Page 20 - 2010 AMA Autumn

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ARTICLE
SKI TOURING IN THE
ALPS Philip Maddox HBF
Sgt Richard Simpson (famed for being splashed all over the front cover of ‘The Wire’ during the 2007 SP07 exped) and his Regt’l 2IC Maj Bob Lovett both fancied completing the famous and notoriously classic Haute Route by way of ski mountaineering.
A big thank you must therefore go out to my boss, Maj Jez Tose Regt’l 2IC 2 Signal Regiment for allowing me the time to lead this trip.
With the Regt’l 2IC being involved this exped was always going to ‘go ahead’ and so that is where I (Philip Maddox) became involved. Sometime late last year (c.a. Dec 2009) Richard asked if I was busy over this period and if I would like to Guide his expedition over the Haute Route. Yes sprung to mind immediately as it is a classic and very arduous and very enjoyable experience I thought. Not a chance to be missed.
We were based out of Les Contamines and although limited to local ski mtn’ing and glacial areas to perform training days, there was still enough to do for me to get a look at the group and assess the abil- ity, knowledge and fitness before actually committing to the HR.
The Haute route is a high level ski or walk traverse of the French & Swiss Alps, historically commencing from Chamonix across to Zermatt. There are a hundred and one variations and there are