Page 103 - Wish Stream Year of 2018

Upon summiting we are exposed to the full force of the easterly wind, and yet even this does not dampen our spirits. For in our naïve minds this was the last great obstacle on our journey, the final test for our weary shoulders and battered feet. After a short pause to take on some water, we turn our attention to the descent. With our line of light still limited to no more than a couple of meters, we trust our fates to a bearing, and plunge forward into the valley; left foot right foot.
It had begun around 1550hrs the previous day, Tuesday 30th October. Our intrepid party departing from start point A and
heading up towards checkpoint Y,
during command tasks, others always knew the right moment to make a joke or start a conver- sation with a struggling companion. Significantly, I learnt that we can allow others to know our weaknesses and thus enable them to help us in overcoming them, but we should never ask the team to compensate for us. I thus waited until reaching the top of X before turning to my patrol and announcing how terrified of heights I am; I hope it provided them some amusement as we sat there at that most miserable of points, or as we moved off on the long march along the seemingly endless, wind battered ridgeline from
checkpoint X to V; left foot right foot.
Throughout the entire exercise we were driven by the one oh-so-tangible of goals; the notorious sub 24-hour completion. It drove us to attempt punitively paced climbs, ankle-twisting jogs down the slopes and ill-advised ‘shortcuts’ across difficult terrain. As we arrived at checkpoint 5, our relent- less pursuit of this ambition led to the
day’s most difficult moment. We had been mak- ing good time and, with just one checkpoint to go, were well under the 24 mark. We had, how- ever, been penned whilst waiting for command tasks for a combined total of 4 hours. This meant that we were now just 20 minutes short of the point at which we would have to bivvy. Despite assurances that this time would not count to our overall score, we still felt a great deal of frustra- tion; our final leg over a steep ridge and down a punishingly steep re-entrant (as it happened my leg as patrol commander) would now have to be attempted in darkness. We reluctantly took our enforced rest and at the first opportunity set out again; left foot right foot.
a truly majestic sunset the welcome
backdrop to our ascent. For all the
hardships the Black Mountains pro-
vided, we could have no complaints
about the scenery throughout our
time there. With the first peak con-
quered ahead of time and a rival
team well within sight, I took it upon
myself to boost morale even further
with an impromptu verse from Oscar Wilde; “I never saw a man who looked with such a wistful eye, upon that little tent of blue which prison- ers call the sky, and at each drifting cloud that went with sails of silver by.” – a tepid response. The first thing LONG REACH taught me: nobody ever wants to hear me reciting poetry. With that lesson fresh in my mind and a mental note to hold fire on Les Misérables for the time being, we pressed onwards to our first manned check- point; left foot right foot.
Over the next few hours my next lesson started taking shape as I began to understand the importance of our individual strengths and weaknesses. Some of our team were excellent climbers, others superb navigators; some shone
...our relentless pursuit of this ambition led
to the day’s most difficult moment.
SANDHURST 101