The eighteen cadets (aged 14-17) and five junior instructors were split into 2 groups. Snow-shoes proved to be more high-tech than tennis rackets tied to your feet but didn’t take long to get used to. They also made walking around on waist deep soft snow a great deal easier than trying to travel without them, as we soon found when we took them off. Our expedition leaders soon got us into the routine of not going anywhere without our avalanche transceivers on. We learnt how to use the transceivers to search for a buried casualty, and how to use probes to identify which way round the body was lying under the snow, so that a hole could be dug to get air to the head end as quickly as possible. As much as we admired these new found skills we all felt that prevention was still better than cure.

The next day was the outward leg from the village of Hindelang up to an alpine hut – Untere Ochsenalpe, where we would spend the night. Neither the height gain nor the distance to be covered were especially great but the combination of lots of fresh snow and the altitude made the journey tiring. On our arrival at the hut we were made welcome and the hot chocolate and evening meal went down very well followed by a good nights sleep.

As we made our way down from the hut we were largely forced to re-trace our steps because the original route that had been planned was assessed to have too high a risk of avalanche to be attempted. The expedition was followed by introduction to skiing or snowboarding.

Although the expedition could be viewed as just an introduction to the mountains, it took us all into an environment we could not otherwise have visited and gave us a real buzz to complete it. It also gave us an appreciation of the awesome beauty and magnitude of the mountains. As well as a reminder that nature demands respect. Thanks to all those who made it possible.

Lt (SCC) S.A. Hawes RNR