Page 80 - Wish Stream Year of 2019

still had some powder and enjoyed a few sat- isfying turns. Aljaz, to our great delight, took a tumble and set about blaming a rock.
Our third tour was the most OCdt led. We set off from the road and immediately encountered steep terrain. Throughout the week, Aljaz had been talking through his decision-making and the factors that need to be considered when route planning. He took a back seat, gave us the map and encouraged us to plan our route up the mountain. We used the strategies he taught us to navigate steep terrain and balanced econ- omy of effort against safety to reach the summit. Aljaz then, itching to use his climbing skills, dis-
mounted from his skis and climbed to the sum- mit. We followed.
On our way down, Aljaz conducted a fascinating lesson on the construction of the snowpack and how to analyse avalanche risk.
Our last two days consisted of a half day’s ski- ing on the slopes of Solden, quite a change of pace after our time touring and with consider- ably more people around. A final coffee with Aljaz to talk through the week was extremely helpful in formalising what we had learnt and linking it back to leadership in a military context. And a flight back to London the next day.
Exercise BACKCOUNTRY CADET
OCdt Hand
Despite being well drilled in waking up early at Sandhurst, a flight from Luton Airport to
...day one was more focused on learning downhill defensive skiing techniques...
the resort we would be skiing in and around for the week. Despite our eagerness to get cracking with the touring, day one was more focused on learning downhill defensive skiing techniques which would prove useful later in the week and developed our off-piste and piste skiing.
Innsbruck at 0700hrs on a Sunday
wasn’t the most appetising start
to Ex BACKCOUNTRY CADET.
Nonetheless, having journeyed
from all four corners of Greater
London, the team linked up at
0500hrs at the airport and made our way dozily onto the flight. Once in Austria, we linked up with our instructor, picked up our hire cars and made the short trip to our guesthouse in Oetz.
The following day marked the first step in our development from downhill alpine skiers, used only to the easy life of riding lifts, to ski tourers. Putting into practice the techniques learnt the previous day, we made our way slowly but surely up to a narrow ridgeline, and then slipped back down. We then repeated the feat on a slightly larger slope. Undeterred by a few falls and stum- bles, our party made strong progress to an area
Having settled in nicely, Monday brought the first day of the SF3 course. After a 30-minute car drive up mountain roads – and bets made on who would be falling over first – we arrived in Kuhtai,
78 SANDHURST