WILDERNESS ACTIVITY. Members of Sweden’s Nest 5 met for a somewhat more unusual wilderness activity full of challenges earlier this month.
On Saturday, 19 June, Nest 5 organised a wilderness trip that was a little out of the ordinary. In the morning, members and activists gathered at the Nybrobacken ski slopes, just outside Borlänge.
The first challenge of the day took place immediately. While some of the members drove the cars away, those remaining were given the task of quickly making a fire. The goal was for the fire to burn for ten minutes after the last member had come running back – something that was done successfully.
The fire was then extinguished, and soon it was time for the next challenge. All the participants had to perform as many push-ups as they could, and then take turns to pick out various items from a bag the organiser had brought with him.
The participants’ packs were weighed, which has now become a little tradition in the Nest – and the man with the lightest backpack was given more things to carry.
Afterwards, the group started walking up Nybrobacken, which is a considerable climb. Halfway up, everyone had to stop and do as many push-ups as they had done in the car park earlier, and then continue up, before having to do the push-ups again.
When the exercises had been completed, the organiser discovered that he had “forgotten” all the food that the participants needed during the activity. One participant had to go all the way down to fetch the food, before being met halfway by another, who helped him bring it the rest of the distance.
The journey subsequently continued down the other side of Nybro Mountain, where after a while the participants found a quad bike with an accompanying trailer. These were put to good use, as the organiser had injured his foot, and the planned destinations were spaced quite far apart.
Next, the group headed to the area around Silvberg Mine, where everyone had to jump into its waters from the edge, which was about five metres above the surface. A Mora knife, an axe and a folding saw were lost to the sunken mine pit.
After all the participants had gotten out and poured the water from their boots, it was finally time for food – which consisted of grilled sausages beside the mine.
But the day’s challenges were not over yet. The comrades travelled to a lake, where they thought they would be making camp before nightfall. But no! Instead they found out they would be swimming 800 metres to an island in the lake. No sooner said than done, they set off. When the last participants were almost at the island, it began to rain and thunder, which continued for quite a while.
The participants stretched a tarpaulin between some trees to escape the rain, which naturally stopped immediately afterwards. It was then time to chop wood from some dead trees and make camp before nightfall. Shortly thereafter, the organiser remembered that more food had been “forgotten” on the mainland, so a participant had to swim back for it.
Soon it was time to sleep. The comrades had a few different solutions. Half of them slept under the tarpaulin that had been put up earlier in the evening, while the other half rigged up hammocks, both ready-made ones and more improvised versions created from tarpaulin and tension straps.
The next day, the tired but happy participants made their way back to the mainland, before returning to the starting point. Overall, it was an eventful and unusual trip for Nest 5!
