Travel+Leisure India & South Asia’s contributor talks to Dr Marcus Ranney and Dr Raina who trekked over 100 kilometres across the Arctic’s chilling temperatures, hoping to turn up the heat on discussions surrounding mental health awareness.
Dr Marcus Ranney and Dr Raina are not your average medics. When not attending to high-performance athletes or IPL cricketers, longevity professional Dr Marcus can be found trekking far off the grid. Dr Raina, a Sports and Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist, prescribes a good dose of outdoorsy movement for optimal health. This year, the couple trekked around 110 kilometres along Sweden’s Kungsleden trail in a bid to raise funds for the Isle of Man mental health charity. Ironically, the couple faced their mental hurdles while in the Arctic, where the absence of human presence or sound paved the way for much louder voices in the mind. Often, trudging in the pristine white led to chaotic thoughts lingering in the deepest, darkest recesses of their minds.
Excerpts from the interview with Dr Marcus Ranney and Dr Raina:
T+L India: What was the main objective behind the trek?
Dr Marcus Ranney: The trek was organised by Expedition Limitless, a charity in the UK. The idea was to raise awareness and money around mental health. We raised around GBP 65,000 (approximately INR 66,33,800). The location was very specific because of the extreme nature of the external environment. And therefore, (there was) a journey of mental resiliency for each of us to conduct it.
When we got there, we found that several people who had joined the trip to support the charity were personally affected by mental health. There was one gentleman, Karl, whose brother had lost his life to suicide. There was another young girl whose mum had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. And so, the evenings, spent in the huts, once we had reached and settled in, were quite often around these themes and conversations. We knew we were raising money and we were each having our journey there. Hearing the stories of some of these people was quite emotive actually.
Dr. Raina: We don’t come with the kind of background that some of these people did, as far as mental health was concerned. But I think, from a personal point of view, everyone has their boundaries, right? You want to push and see how much out of your comfort zone you can get and what that point is. Personally, it was also about my love for the outdoors and adventure — but I’ve never been in that kind of cold environment. For me, it was a very different environment to challenge myself — not only physically, but also mentally.
T+L India: Could you describe a typical day during the trek?
Dr. Raina: No day was the same as the other. However, we did have a kind of routine going on, which we quickly got into once day one went by. Days would begin with morning routines inside the hut. Everything in the cold is a challenge — from using outdoor toilets to getting dressed or even making breakfast. We were told the previous night when we would set out to trek, so everyone had their gear packed and ready to go by that time.
As far as the trekking was concerned, the landscape changed over seven days. We started low and then moved upwards. We trekked over a frozen lake and passed, and were even in the eye of a storm one day! Although the distances varied, the longest we trekked in a day was 21 kilometres, over six to eight hours. It was harder not only because of the weather but also the snow. Once we got from Point A to Point B, we had a hut set up along the route. Once we reached the hut, everyone would typically go in and take off their boots. This was a big deal because we had reached a warm and cosy environment!
Everyone would gather around in the common kitchen area and get a warm drink. Some people were assigned the duty of going and getting firewood, others would just get the water boiling to warm the room for dinner. Dinner was typically a dehydrated bag of a pre-decided meal.
Dr. Marcus Ranney: Water collection was critical. Since all our meals were dehydrated and dried, one group would get the firewood, the other group would get water. The route was generally along a frozen river bed.
The water team had the most exciting challenge! In many instances, they [were] cutting through four to six feet of ice, sometimes traversing rickety bridges to get there. They [would] go down to the waterline with 20-litre canisters, which [would] then have to be submerged under the water and handed back. Then it [would] need to be pulled back to the hut. You would be collecting water for everyone because we’ve all got to cook, drink and even brush with that water. That was a pretty novel thing for people who hadn’t experienced it before.
Dr. Raina: We all looked forward to the sauna! We didn’t have them at every hut though. [It helped] unwind at the end of the day [and] keep us going in the cold. We had timings assigned for men and women. Everyone would line up and get ready to go as soon as we were given the go-ahead for it. It also doubled up as a wash. The sauna was the only place where you could get access to some water and wash yourself down.
T+L India: How did you set up a sauna in the middle of the Arctic? How does it work?
Dr. Marcus Ranney: It’s not what we think about in terms of a typical spa experience; it’s a room. It’s a wooden cabin around 40-50 square feet in area. On one side of the cabin is a basic, old-fashioned stove. There’s wood that you then put in, pour in boiling water and an adjoining coal surface. It is the most authentic and rudimentary manner of saunas, not the type that we are accustomed to. But at that point and stage, it felt like the most five-star luxury!
T+L India: How did you prepare for a trip like this? Did you undergo any professional training?
Dr. Raina: The rest of the team trained for a week in Sweden before the actual expedition. They put their snow shoes on – since this was a snowshoe expedition — and walked around with them to get accustomed. They also made a hole in the ice jumped into the water, and spent the night camping in the cold as a means of learning survival skills.
We were at a little bit of a disadvantage because we didn’t have any of that going in. From an endurance perspective, the organisers weren’t too worried because we run regularly, and have done a few treks and expeditions in the past. Their main concern was our exposure to cold given that we live in Mumbai. Luckily for us, we already had a trip planned to Gulmarg for skiing, which was just three weeks before this particular expedition. The group leader said, “Try and expose yourself to the cold as much as you can”. Even though we weren’t in Gulmarg for too long, that’s what we tried to do. We didn’t wear as many layers and tried to acclimatise as much as we could. We took a lot of cold showers in Gulmarg! This was a nice way of getting that kind of experience.
T+L India: What were some challenges you faced during your trip?
Dr Marcus Ranney: There are three areas of preparation: physical endurance, acclimatisation to the cold and physiological adaptions, and preparing for your mental health. Anyone exploring an opportunity to do something like this should consider all three of those aspects, particularly the third one. Mental health was the hardest for everyone on the trip, irrespective of your physical capability. We met a person–nicknamed Bison–who is an incredible endurance athlete. He swam around the Isle of Man and North Chanel. Even he found aspects mentally challenging!
We had two days of whiteout where winds picked up to 70-80 kilometres per hour. The temperature plummeted to -30° F, the visibility was down to 15-20 meters at best, and there was no opportunity to converse with anyone in those 8-9 hours of walking. You’d just have your head down with four layers on, and no headphones in because the battery would not survive. So, you’re in your head and you can barely see the person in front of you. And you are just walking and walking and walking! That begins to play a lot of tricks on the mind and opens up a lot of demons.
Dr. Raina: I think the challenge was different for different people at different points, in different ways. Some people found Day 1 and Day 2 difficult, and others were struggling on Day 3 and Day 4. Some ended up injuring themselves or getting pressure sores. Some of them found [these sores] challenging towards the end of the trip because it was getting harder to complete the distance physically.
T+L India: Challenges aside, any particularly fond memories from the trip you’d like to share?
Dr. Raina: There were so many things- I think we can all think back fondly about the sauna! We used to get biscuits that we would eat in the hut. Because we were eating out of dehydrated packets, every once in a while, someone opened a packet of biscuits, and it would go around the hut. It was amazing!
Dr. Marcus Ranney: We had to traverse the high pass and come over the valley on the other side. I remember that last one hour as we came up, it was pretty white and thus, low on visibility. There was a cross on the left-hand side which led us down the valley. At that time, we felt like we were the only human beings on Earth. It was an incredibly isolated place, but we were one with nature. You realise how small we are in this massive blue dot!
Dr. Raina: We also got an amazing sighting of the Aurora Borealis. It was quite a good display since we were in the middle of the Arctic without any artificial light around us. So, we probably had the best natural viewing of the Aurora that you possibly could have and that was pretty amazing as well!
T+L India: Any advice for beginners looking to start trekking?
Dr. Raina: The best way is to get up, get out and get moving! Start small, but start soon. You don’t have to plan the perfect trip. It doesn’t have to have all frills and fancies. Do the next best thing available to you. That will just lead to more and more.
T+L India: Are any similar ventures planned for the future? Is there a bucket list of places you’ll want to visit?
Dr. Raina: We both are in the middle of creating a bucket list of 100 places. He does his separately and I do mine separately. I hope some of them match! We have a lot happening, and we don’t know where exactly we’re going next.
Dr. Marcus Ranney: We just got back from Ladakh, where I celebrated my 40th during a marathon. That was great! We had some friends join us. Ladakh is a beautiful place. We’ve been many times before, but to do the marathon there was great fun! There are some more plans in the pipeline, too.
All photographs courtesy of Dr Ranney
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