Trekking, 'Northern Rattlesnake Venturer', California and Arizona, Aug 2011, ID 1152

42 (NW) Brigade ACF

14 Army Cadets from Greater Manchester and Lancashire Army Cadet Forces took part in RATTLESNAKE VENTURER in the South West USA between 31 August and 19 September 2011. It was supported by Adult instructors from GMACF, the Regular Army and the Territorial Army.

Flying from the UK to Las Vegas via Gatwick, the exercise had three progressive phases. These were:

• 4 days at the Grand Canyon to include acclimatisation to heat and dust and a trek of 9 miles to spend the night sleeping under the stars at the bottom of the Grand Canyon and on the Tonto Plateau at a number of wilderness campsites.
• 2 days in Death valley to include acclimatisation to altitude and desert heat conditions.
• 12 days in the High Sierra Nevada of California to trek into the Kern River catchment from the Kersarge Pass in the North to exit at the Cottonwood Pass in the South. The overarching aspiration was to climb to the summit of Mount Whitney, at 14,526 ft the highest mountain in the contiguous USA. In all a round trip of about 65 miles at altitude with mountain packs.

All objectives in the Grand Canyon were achieved with 13 of the cadets spending a night below the rim of the Grand Canyon. Sadly an RTA (nobody injured) prevented the ascent of Telescope Peak in Death Valley but all cadets got to spend a night under the stars at 4200ft in the spectacular surroundings of the Wildrose Valley in the Death Valley National Park as a part of their acclimatisation.

14 happy, but tired, cadets were relieved to be able to complete the full traverse of the High Sierra Nevada from start to finish having trekked every step of the way through very challenging weather conditions. Unfortunately they were turned back from their summit attempt at Mount Whitney by appalling ice and snow conditions above 13,000ft. The whole of the trek from Kersarge to Cottonwood had been beset by freezing temperatures, snow, ice, rain and high winds and a hard snow line at 13000ft on the flanks of Mount Whitney prevented any attempt at a summit climb. Although disappointing all cadets came off the mountain safely, some vowing to return another time to get even with Mount Whitney.

All was not lost though and the Expedition leader decided to use the rest of the available time in the mountains to move to a more sheltered, but very cold, spot at Chicken Spring Lake and concentrate on on-the-job mountain skills including night navigation and route finding. End result was that all 14 cadets and one CFAV came away having qualified for the Joint Services Summer Mountain Foundation (SMF) award and a good part of the way towards a higher mountain qualification for the future.

During the expedition the Quartermaster, Captain Mark Thorne of GMACF, hired some saddle horses and a mule train to bring in a food and clean clothing resupply at Crabtree Meadow on day 3 of the trek. That night it also snowed.

The expedition had several sightings and encounters with huge spiders, rattlesnakes, squirrels, marmots, lizards and deer but was disappointed to see no bears during the trek. On most nights coyote and wolves could be heard in the forests around and on one occasion some Lion scat was sighted, but thankfully, no Mountain Lion.

The return to the town of Lone Pine was marked by a memorable (non alcoholic) Regimental Dinner, with speeches in the Mount Whitney Restaurant on the evening of 16 Sep 11 and a memorable tour of the sights in Las Vegas and shopping for souvenirs before the long flight back to the UK.

The expedition was underpinned by a very generous priming donation from the Ulysses Trust and the Berlin Memorial Infantry Fund. The remainder of the money was raised by a mixture of service charitable grants and individual cadets and adult instructors with a series of fundraising and sponsorship initiatives as well as parental and personal contributions.

The Commandant and Cadets of GMACF would like to thank the Ulysses Trust and Berlin Infantry Memorial Trust for their unwavering and enthusiastic support. Without your assistance it is doubtful that these young people from Manchester would have been able to experience the trip of a lifetime, for some of them it was their very first trip out of the UK.

M Hilton

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