Page 21 - 2021 AMA Summer

DATE
LOCATION
ACTIVITY
29 Aug 21
Fly to Lyon, drive La Grave
Travel
30 Aug 21
La Grave
Glacial training, Col des Ruillians
31 Aug 21
Goleon
Walk in to Goleon Hut
1 Sep 21
Goleon
Col des Aiguilles de la Saussez (F), walk out of Goleon, drive to La Berarde, and walk in to Refuge du Chátellert
2 Sep 21
Chátellert
Tete Nord du Replat (PD)
3 Sep 21
La Berarde
Walked back to La Berarde, climbing, abseiling, prussiking
4 Sep 21
La Berarde/Ecrins
Col des Ecrins (PD), walked into Refuge des Ecrins
5 Sep 21
Ecrins
Dome de Neige (PD), Roche Faurio (F). Return to hut
6 Sep 21
Ecrins/La Berarde
Col des Ecrins (PD), walk back to La Berarde
7 Sep 21
Chamonix
Rest day / relocate to Chamonix
8 Sep 21
Mont Blanc
Walk in to Tete Rousse Hut (F)
9 Sep 21
Mont Blanc
Summit day from Tete Rousse, via Gouter Hut (PD)
10 Sep 21
Mont Blanc
Walk from Gouter hut back to Chamonix
11 Sep 21
Chamonix
Rest day. Aiguille du Midi
12 Sep 21
Travel
Return travel
team took the Gouter route, and after a 0330hrs start from the Tete Rousse hut, and battling through some high winds and cloud, the weather improved drastically just as the team reached the summit, giving them clear views across the Alps as they spent an enjoyable hour at the top! The table below provides a day-by-day account of the expedition, along with the headline routes that the team completed.
The expedition leadership team, made up of the instructors and the expedition leader, arrived with a plan in place but dynamically altered the itinerary throughout. There were numerous instances where changes were needed based on team ability, weather, conditions, or those extra challenges like a hut closing
at less than 24hrs notice... Overall the aim remained keeping the trip challenging but fun, and achieving what was required by the AMF syllabus. Being the first Army team to summit Mont Blanc in about 3 years was a great bonus to finish on and was testament to the team’s hard work leading up to it.
NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANISATION (NATO)
Taking a NATO team added some great benefits to the expedition but also involved a few extra challenges. The variety it added to the team was superb – compared to a unit expedition, we had a
breath of nationalities,
branches,
length
A ridge on the Tete Nord du Replat
of service and experience. While all were considered novices under the JSAT scheme, there was existing military mountainous and cold weather experience ranging from the Italian Alpine Troops course, to Alaska, to Norway, alongside those who were ‘complete’ novices. For several team members, their national militaries didn’t offer anything similar to the JSAT schemes, so
the opportunity to take part was a unique experience
for
Exercise SELVA BACKSTOP
ARMY MOUNTAINEER / 21