Page 42 - The Wish Stream Year of 2021 (Crest)

Exercise HARD GRIT
OCdt Sendall
It seemed a disgrace to do a winter adventure training without skis and après bars! However, a small cohort of six Platoon OCdts found
themselves in South Yorkshire armed with: ropes, hoists, and nuts. The plan: to conduct some climbing in the Peak District.
A disgusting Monday meant the group were lim- ited to indoor climbing. Luckily the centre was very well stocked with fresh paninis and coffee. Not quite a vin chaud and croque monsieur, but plenty good enough. It was good to refresh our rope work and challenge ourselves on some technical indoor boulders.
Luckily, on looking at the forecast for the follow- ing four days we had clear skies, no rain, just Baltic temperatures! We started at perhaps the finest single pitch crag in the UK,
Stanage Edge. The aim of the day was to practise rigging and start to warm our bodies up on rock. We worked between VDiff and Severe and managed to hone our rigging skills such that we would be prepared to take
It was good to refresh our rope work and challenge ourselves on some technical indoor boulders
our soldiers in the future. Unfortu- nately, there was still a lot of seep- age which limited us from climbing some of the more exciting rocks.
Wednesday and Thursday were
spent hunting for dry crags and further rigging practise. OCdt Gleeson won the prize for rigging then top roping a very classic Joe Brown test piece on Froggart. Each day was pleasantly finished with a trip to Outside Hather- sage for a fantastic all-day breakfast and coffee debrief. The highlight of Thursday was OCdt
Sendall’s roast dinner.
Friday came very quickly, and we finished the day at Stanage edge climbing the iconic Christ- mas Crack to end and depart back to Sandhurst with Christmas cheer and a well-deserved three weeks off. Overall, the week allowed for some fantastic developmental training and allowed all to practise in preparation to attend JSAT courses once at Battalion. The team would like to thank WO2 Durrans (Southampton UOTC) and Cpl Rowe (4 YORKS) for their support of the exercise and excellent instruction and supervision.
40 SANDHURST