Page 82 - Wish Stream Year of 2019

ments of our instructors. After some falls and a failed attempt at pulling off a ‘Dyno’ from yours truly, the afternoon provided excellent slab climb- ing, all members of the group getting a 6a grade a climb. This set us up perfectly for many of the group’s first lead climbs, which
were to follow the next day.
Our third day saw us return to a
lower crag at Sierra de Toix. The
day commenced with some highly
productive ground drills in lead
climbing, which aided us techni-
cally later and certainly improved
our confidence on the rock face. We spent the rest of this day climbing a technically easy slab but became far happier lead climbing. Mr Sul- livan, managed to get some multi-pitch second climber in.
Our final two days were focused on leading more difficult routes. Wednesday was spent at Serra, a beautiful hidden valley with a plethora of crags allowing a good combination of Top rope and lead climbing. Our final climbing day
took us to Vall de Guadar, where we purely focused on leading. A good intense session saw the group climb between 4 and 5 routes. The leading bug had definitely been caught!
This trip could not have been made possible without our fantastic instructors, Chris and Jamie, who
gave us the perfect amount of carrot and stick. A big thank you to them!
Lastly may we all extend our thanks to the Sand- hurst Trust for helping to contribute to an excel- lent expedition.
Exercise GLACIAL PURSUIT
OCdt Gordon-Smith
Ex GLACIAL PURSUIT was a Skiing Founda- tion 1 expedition out to the Stubai Glacier in Austria. Our hardy band of seven Officer
Cadets and one seasoned ski instructor left London Gatwick at 0800hrs on 15th Decem- ber, some OCdts having been awake since 3am to catch the coach. All the Officer Cadets were from 24 platoon, Burma Company and had been awaiting the trip for many weeks as they had stamped their way around the drill square preparing for Sovereign’s Parade. Intermedi-
ate Term out of the way, and we were all ready to trade in the drill boots and MTP for some skis and questionable retro ski suits. We were booked into stay in Neustift, a small town just near the bottom of the glacier. Arriving in our apartment we found we had ended up bang in the centre of town in an apartment frequented by the British Army every year.
On Monday morning, the group cautiously wob- bled into our new ski boots down to the bus
This set us up perfectly for many of the group’s first lead climbs...
80 SANDHURST