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GC JOURNAL
AGC JOURNAL 2016

2016
Snow Warrior

Concentration 2016

By Major Andy Farquhar

Alpine skiing and ski touring (depending upon the skill level of the following our instructors like lemmings
at Joint Service Mountain skier concerned). The evenings in the bar (literally off a cliff) keen to find a new
were a great opportunity to get to know
slope to tumble down. One particularly
Training Centre, Wertach, the other Service personnel, particularly memorable ‘wipe out’ involved the officer
Germany. the adaptive skiers, who threw themselves concerned losing both skis whilst facing
down the slopes on adapted skis and downhill, falling a number of metres
platforms, showing enormous skill and before face-planting in a snow-drift up to
The Point courage. his chest; only his two kicking legs were
visible. He was eventually assisted out of
The aims of Snow Warrior Concentration The Training the snow-drift, once the instructor and
2016 are to undertake Adventure Training the other group members had regained
through the medium of Alpine Skiing and The first day of training was relatively their composure. On some occasions, we
Ski Touring. Introduce novice students gentle, allowing most skiers who had not even stayed upright all the way down the
to skiing whilst awarding foundation been on the slopes in a while the chance slope. If this is any metric against which to
qualifications at Ski Foundation 1 and 2 to ‘find their skis’. However, this rapidly measure improvement, whilst it might not
and to help units to identify individuals progressed to skiing down the slope on one have been pretty, it can fairly be said that
with skiing skills as future potential ski ski, doing 180 turns and a host of other we improved significantly.
leaders that will assist units in the process drills, which were rarely executed to the
of building their own instructors and satisfaction of our instructor (who was By the end of the first week, we were skiing
leaders. Slovenian and had been skiing since she down all the slopes, most of the off-piste
was three years old). Our instructor was (which was less than suicidal) and in a
The Facilities extremely capable; so capable that the variety of conditions. By the end of Day
group had difficulty keeping up with her, 10, we had reached the required standard
The facilities cannot reasonably be as she headed down the nearest black and to pass the Ski Foundation 2 course, which
was a relief all round.
faulted: the lodge was very functional, then cut about off-piste, whilst shouting
well run and supplied plentiful and high out tips over her rapidly vanishing
quality food. Based in the Allgäu region shoulder. The Experience
of Bavaria, Germany, the scenery has to
be seen to be believed and the weather Whilst we were assured by our instructor In summary, it was a genuinely great
was exceptionally kind; most days that we were improving over the course experience. The facilities were fantastic,
it was clear blue sky and great skiing of the first few days, we weren’t so sure. the skiing was first rate and the chance to
on-piste and exciting/terrifying off-piste However, we were soon to discover that get to know other Service personnel was
the more we improved, the more we were most welcome.
pushed. At the end of day three, we were

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