This year, the Regimental skiing trip was a little unusual. Normally we head south, and ski downhill, in Austria. However we decided to head north and ski up-hill in Scotland. After an early start and a long drive, with rising excitement as we started spotting patches of snow on the mountains either side, we arrived at our accommodation in Aviemore.

The bunkhouse was certainly cosy, with eight men in one room and six ladies in the other. As long as nobody unpacked their bags, it was fine. Then we were issued our kit, such as boots, skis, poles, jackets & trousers etc. which had to be stored somewhere. The kitchen / dining room was a little cramped, and when we were eating, there was no room for the other guests, but with good will, we overcame this minor problem.

The first day skiing was a Sunday and it was a sun day. The ski lift attendant was wearing flip-flops and a tee-shirt, and sunbathing. The snow line was visible moving up the side of the hill. But as some of us hadn’t skied for a while, we went over the basics of snowplough, parallel turns and how to stop (without falling over), to ensure we were all up to speed.

The second day had better weather for us, as snow showers came along as we were refining our techniques and taught how to go uphill as well as downhill. Not much snow depth, but at least it wasn’t disappearing.

The third day was when it all changed. We were issued more kit, for Ski touring, such as avalanche beacons, probes, portable bothies, shovels & ice-axes.

We strapped our skis to our rucksacks and trekked though heather & peat, up a valley to the bottom of a ski run. With skins on our skis, we learnt about the magic of uphill skiing. (Skins feel like dog fur, stroke it one way it’s smooth, but the other direction is rough). The ease of travelling uphill with this kit is amazing. As we climbed up, we practised some of the techniques we had learnt in our evening lectures. An avalanche beacon was concealed under the snow, and a short while later, we had an imaginary avalanche and we had to locate our ‘missing team-mate’. Possibly it could have been done faster, but it was the first time for most of us performing the drill. Later on, we had a session practising ice-axe arrests, which is great fun, sliding down the slope until you twist round and dig the point of your axe in. Eventually we reached the top of Cairngorm, and looked out across the plateau to where we would be heading out for our ski tour. Oddly coming down the mountain was a lot quicker than coming up.

On the first morning of the over-night expedition, we had an unexpected delay. The plan was to start at the top of the Cairngorm Funicular and ski tour out to a bothy. But we were not allowed to board the train. During the ski season, skiers are asked to stay within the designated ski area boundary and climbers and hill walkers are not allowed to use the railway to travel uphill. The railway operators have agreed in conjunction with Scottish Natural Heritage to operate a formal visitor management plan that is in place to protect fragile areas of the mountain environment. So we had to add an extra 462 metres of height to our route. This delay and the extra exertion proved to be awkward. Later in the day, we realised that the group would struggle to meet its objective of the Hutchinson Memorial hut. It was decided to split the group into two, and for the some of the slower members to head back, leaving the more experienced ones to dash on. The dash was slowed by lack of visibility, approx 20metres. There were huge vertical drops of 300m to be avoided, so navigation had to be spot on. As it turned out, the team that carried on decided that they wouldn’t reach the hut at a reasonable time, so they decided to dig snow-holes to spend the night under the summit of Ben Macdui, which has a bad spirit "The Old Man of Ben Macdui" who can make mountaineers depressed – he did not succeed.

The other team turned back, and en route through the mist, came across a herd of reindeer, which turned out to be rather tame.

The next day, the two teams rendezvoused half-way up the Cairngorm, and tales were told of the joys of sleeping out, mixed accom with WO2 (YofS) Neil (sleepeeze) Port using 50% of a snowhole designed for 3 pers but sleeping 4.

Then after one last bit of downhill skiing, it was time for post exercise admin, re-waxing the skis, cleaning and handing in the kit, and making sure the paperwork was correct.

The last day was more relaxed with a PT session in the morning in the form of Tai Chi on the shore of Loch Morlich with the Cairngorm Mountain in the background, to stretch our muscles back into shape and allow the blisters to heal, followed by 30km cycling in the Rothiemurchus forest.

The expedition was more challenging than I expected and the bad visibility made me aware of how important navigation skills are when up in the mountains. Despite the challenge I am keen to get back in the mountains and hopefully achieve an instructor’s qualification.

LCpl Maham.