Half way through the drive through France we started to see snow and it began to get cold. By the evening we had ice on the insides of the van windows and were having to wear our ski gear in the vans! Travelling through the night, we arrived at the Barracks just after breakfast and were met by the Master Sergeant who gave a quick brief and showed us around the accommodation. He also informed us the temperature in the mornings was around -16 centigrade.

The first full day of skiing brought with it the delights of the ski school instructress – a fit young Romanian girl. For some, this made it hard to concentrate on their skiing technique. This was also the occasion that SSgt John "JJ" Julian revealed his Iraqi driving goggles, still shedding sand, to shade his eyes on the brighter slopes. These were further supplemented by a fantastic pair of Steve Wonder shades. Unfortunately, the net effect made him practically blind although this made no difference to his skiing ability!

As the week moved on, the expert group under Sgt Phil "After-you" Wallis explored the black runs and tried out most opportunities to get airborne. The intermediate group tried their hand on all of the resort pistes led by Capt Oakley "Need-for-Speed" Turvey who found a quick and painful technique for stopping at speed. The novice group appeared to look confused, shattered and generally terrified throughout the week but all made good progress.

SSgt Keith "Snowman" Butcher’s excursion off piste won the prize of best head-plant of the week when he was ejected from his skis after launching himself into mid air having failed to negotiate a turn. It was some time before QMSI Si "Trick-ski" New had stopped laughing and was able to extricate him from his icy tomb.

To ensure there was an exposure to a wide variety of skiing disciplines, everybody spent a day with Captain Michael "Are-you-going-to-eat-that?" James, on a cross-country course. This appeared quite straightforward until you had to turn at the bottom of a downhill stretch (SSgt Butcher again)!

A really good week was enjoyed by everyone and everybody’s abilities at both downhill and cross country skiing improved so a big thank you to our Sergeant Major, Les Hunt for organising the expedition and to the Austrian Bundeswehr(Army) for their hospitality (but maybe not their food!). Also thanks to our resident 135 Sqn ski instructors, Captain Michael James and Sergeant Phil Wallis for their expert tuition and ensuring everyone came home with no broken limbs!