The winter skiing season was finally here: after many hours of planning we were finally on our way to Bavaria. Students joined the Happy Days coach at Birmingham, South Mimms and Dover. Despite the terrible weather conditions and the problems in the English Channel making travelling difficult the Cadets and Adult Instructors arrive in the Ober Allgau region of the Bavarian Alps in good spirits and ready for an action packed week.

The aim of the expeditions was to introduce Alpine Ski Touring and pisted skiing to Cadets and Cadet Force Adult Volunteers (CFAV’s) from the ACF and CCF, further develop those who had previous experience and provide an opportunity for CFAV’s to gain an instructor qualification or revalidate existing qualifications.

With temperature hovering around zero at 1000m, snow was at a premium: the resorts had worked hard to maintain the snow conditions but this was going to be a challenging few weeks for our Instructors to ensure CCAT delivered a safe and enjoyable package

The Outdoor Zentrum in Bihlerdorf near Sonthoffen is situated in the heart of the Bavarian Alps proved an ideal location with 16 ski resorts and hundreds of touring routes within a 30 minute drive. We hired ski equipment locally - Ski and Snowboard Hire Sonthofen provides a cost effective and very efficient service, exchanges and maintenance can be completed overnight to ensure maximum time on the slopes and tours.

Cadet Odyssey 1, 07-15 Feb. Ski Instructors delivered a package of Joint Service Ski Foundation Level One (SF1) awards, CCAT Intermediate Ski (ISC) awards and Snowsport Scotland Apline Ski Leaders (ASL) awards and revalidations.

25 of our novice skiers successfully completed the SF1 course, 11 of our more advanced candidates completed the Intermediate Ski Award (ISC) supported by Snowsport Scotland aimed at developing skiers in readiness for the Alpine Ski Leader Award (ASL). We conducted a SSS ASL enabling CFAV’s to lead groups of Cadets in pisted ski areas all over the world. We successfully qualified 9 Alpine Ski Leaders and conducted a 3 year revalidation for 1 candidate.

Cadet Odyssey 2, 15-22 Feb. Our Second expedition introduced and developed a total of 42 students, supported by 7 instructors delivering a package of Joint Service Ski Foundation Level 1 and an Intermediate Ski Award supported by Snowsport Scotland. 30 candidates successfully gained the SF1 award and 12 also completed the ISC.

These expeditions proved very popular with 90 Cadets and Adult volunteers taking part, 98 Joint service and Snowsport Scotland awards were achieve at varying levels.

The Cadet Centre for Adventurous Training would like to sincerely thank the Ulysses Trust for their generous support.