Page 30 - 2010 AMA Autumn

Alpine Mountaineering Proficiency (Amp) A Story Of Blood, Sweat And (Low Alchohol) Beers
Matt Welch
Anight spent rallying through
the Swiss Alps was not per-
haps, the best prepara-
tions for a good day’s moun-
taineering but after 20 minutes
sleep, I was ready to go. The
sight of the Matterhorn in the
morning sun was enough to
shake the weariness off as we
took the telecabine up to the
Kleine Matterhorn. Our mus-
tached British Mountain Guide
and part-time Bruce Grobelaar
impersonator, Eric Pirie led us
down to the Theodulgletscher
and we promptly set about
making holes in it – in fact the
more we tried to avoid crevass-
es, the more we kept finding
and dropping into them.
Luckily we had all been drilled
well enough to keep our ropes
tight that the falls merely fright-
ened the victim and amused the
rest of the group. Cursing the snowboarders still coming down the piste we trudged down to the telecabine station and nursed our sun burnt bodies, pleased to have survived the first day.
The next day it was the turn of the Triftgletscher to bear witness to our skills and we learnt more about Crevasse rescue than one would ever want to know; in groups, in pairs, setting up systems, hauling out by force, climbing out – we did it all. Exhausted from our exertions we headed down to the Weissmieshutt and the non- meat eater in our group discovered that the Swiss consider a slice of cheese an acceptable vegetarian alternative to a full meat din- ner. The Fletschhorn provided an important lesson in judgment and prudence, turning around less than 200m from the summit, despite some of the group's pleas, and then watching the weath- er close in violently on the upper slopes. The next day, which the group unanimously decided was the best, had an early start and a typically meager Alpine breakfast at the Hohsaas Hutt. The Weissmies was a fairly straightforward snow plod up the snowy,
serac-covered slopes which led to the amazing view of cloud-sea in the valley far below and calls of “Bergheil!” for those who had never climbed a 4000m peak before.
The final journey was firstly a slightly miserable walk in the rain up to the Cabine de Moiry and a glorious ascent of the north ridge of the Pigne de la Lé. This was the vehicle for us to learn short roping and practice our skills of moving together on steep rocky ground. It was another beautiful sum- mit where it was so warm that we were able to have a spot of lunch – a complete contrast to the previous day. The last les- son of the course saw us jumping off a (perfectly safe) snowy edge, to simulate falling into a crevasse, and the others on the rope then setting up the system to rescue the victim; it was inter- esting to see how hard it actually is to get someone out of trouble
on a glacier.
Back at advanced base camp – Randa - the team celebrated a successful course with a few low alcoholic beverages and con- gratulated each other on a successful week. Thanks go to Eric, our ultra-patient UIAGM Guide and Rob, our Pongo-hating AML who both made the week, ensuring it was extremely educational but most of all, extremely enjoyable.
28 ARMY MOUNTAINEER