?

And perhaps most importantly—how willing are they to start walking again when sitting around at the Beauty World food center seems more attractive?

These are the small lessons that become important on a long expedition.

Then Comes the 100km

The final major endurance test will come on 26–27 October, just before they head to Nepal.

The team will attempt a 100km endurance trek around Singapore within 24 hours, starting and finishing at Bukit Timah.

The route will take them through Singapore from morning into the night and through to the following morning, passing forests, reservoirs, neighbourhoods, the coastline and the city.

This won't simply be another training session.

It will be their opportunity to find out what happens when four people have been on their feet for 12, 18 and eventually 24 hours.

And Explora is opening this one up.

Friends, family, followers and members of our wider adventure community have been invited to join the team for any section of the route, for any distance.

They can walk with the team for a few kilometres, join them for a meal, meet them along the way or simply turn up to cheer them on.

Because expeditions are rarely just about the people wearing the backpacks.

They're also about the people who walk alongside you.

Training Before the Mountains

There is still plenty of time between now and November, but that's precisely why they’re training now.

The purpose isn't to prove that they’re already ready.

It's to discover where they're not.

Every Bukit Timah session tells them something. Every personal workout adds another piece. The six-loop day will push them further. And the 100km trek will bring everything together in one long day and night.

By the time they reach the Himalayas, they hope the hard work will already feel familiar.

For now, it's three loops, twice a week.

Then three more.

Then 100km.

And finally, the mountains.

The road to Nepal has already begun.