Page 22 - 2021 AMA Summer

EXPEDITIONNEWS
them. We were blessed by the fact that the team all gelled with each other and got on fantastically. Having French, Italian and German speakers also proved very useful at different points during the expedition, for obvious reasons!
There were some NATO challenges though. In terms of financial planning, it was a bit of a headache. While the expedition benefited from access to extra NATO funding, this came with quite tight restrictions on what it could be used for. A lot of the NATO team members had to self-fund the event as well, paying for accommodation, food etc. all out of their own pockets. As such, there was an even greater impetus to be careful with the money as access to funds or not meant some people’s contributions were signif- icantly higher than others (i.e. UK public money would cover accommodation and food etc. for only the Brits). The financial aspects of the planning and execution
Taking a pause on a summit after an early start
become one of the greater sources of dif- ficulties, so we all breathed a sigh of relief when we finally got the all clear during the exercise closedown, and were able to refund the NATO members with a sizeable amount of their original contributions.
PLANNING CHALLENGES
Trying to get the expedition underway during the COVID pandemic proved one of the more interesting challenges to overcome. There were numerous occasions where others suggested to us that it would be easier to try and roll the exercise another year. Rules for both the UK and France changed repeatedly, insurers wouldn’t cover the expedition at all if FCDO advice remained ‘essential travel only’, and quarantine requirements meant we were unsure whether we could use 2 of our reservist instructors. However, an understanding G8 team allowed us to take risk and book huts and travel early. If we’d waited until the COVID situation had
become clear then it would have been too late. As it was, the rules changed to our advantage just before our final Go/No Go decision on 23rd August, and we were able to successfully deploy – with a lot of COVID related paperwork – 6 days later.
As already mentioned, the expedition was originally due to take place in August ‘20, and was planned initially by a different expedition leader, who had extensive existing alpine mountaineering experience. The new lead had some very limited experience, from over 12 years ago, besides some ‘green’ military courses in Norway. From a planning perspective, this added an interesting challenge, as the new expedition lead was aware that they didn’t necessarily have the detailed knowledge that would aid planning. One such outcome was that the original itinerary the team had taken forward proved to be too aggressive. There were plenty of dynamic changes done once underway to ensure that the program was challenging but also remained enjoyable and achievable for the whole team.
A great benefit to the team was the use of a civilian IFMGA guide alongside our 3 AMLs. We know that the opinion on using civilian guides on AT expeditions varies, so thought it worthy of a mention here. ATG were originally reticent to authorise use of an IFMGA guide but we found our guide James proved invaluable. Firstly, his local knowledge helped ‘buy out’ some of the risk of not being able to conduct a recce, as he was in country, knew the routes, and had first-hand knowledge of the conditions. Secondly, his knowledge of the area, huts and guardians made both planning and execution easier. By
22 / ARMY MOUNTAINEER
Enjoying the view on Mont Blanc