Skiing, 'Phoenix Cockney Slide', France, Apr 2011, ID 1117
71st (City of London) Yeomanry
Signal Regiment (Volunteers)
Phoenix Cockney Slide was a Distributed
Training (DT) Level 3 overseas exercise for beginners to advanced skiers, taking
place over the period 1st – 9th April 2011. It was based
in Tignes, South France. The intent was to take seven inexperienced skiers
(Officers and soldiers), and provide them with the instruction in order to gain
the Basic Ski Proficiency qualification and, additionally introduce them to Ski
Touring.
Day 1 & 2: The longest day
The exercise started at Bexleyheath TAC
at 1600hrs. The kit was loaded and we got out the gate at 1700hrs, first stop
Sainsbury’s for food and drink in preparation for our 14 hour journey.
The journey went smoothly, arriving at
about 0700hrs at Tignes Les Brevieresto to find we were homeless until 1600hrs.
We therefore managed to get some personal admin in and catch up on some
shopping. Still, the sun was blazing, our bindings needed fitting and the area
exploring. Check in time and what a delight! Our chalet was lovely, cosy and
compact but with everything we needed. We had our own heated ski store and a
good sized kitchen table to gather round after our days on the slopes for our
basic ski proficiency lessons.
Day 3: Ski legs and a tan
After reveille at 0700hrs, a hearty
breakfast and packed lunches picked up, we drove half way to Tignes Le Lac
before I mentioned the ski passes, whoops - U turn. Our group split into two –
the novices were myself, LCpl (Jo) Giles, LCpl (Roz) Whiffen and Cpl (Mani)
Ghandi and our instructor was SSgt (Jackie) Smith from 32 Signal Regiment (V) in
Glasgow. The more experienced, Capt (Mark) Speeks, Sgt (Charlie) Woo, Sgt (Adam)
Tear and SSgt (Paul) Thwaite were the other group. We all needed to first find
our ski legs and ensure application of sun lotion - there were a few "wrinklies"
around the resort that reinforced the need for factor 30. Under SSgt Smith’s
excellent instruction, myself, LCpl Whiffen and Cpl Ghandi got stuck into a blue
run, both LCpl Whiffen and Cpl Ghandi ended up with broken skis, and all three
of us suffered broken egos! But come the end of the day, with SSgt Smith doing
some first aid on the slopes after a young girl took a rather nasty crash, we
felt we had given it some serious effort, accumulated sufficient bruises and
were looking and feeling a lot better on the slopes. The other group got run
into the ground by SSgt Thwaite who according to Sgt Woo was a "slave
driver who ragged them all over Tignes up and down every gondola and run
possible".
Day 4: Wind burn
What a change from yesterday, waking to
low cloud and rain. We wondered if we would get a full day skiing but we headed
up anyway, arriving to poor visibility, wind burn and some serious hail on the
chair lifts. Cpl Ghandi provided us heaps of entertainment, with a 50% success
rate at departing the chair lifts, taking out either myself or LCpl Whiffen in
the process, he also became very familiar with the ski staff and the females in
the ladies toilet – to be fair there were no signs on the doors! Capt Speeks,
SSgt Smith, SSgt Thwaite, Sgt Tear and myself skied back to Brevieres. Little
did I realise that this would involve moguls!!
Day 5: Accidental black run
Sun back, I joined the more experienced
group which was great, as I came on leaps and bounds as we skied many blues in
the morning and a few bits of reds - I actually felt like I was carving!
LCpl Whiffen and Cpl Ghandi also progressed nicely on the gentler slopes. We all
met up for lunch, but then in the afternoon when trying to follow Piste H into
Le Lac we managed to miss the turning and instead ended up on a red which then
turned into a black! Sgt Woo and myself struggled a little but felt a great
sense of achievement, I only stacked it once!
Day 6: Shut run and ski lifts
Today SSgt Smith joined us and SSgt
Thwaite stayed with LCpl Whiffen and Cpl Ghandi. However the day didn’t start
too well, we headed down a red to find that the run was actually shut and
practically out of snow! What a nightmare, it took us half an hour to get down
about 20 meters. I just couldn’t turn, kept loosing my skis and falling over.
All good practice though and we spent the rest of the day exploring the Val D’isere
side of the valley, including the Glacier De Pissailias at 3400m!
Day 7: Slalom and slush
The good weather continued which was
lovely and we spotted marmots coming out of hibernation. However some runs were
running out of snow and the final runs in to the resort were turning to slush by
the afternoon. In the morning we all stayed in the same area where the snow was
soft and fluffy, we then headed down the Borsat run as a "oner" having
a bit of fun doing a human slalom and practicing some tight turns. We all found
the slush was becoming more manageable by now so when we arrived in to Le Lac, I
still felt I had more run left in me, so we headed up the Lanches lift to do the
Double M red run, which was awesome, the only run straight into Le Lac that was
still in good condition come 1600hrs. It was an excellent run to practice those
parallel turns. Another great days skiing.
Day 8: The face and downhill racing
As it was our last day on the
slopes, we decided to do the timed slalom run. SSgt Thwaite came in fastest at
36 seconds, with Cpl Ghandi winning the wooden spoon award with a time of 1 min
30 seconds. It was a great effort by all and everyone was pleased with our
efforts! Next it was time to attempt the black Olympic run, AKA ‘The Face’!
Sgt Woo and I took our time negotiating moguls, slush and a rather steep
gradient, yet come the bottom we both decided that despite our big grins once
was very definitely enough!
Day 9: The return
With the accommodation handed over in
good order and all our equipment loaded, it was time to head for home. Sat Nav’s
set and if the roads were clear, the journey would take us about 12 hours to get
back. We arrived in good time to catch the early train and arrived back at
Bexleyheath at 2100 hrs. The kit cleaned and packed away, it was time for
farewells and family and a look forward to work Monday morning, great!
We very much appreciate your generous
grant from the Ulysses Trust which contributed to the success of the exercise.
Thanks to
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