Page 13 - AMA Summer 2024

morning sun. Late afternoon, when the sun went behind the mountain the temperature dropped, you could sit in the cosy dining room and look up at the people abseiling off their last climb of the day. It was a magical place where you could really appreciate the beauty of the mountains from dawn until dusk, and is somewhere I will remember for a long time to come.
Zoe Henderson
Via Ferrata
24 Officer Cadets tested their mettle on the various scenic via ferrata routes studded throughout the mountains. This consisted of wearing harnesses with two carabiners which clipped on to steel cables pinned into the mountain to make our ascent. We started with easier routes in order to familiarise ourselves with the equipment, footing, and general layout of the via ferrata. In the exceptionally capable hands of our instructors, we learnt quickly, and it wasn’t too long before we were trying our hand at level four or five routes. A personal favourite was Sci Club 18, a particularly challenging grade five route that offered very few resting points and even fewer footholds with which to heave yourself up. This tested my technical skills and strength immensely and also had my heart racing for five hours of gruelling climbing.
OCdt Aiden Weymouth, intrepidly struggling to the top, exhaustedly said “I’m not sure what’s gonna give way first: my arms, my knees, or the carabiners”. However, at the end of this route, we all had an immense feeling of pride for overcoming such a difficult challenge and enjoyed a well-deserved coffee and apple strudel at the top with a view that would be hard to beat, a feeling we shared many times over the course of the two weeks.
Our first week was spent climbing the routes around Cortina d’Ampezzo and consisted of day trips, such as Sci Club 18. In our second week we moved campsites to Canazei, a beautiful town nestled in the towering peaks of the Dolomites. It was from here that we embarked on our three-day expedition. We were largely given free rein with our expedition, and undertook an afternoon of meticulous planning and organising. This helped hugely with our team cohesion, and organisa- tional and briefing skills.
We began our expedition with the hardest route in the area, the Via Ferrata Cesare Piazzetta, which consisted largely of smooth limestone, treacherous footing, and difficult overhangs. The weather was clear
Itwasa magical place where
you could really appreciate the beauty of the mountains from dawn until dusk
and the sun was oppressive, but after many litres of water and a lot of wheezing, we completed the route and walked to the top of Piz Boe, the second highest mountain in the Dolomites. The view was breathtaking, better than anything we’d seen yet, and we settled down for the night in a cosy rifugio with sublime food. On our second day, we made our way down a steep descent to a café next to a sparkling lake. Our way back was less chilled out as we climbed the steep ascent back towards our second rifugio, calves burning more than our skin. Finally, on our third day, after sleeping like logs, we came down to breakfast for our final day of the trip. Having filled up to the brim on chocolate milk, we had our final, similarly beautiful day, with our last via ferrata, finishing at the top. After jubilant singing, contagious laughter, a few anxious tears, and more bumps and bruises than I could count, we had finished our two weeks in the Dolomites. There are few places whose natural beauty has roused me as much as the Dolomite mountains.
We are all extremely grateful for the generous grant and support from the Army Mountaineering Association who, without their assistance, this expedition would not have gone ahead.
Harry McGinty
ARMY MOUNTAINEER › 13