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Skiing, 'Dragon Snowplough', Austria, Stubai, Jan 2010, ID 900

6 Regt Army Air Corps (volunteers)

On a cold snowy Saturday evening, 15 personnel from 6 Regt AAC (Volunteers) gathered at Bury St Edmunds TA Centre ready to deploy to Austria to undertake week 1 of a 2 week adventure training expedition. Mission; to teach novice skiers to Basic Ski Proficiency level and for those who already had this qualification; to work towards their Ski Tour Proficiency award – otherwise known as uphill skiing!  The training was to take place on the pistes of the Stubai Glacier 30 kilometres West of Innsbruck and some 4000m above sea level.  Accommodation was at the Schone Aussicht (House with a view) Guest house in the nearby village of Neustift where 6 Regt AAC were hosted by Franziska, Howie, Helena & Peter. Howie, in a previous life, had been a TA soldier himself and was an Army Snowboarding champion. It was a perfect base for our soldiers.

The exercise was broken down into 2 one week exercises with 15 participants on each course. Skiers came from varying backgrounds i.e. TA soldiers, NRPS, Regulars and even an Army Cadet Force Instructor. It was organized by Captain Andy Smith, Adjutant of 6 Regt AAC(V) with the instructors, Iain and Steve, coming from the REME. The expedition was made possible by generous grants from 5 Div, the RFCA and the Ulysses Trust. These grants meant that the personal contribution from the soldiers could be kept reasonably low. Training involved six days of instruction based mainly on the piste with some theory content delivered during the evening. Over the course of the exercise participants learned basic ski techniques from the snow plough to parallel turning and even some avalanche training for the ‘uphill skiers’. The training was arduous with a minimum of 4 hours instruction each day often at temperatures of minus 20 degrees. Nonetheless the attitude of the student skiers was always positive and upbeat.
 
Each day involved leaving the warmth of the guest house at 8am and loading the equipment before embarking on a twenty minute journey to the bottom of the Stubai Glacier.  On arrival everyone gathered their personal equipment and headed to the Gondola for the last easy ride of the day.  After an initial morning brief the party split into 2 groups based on competency to undertake the instruction for that day.  The day was broken up with a brief rest for lunch to gather warmth and refuel as well as the opportunity to share stories of the morning's events.  At the end of the day everyone regrouped for the ‘must have’ heisse chokolade before heading back down on the Gondola or skiing down the Wilde Grubbe, a 10km off piste route to the bottom of the mountain, for the adrenalin junkies.
 
By the end of the exercise most participants had successfully gained either the Basic Ski Proficiency award or the coveted Ski Tour award, credit to themselves for their motivation, perseverance and dedication and also to the instructors for the quality of their instruction.  The hospitality that was shown by Franziska and Howie was second to none and made the end of each arduous day of adventure training something to look forward to.  Overall the exercise was a great success with story's that will be told for many years to come.  All those who went had a thoroughly enjoyable, if slightly challenging, time and returned keen to return next year to further develop their skill set.  They may well have to join the queue!

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Dragon Snowplough/ACF Cadet Instructor Lucy Deans Dragon Snowplough/ATpr McCabe 677 Sqn 2 Dragon Snowplough/Glacier Scenery Dragon Snowplough/Group - week 1A Dragon Snowplough/The Ski Tourers set off - up the hill !! Dragon Snowplough/The Ski Tourers on avalanche training Dragon Snowplough/Tobogganing Dragon Snowplough/Week 2 group at the Gamsgarten Restaurant