Page 18 - 2019 AMA Summer

EXPEDITIONNEWS
EX TIGER AMA
Eddy Tomkins concentrating
RJUKAN19
By Chris Cookson
It has been a while since the AMA conducted an overseas Winter Climbing expedition, but Feb 2019 saw the AMA return to Rjukan, Norway
21members of the AMA from 18 units located across the UK deployed from three airports over three days and managed to make it to Rjukan without incident. Norway was in full winter conditions with challenging driving conditions and even Oslo Airport had difficulty clearing the runways. Never- theless, we arrived ready for what turned
out to be an incredible week of climbing.
The aim of the expedition was to rejuvenate an annual AMA overseas Winter Climbing expedition, deliver Winter Climbing Foundation, gain further logbook experience, have fun, all whilst achieving the aims of AT by challenging ourselves in arduous environmental conditions.
Supported by 5 WCIs (Chris Dowd, Jon Evans, Duncan Francis, Tarquin Shipley, Graham Stephenson), 1 x WIT (Me), and 3 x WCLs (Guy Davies, Eddy Tomkins, Marcus Levens) we were able to expand the numbers beyond the 12 spaces I had originally planned. There seemed to be an incredible amount of interest and unfortunately a large reserve list was left disappointed. We were fortunate to have a good mix of Regular and Reserves with a third of the expedition being Reservists.
Rjukan had been selected due to the sheer quality and quantity of climbing, with easy approaches allowing those without WML to use their leader qualifications. There was plenty of single-pitch to build
Jake Miller and Andy Cox on Kjokkentrappa
18 / ARMY MOUNTAINEER