Page 25 - AMA Summer 2024

HOT ROCK ›
EXERCISE CALPE CHALLENGER
LTt Col Cath Davies – Army Cadets Adviser for Adventurous Training
he Cadet Centre for Adventurous Training is tasked by Cadets Branch at Regional Command to run a number of overseas expeditions each year to give cadets the opportunity to achieve the
Four-Star element of the Army Cadets Syllabus in Adventurous Training. The aim is to provide AT at a level beyond which most units would be able to offer from within their own resources. One of these expeditions was to Calpe in the Costa Blanca to undertake rock climbing.
Many AMA members will be very familiar with the Costa Blanca, a convenient location for good, varied rock climbing in guaranteed good conditions, but for the Army Cadets who assembled at Liverpool airport, this was a journey into the unknown. Their adventure started even earlier, as they made their way to the airport from their homes all over Britain, most of them travelling independently on public transport for the first time. As much as gaining the skills involved in the given activity, it is the personal development opportunities that adventurous training offers young people that make AT such an important part of the cadet experience.
Many of the cadets had never climbed outdoors, their only prior experience being indoors at climbing walls, so the week was a progressive building of skills, from basic belaying and movement on rock to seconding on multi-pitch routes and protecting themselves whilst abseiling. They all successfully completed multi-pitch routes during the expedition, gaining the self-belief and confidence that achieving adventurous outcomes brings.
Maybe more importantly, these youngsters from all over the country and all different social strata were given the opportunity to work together as teams to look after themselves. This included agreeing menus, shopping within a budget, preparing packed meals for the hill and cooking meals in the accommodation, which was a self-ca- tering villa near Calpe. There were also cultural aspects to this, with some of them experiencing being overseas for the first time and seeing different people doing things differently from what they were used to. Indeed, for some, just eating food they had not experienced before was a huge learning experience. One young man, who by his own admission thought that without being a cadet he would probably have been in trouble with the law by now, ate prawns, salad items, avocados and asparagus for the first time. He was being brought up by his father alone, had siblings he didn’t know and no contact with his mother. For him, the social aspect of the trip was hugely beneficial and he took to it wholeheartedly, learning to make scrambled eggs on day one, then
People
say we learn from experience, but we don’t, we learn from having an experience
Multi-pitching at Marin
taking orders each evening, even when not on breakfast duty and getting up to make those who wanted scrambled eggs every morning.
Each day started with a safety briefing and kit check before loading up the transport and travelling to the crag. To start with, Sierra de Toix provided a single pitch venue offering easy set up and straightforward climbs to introduce the cadets to the basics of belaying and climbing on natural rock, with no colour coded holds to guide them! As any of you who have instructed novices will know, it also enabled the instructors to ensure the cadets who would be belaying them when they were on the pointy end of the rope in days to come could actually belay! Once climbing had finished, it was back to the vehicles, shopping, then back to the accommodation to clean up and prepare food. After the evening meal, there was always a review of the day’s activities to get the cadets to reflect on what they had learnt, not only the hard skills but also how they were developing as individuals and as teams. People say we learn from experience, but we don’t, we learn from having an experience, then reflecting on it and deciding what went well, what didn’t and deciding what to do differently next time! It also takes reflection to understand how we are changing as people because of our experiences.
Day two was a foray to a more distant destination, Echo Valley, offering longer and more demanding routes, then for the next couple of days it was back to Sierra de Toix to concentrate on the mechanics of multi-pitch climbing. Once that nut had been cracked, it was off to Marin to put it all into practice. As the final day was a shorter day it was back to Sierra de Toix to enable an earlier return to deep clean the accommo- dation and finalise packing.
Thus ended a highly successful week of adventurous training, giving cadets a multitude of new experiences, introducing them to new envi- ronments, new cultures and different social settings. Many of our cadets come from less affluent backgrounds and would not otherwise have the opportunities to travel overseas and participate in exciting outdoor activities which need instructors and expensive equipment. But these are opportunities we offer our senior cadets, their AT experience starts much earlier as One-Star cadets, where they participate in low level, local AT, such as visiting a climbing wall. If you have AT qualifications and would like to help cadets gain a foothold on the journey to experiences like this, from which they develop physical and mental resilience, teamwork skills, increased confidence and self-esteem and personal and social skills, type your postcode into the search function on www.armycadets.com and find your nearest ACF detachment. They will be delighted to see you!
Setting up at Echo Valley
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