Out Bound Training Camp

I joined Great Lakes on 23rd of April 2009. There was a OBT scheduled for us as an ice breaker session on 25th and 26th April at the Adventure Zone, which is 90 km away from Chennai.

We left from our resort at 7.30 AM, but lost our way in between and reached the place at around 9.30 AM. Maj S. R. Roy, former Army man and Adventure Zone’s founder, was already waiting for us. He debriefed us about the day’s proceedings and set the ground rules. We were then divided into six groups: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo and Fox of 21 persons each.

We started with various psychometric tests, which lasted for around two hours. After the tests we were given a demo of Rappelling and Rock Climbing from the experts.

After lunch we played a game of Mine Fields. It was a strategy game wherein some mines were placed on the ground in a bounded area. Four teams had to start simultaneously from the four sides and had to go from one end to other while maintaining the human chain. Only the captains of the teams were allowed to speak through out the game. It was complete a chaos initially and we could complete the game in our third attempt.

Next was rappelling from a four storey building. Though it seemed too scary even with all the safety measures in place, but I went ahead. Taking the initial position is the most difficult step when you have to stand on the edge of the roof and get inclined while holding the rope. After this going down was just a cake walk (or should I say cake hop).

Next day, we started early at 7 AM with rock climbing. We’d to climb on the wall of the four story building. It was the most tiring task. Later we faced the obstacle course where we’d to complete 10 small tasks like walking on a narrow board, spider crawl, climbing rope ladder, passing through tunnel, rope walk etc all in a matter of 3 minutes.

After lunch we were introduced to Orienteering. Wiki says:
“Orienteering is a family of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain. Participants are given a map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they use to find control points.”

We were given a compass and a card specifying the coordinates of next card. It was exhausting to walk hundreds of meters in scorching heat at 2 in the afternoon. Our team could collect only 3 of the 5 cards in the alloted 90 mins, but we enjoyed finding our way through the jungle.

The camp ended with a small talk from Maj. Roy. Our team, Charlie, ended at the second position overall!

It was fun to do so many activities in just two days and definitely to make so many new friends!