Page 29 - Wish Stream Year of 2016

and walking along cobbled streets illustrating numerous examples of gothic and iconic build- ings. We were directed to key heritage sites after conversing with the locals. We
sisting of boulders the size of cars. This terrain severely slowed progress, required agility to cross and was compared to Mordor from the
centred our tour around the old
town and were pleasantly aided in
doing so by the punctuality of the
public transport. At the end of a
fantastic day, feelings of trepida-
tion did creep in when the warm
weather quickly turned into a tor-
rential downpour, leaving many of us wondering whether we had packed enough kit to deal with such conditions.
The following day the Alps called and a fast train projected our urban scenery into the classic alpine topography as seen on numerous post- cards. Upon arriving at our campsite, just out- side of Saas Fee the rst challenge arose, how we would cook dinner without any gas or any shops being open to buy any? We overcame this by building a small re, making the most of the non-tactical environment and we felt proud with our tenacity not to succumb to the temptation to retire to a restaurant.
The trekking commenced on the third day with an early start and a serious amount of walking to do. Little did we know how necessary the strength of our group would be to complete the ambitious targets set by our expedition leader. The tracks meandered and were treacherous in places. The routes were unlike any experienced by any of us in the UK with scree slopes con-
Lord of the Rings. Cable swinging bridges across gorges and poten- tial rock falls certainly made people consider the risk we were exposed to whilst hiking.
The nal day of hiking saw us trek
to a glacier and it was eye opening to see the huge in uence it has on the land- scape, creating moraines and transporting vast amounts of entrained material.
Overall, the trip was a huge success and some- thing that will stick with us for the rest our days. We are hugely grateful to the Academy but in particular the Sandhurst Trust for making this fantastic journey possible.
Cable swinging bridges across gorges and potential rock falls...
SANDHURST 27