Snowshoe Trek for Suicide Prevention
Submitted: Friday, Jun 15, 2012 at 11:48
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Member - Terra'Mer
If I sound like I'm repeating myself I am not sorry because this is a very important issue.
A great trek is about to happen in Australia next month by The Happy Walk called the Happy Alps Snowshoe Trek, or HAST for short, raising awareness about suicide prevention.
HAST is sponsored by Australian Geographic Society and Ocean Guardians and supported by Wilderness Sports, Strive Food, Mont, Bolle, Columbia Australia, ExplorOz (Yay!), Mind Strength, Conscious Planet and lots of wonderful people.
I will be solo snowshoeing 700km across the Alps starting in Tharwa before 7am on the 1st July and finishing in
Walhalla 4 to 6 weeks later.
Hypothermia is a common suicide fantasy and is not an unusual method of suicide so I will be using this snow trek to help raise awareness of how we can all help look after ourselves and each other to maintain mental and emotional health.
You can follow the trek updates and insights while on the snow at the facebook campaign page
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Happy-Walk/181363248596878 and I'll post a blog here when finished.
Cheers
Terra
P.S. The Autumn Happ-e-News and Alice Blog have been delayed by writers block. I'll get onto it soon, hopefully :)
Reply By: Member - Terra'Mer - Monday, Jun 25, 2012 at 11:45
Monday, Jun 25, 2012 at 11:45
I have some bad news.
A major flaw in my planning for the snowshoe trek has recently been pointed out to me and taken out of my control forcing me to cancel (postpone) HAST. It makes complete sense and I feel a very foolish and selfish omitting this from my plans.
The personal risk involved was high but calculated and measures had been taken to prevent and reduce the potential for serious problems but the risk was still there never the less. If there was an emergency I would be putting the many lives of the search and rescue teams and the livelihoods of their families and dependants at risk too.
I have been unofficially warned not to proceed with the trek as I will be forcibly stopped if necessary. This warning is heeded and I am already making plans for a safer Spring/Summer/Autumn adventure.
I will be taking the first of 4 wet season breaks as I walk around Australia when I reach
Exmouth in September 2014. I had originally planned to spend that time exploring Tasmania's tracks but that can wait.
But out of all this has come a good turn of events.
Another walker, Sarah Eagle of Walking Feat, is currently walking from Armidale to
Melbourne (today she is in
Swansea). Sarah will be, literally, handing over the baton "Every Step Counts" to continue walking for mental health awareness as I start the long, slow walk around Australia from
Melbourne on World Suicide Prevention Day Sept 10th.
Sarah has been struggling to find volunteer drivers for her support vehicle so I think it is appropriate that The Happy Walk and Walking Feat can join forces. While I planned to be snowshoe trekking across the Alps I will now be taking care of Sarah as she raises awareness through her own personal campaign walk. You can read more about Sarah's amazing walks and why she is doing it at
http://www.walkingfeat.com/ and she is still looking for support drivers to help her from
Genoa to
Melbourne if you would like to get involved.
Cheers
Terra
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