In February 2011, Sea Cadets & Royal Marine Cadets and
staff from London and Southern Area joined together to take part in the annual
Exercise Alpine Adventure. They travelled by coach to Bavaria in Southern
Germany, staying in the town of Bad Hindelang.
Once in Bavaria, the cadets undertook a six-day training
package; three days snowshoeing and three days alpine skiing. However the usual
area in which the exercise takes place was affected by the lack of snow that
plagued most of the Alps for a period this winter. Seeking better conditions saw
the group venture by coach into Austria to the area of Ifen
The group walked for the first time on snowshoes along the
valley toward the Schwarzwasserhütte. Stopping along the way, they were
introduced to the essential travel skills of snow pack evaluation, avalanche
awareness and transceiver use. This is part of the established training program
for cadets so that they may hopefully move on to more advanced expeditions in
the future. The chairlift ride to the top of the Ifen was met by glorious
sunshine, which gave plenty of photo opportunities and the chance to take off a
layer or two. The views across the Alps of Austria and Southern Germany were
magnificent.
The second day of their training took them through woodland
where along with more transceiver practice they learnt the skills of
winter bushcraft including, shelter building (shovel up and building with the
use of a tree) and fire lighting, not an easy task with damp tinder. Once a
successful fire was lit, out came the marshmallows! They then moved to a high
mountain hut and accommodation for the evening of the expedition stage where we
were welcomed by a roaring fire and a hearty Bavarian dinner.
The third day saw the snoeshoers swap their snowshoes for
langlauf skis. Although the skating looked more inviting, we opted for the
classic mode of travel, where you ski along tracks in the snow on a given route.
This was highly popular with cadets and will be on the agenda for next time.
After introductions to the ski instructors at the Oberjoch ski
area, the skiers experienced the taxing basic exercise of sidestepping and
snowplough positions, using those muscles they never knew they had. Over the
three days the intermediate skiers were taken higher on the mountain, where they
found fresh powder as the snow had been consistently building since the group’s
arrival. The beginner’s fine-tuned their new found skills and by the end of
the third day, most were able to take the ski lift to the top of the slopes and
managed to get down, helped by the expert guidance of our regular instructors.
The evening activities were as busy as the daytime. Allowing
for a quick shower before dinner, then straight back out again to take part in
visiting the local climbing wall and the leisure pool with its many flumes and
outside pools. There was also a quiz night organised by the younger members of
the group, which the staff nearly won!
On the last night, the cadets combining a photo slide show
with the most popular song of the trip to produce a fantastic presentation
showing all of the week’s experiences. A debrief was conducted, and every
cadet was asked to write about their experience; a selection of the comments are
below:
"I had an amazing time, meeting and greeting new
people, learning how to ski, putting myself in at the deep end and the result
was outstanding"
