Page 47 - 2023 AMA Spring

After a few days recovery we all trooped over to Courchevel. In the name of team building and ‘active recovery’ we went to the leisure centre. Between the rapids, water slides and diving boards, this was the closest we came to a life-changing injury during the trip. The true reason for the visit was to enter the uphill night race. Yes, you read that right; ski uphill and get the lift down. My ego at this stage could deal with getting overhauled by the local children but I was buggered if I was going to get beaten by a bloke dressed as a dinosaur, especially as we were all in try ‘ard Lycra. After 3.2km and 500m of ascent we all got a medal, so we could remind ourselves of the purgatory for evermore. The British military getting involved in skimo was generating a lot of interest and Tom got interviewed by the TV and print press. After the race we returned to Areches where we spent a day skiing and sorting kit before returning to the UK. Next stop, the PDG, figuratively.
More driving, this time to Arolla. We had a week before the race itself and finally knew the teams we’d be racing in. We spent the time prepping our kit, practising skiing roped up, deciding who best suited being where in the team and getting to know the climb up out of Arolla. We’d been joined by three people who weren’t in Areches; Lamby and 2 bootnecks who for the purposes of this article shall be referred to as Neil and JP. Annoyingly, they were all disgustingly fit and far too competent. They made a strong team. Speaking of strong teams, Joe, KY and Paul were together again. Radio Alba (Tom) was with Ibbs and Louise. I was back with my old skimo mate Bruce (G’day). Our team was completed by the old ‘wee buftie’ himself,
Someone order a Tow?
Mr Skimo, Pete. These four teams were entered into the ‘Z’ course. We also had a team of Mikey, Sarah and Paul G entered into the ‘A’ course with Nigel as the reserve. The PDG has 2 options; the Z and A courses. The ‘Z’ course starts in Zermatt and the ‘A’ course at the halfway point in Arolla. While we’re at it, the PDG runs every 2 years and is organised by the Swiss military. They spend the months leading up to the race preparing the course and it’s basically the confirmatory exercise for their mountain troops. It’s the biggest skimo race in the world.
From Arolla we staged to Fische, a Swiss military base where all foreign PDG teams assemble. Here we had race briefs, a ging-gang-gooly with the other teams, and presentations by local politicians and the grand fromages of the Swiss military. The day before the race a weather front rolled through, with low cloud over the course and no helicopter access. The
organisers made the decision to push the start 24-hours to the right. Everyone moved from Fische to Zermatt where we were hosted in a big posh hotel. There was a church service where the final race brief was issued, and then back to the hotel. For the whole time we were in Zermatt, we were in uniform. The RSM of the event recognised my TRF and asked if I knew such and such from an interna- tional staff course. It turns out the world is a pretty small place after all. Back at the hotel the staff were making a bit of a fuss over us. There was even an armed guard provided. We later worked out that we’d gate crashed the hosting of the interna- tional defence attachés. As it turned out, we weren’t that special after all. But free beer is free beer. Retiring to the room in wishful hope of some sleep before the 2300hrs race start.
All of us lined up on the start line, with approximately 9 million others. Bonne
Miles and Pete hitting the dawn checkpoint
Pete and Bruce ascending from Arolla
ARMY MOUNTAINEER / 47