Page 21 - 2011 AMA Winter

£150 ARTICLE
Exercise APHRODITE LION – Mera Peak
In May this year the 2 LANCS sent a team of seven mountaineers to the Solu Khumbu region of Nepal to climb Mera Peak, an impres- sive 6476m mountain that dominates the Hinku Valley to the south of Mt Everest.
Our team was a real mixed bag of experience. CSgt Caris (2LANCS), our main instructor, was our most experienced mountaineer with a climbing pedigree over 30 years. He was highly qualified for the trip with JSRCI, Advanced JSMEL and JSWCL under his belt. Capt Rob Small (2LANCS), the expedition leader and organiser, had worked at Plas Y Brenin before joining the Army as an instructor and had attempted Muztag Ata (7546m) in 2001. My climbing experi- ence is based mainly on multi pitch rock and ice climbing, but I had done several alpine 4000ers including Mont Blanc. I was quali- fied as a JSRCI/AMP and I acted as Rob’s 2IC/team photographer. The remaining four members were physically fit and mentally robust soldiers from the Battalion but had rather less all round mountain experience. They were WO2 Adam Diver (2LANCS, team medic, and G4 rep), Cpl Mark Cary (RLC), Cpl Phil Baldwin (2LANCS) and Pte (later LCpl) Sasha Chilvers (AGC).
Mera Peak is classed as a “trekking peak” by the Nepal Moun- taineering association. It is a technically easy mountain which is roughly graded Alpine “Facile”. It is no push over however – all the usual risks and issues climbing at high altitude still apply and need to be mitigated against. The training conducted by the team was designed to ensure that we stood the best chance of success on the mountain. Those team members who required basic AT qualifi-
Setting up camp at Mera La
ARMY MOUNTAINEER 19