Multi-Activity Expedition ‘Maple Dragon 2004’, Alberta, Canada, September 2004
Birmingham University Officers’ Training Corps
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Maple Dragon 2004 was a Birmingham University Officers Training Corp (BUOTC) adventure training expedition to Canada. The expedition was based in Trails End Camp (BATUS adventure training centre), which is sited in the foothills of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, East of the Great Divide, and is at an elevation of 4995ft (higher than Ben Nevis).
TEC offered a large variety of different adventure training packages, from which three were offered to this unit as follows:
Wapta Dance - a five-day introduction to
alpine mountaineering on the Wapta or Columbia ice fields.
Rough Ride - a horse packing expedition into the Ghost River wilderness area.
Fast Air - a parachuting venture designed to train novice parachutists up to
free fall (cat 3) standard following the British Parachute Association training
syllabus.
The 42 expedition personnel who variously took part in the adventure training packages had an exceptional time, many achieving individual qualifications. The package offered good basic accommodation, plenty of food but more importantly excellent training opportunities.
Memorable moments included reaching the top of Boundary Peak (2820m) and Mount Athabasca (3570m), whilst travelling across the Athabasca Glacier. Also, whilst horse riding,
OCdt McGuiness and Johnson stopped for a necessary break when two gentlemen on motorbikes happened to disturb them; the last thing the remainder of the group saw of our two riders was of them fleeing across the field, horse reins in one hand, adjusting their dress with the other. Finally, whilst watching the parachuting, two mysterious objects were seen floating down which were eventually recognised as components of a canopy - which turned out to be from OCdt Tasha Wane’s main parachute. Evidently, her canopy lines had become severely twisted and she had been obliged to cut the canopy away and deploy her reserve parachute. She landed correctly and all was ok.We must record a big thank you to all staff of TEC for giving everyone a good two weeks, and to the many others who assisted in organising the trip.
WO2 (AQMS) Brown