Steve Backshall’s Expedition Series on public television chronicles a series of firsts he and his expedition teams achieved in a single year. Ten distinct expeditions scattered around the planet were executed, varying from mountain climbing in Greenland to whitewater kayaking in Bhutan. Backshall shares this writer’s view that there are secrets to be found and firsts to be achieved today, all over the world. The only thing preventing this is a lack of imagination, curiosity, skills and courage.
Although my writing has focused on light expeditions done at a smaller scale (in time, resources, and expertise required) than Backshall’s more traditional expeditions, the principles and best practices are the same. Team cohesion, training, planning for the worst case, and other expedition principles are important for any expedition.
Backshall’s formula is straightforward: he does the research to find unexplored locations and then puts together a team and plan to explore and discover. His expedition best practices are impeccable, no surprise given his deep experience with expeditionary travel. In this essay, I want to explain and explore these best practices so that you can leverage them on your own trips.
Backshall’s Expeditionary Skill Stack
Scott Adam’s defined a skill (or talent) stack as a “set of skills or talents that work well together.” The idea is that to become extraordinary, you need to either be extraordinary at one thing (this is hard) or be in the top 25% in two or more skills. Adams leveraged his skill at both writing and drawing to become a successful cartoonist. Similarly, Backshall combines multiple expeditionary skills, including climbing, hiking through harsh environments like jungles and deserts, camping in any environment, whitewater kayaking, know-how on how to find secret locations never explored, logistics, safety, and imagination to create extraordinary expeditions that leverage these combined skills.
Backshall’s Best Practices
Match Team Expertise and Chemistry to the Challenges Ahead
Backshall pays very careful attention to his team’s skill sets so that he his team members cover all skills required for a particular journey. Safety is his number one concern while pushing the exploration envelope. Backshall hired Aldo Cane, a former Royal Marine, as his ropes expert and lead on trip safety and handling emergencies. For each trip, Backshall found both experienced locals and the best-in-class experts to bring together global excellence with local expertise. Local naturalists, climbers, kayakers, and wildlife experts seamlessly worked with their counterparts brought in from across the globe to achieve multiple firsts, including the transit of two whitewater rivers that had never been kayaked before, multiple new cave discoveries, and two first ascents.
Train Under Conditions Similar to the Expedition
Backshall trains his teams under more controlled conditions that what he anticipates encountering in the field. He uses the world’s best and most experienced talent for the critical skills required in climbing, kayaking, cave diving, and jungle travel.
Anticipate the Worst Case and Possible Black Swans and Have a Plan for Them
Backshall works hard to imagine worst case scenarios that could occur at all stages of his complex expeditions. But given the remoteness and risks inherent in certain exploration activities like cave diving or running whitewater rapids in jungles, there is really no way to make a rescue from outside the group happen. It’s up to the team to manage safety every step of the way and be able to get themselves out of a dangerous scenario on their own.
Embrace Your Inner Child
Backshall, a naturalist, finds an interesting and rare animal, plant, or archeological artifact on nearly every expedition. The childlike pleasure he gets and shares from this experience is what drives the best explorers forward.
Leaders Drive Optimistic, Confident Energy Through Their Teams
Optimism comes from hope. Hope comes from confidence and experience. Some leaders are able to project optimism based on confidence and experience nearly effortlessly, and Backshall is one of them. He continually warns his team about potential dangers while always having a plan to deal with them.
Expeditionary leaders like Marine general Lewis Puller and British explorer Ernest Shackleton had the same gift. The confidence and optimism was infused into their teams helping them gain success in their expeditions in both war and discovery.