Page 35 - Wish Stream Year of 2019

Exercise AUSTRIAN ASCENT
OCdt Cavendish
The minibus departed NC Parade Square on Saturday morning; we piled our skis into the van and zoomed down to Gatwick Airport in high spirits. We made excellent time, so checking in was stress-free. We met our Instructor for the week, Colonel Theakston (REME) and had some breakfast. The flight to Innsbruck was hassle free and we touched down to beautiful skies and sur- roundings and most importantly, lots of snow!
We settled in
and being OCdts who, after a
tough 14-week Intermediate, had completely forgotten how to look after themselves...
the ‘controlled guidance’ of the Colonel; so much for mission com- mand... He was a much better cook to be fair.
The first day of skiing was a challeng- ing one, the first few runs are always quite tough when you’re finding your feet again and recovering from skill fade. We were keen to blast it down immediately, but fortunately Colonel Theakston held us back and focused on improving our technique and
The Airbnb OCdt Wadman had booked for us all was absolutely delightful; a good size, and extremely well furnished by the owner Marcel, a charismatic (and positively mental) local Aus- trian. We settled in and being OCdts who, after a tough 14-week Intermediate, had completely forgotten how to look after themselves in the real world, cooked a rather interesting dinner, much to the chagrin of Colonel Theakston. For the rest of the week we either ate out or cooked under
mountain awareness, something we realised in hindsight was much needed. The day was made more difficult by the conditions, the snow fell throughout most of the day and visibility was poor. However, no one was complaining. We knew once the weather cleared, we’d have a lot of fresh powder to ski on for the rest of the week – something quite rare for April.
Our dreams came to fruition towards the end of the second day, the weather cleared, and we had glorious sunshine and fresh powder for
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