Page 12 - 2001 AMA Summer

For those of you who have acclimatisation, and so two days experienced RAF Barkston were spent organising a guide, Heath in the winter, fond purchasing rations and trying to memories of the many hours incatch ones breath!
the local farmers, and the campsites used were truly wilderness locations. Once we hit the Classic Inca Trail, all this changed. The paths were well maintained, and one could only camp at the designated camping sites. Even though it was the rainy season, these sites were packed. The next three days saw the team arrive at the “Lost City" of the Inca's: Machu Picchu. The city was amazing, and our guide was worth his weight in gold, as he chaperoned us around the city explaining all about the Incas.
Unfortunately, we did not choose the best time of the year to visit the Peruvians mountains. The weather was particularly unkind and many hours of each day were spent in the trusted Gortex. The weather ranged from snow through pouring rain to blistering sunshine. However, morale was
always maintained; a simple glance in the direction of the two Royal Navy members of the team and their sodden tent was enough to cheer anyone! Admittedly, by the end of the week they were getting the hang of living in the field!
Having spent six arduous but enjoyable days in the hills, we headed back to Cusco to relax. A fantastic day was spent mountain biking in the Sacred Valley of the Inca’s. Unfortunately, the terrain proved more demanding than our limited skills, and one unfortunate ended up in the local hospital being stitched!
After a brief period of R&R we headed back to the UK. It was a shame to leave as the opportuni­ ties for adventure training seemed endless, but as ever, unfortunately our leave was not!
the crew room must still remain. It was during these many hours, waiting for the fog to lift, that the idea of Exercise Hairy Llama Dragon was conceived.
The plan for the trek was to walk an elongated version of the classic Inca Trail. In essence we completed three days of trekking prior to joining the classic route for the remaining three days. The initial part started at a small village named
Within a few short months of
starting planning, five members
of Joint Elementary Flying
Training School and an addition­ Chilca. From here, we headed
al team member from the Royal
Anglians headed out to Peru for a
trekking expedition in the Andes.
Having spent the previous week
being thrown in the Channel,
drowned in the Dunker and
decompressed, it was very
pleasant to step off the plane into
the warm sunshine of Lima.
After an overnight stop we
headed out to Cusco and started
acclimatising for the trek. At route was fabulous. The only 3300m, Cusco itself requires people we bumped into were
out in to the back of beyond with our guide and a muleteer with two mules (carrying the food). The climb was hard spending two days reaching a 4800m pass, but the scenery was amazing. We then spent a day trekking down to Huayllabamba where we started to encounter the tourists on the normal route. The trekking prior to the tourist
The Group at Dead Women's Pass (4200m).
Campsite on day three, just below the 4800m pass. Left to Right: 2Lt Anna CliffAAC, Capt Claire Mason RA. Lt Chris Bennett RN. Lt Graham Dawson RN. 2Lt Sam Hart AAC, 2U Rob Me Neil R ANGLIAN.