Page 19 - QARANC Vol 15 No 1 2017

THE GAZETTE QARANC 17
with a few lads from 16 Med Regt and we quickly began to bond when faced with adversity. This bond was made ever stronger by a fantastic instructor called Suus; she was able to quickly identify everyone’s strengths and weaknesses to guide us all down some very tricky slopes. Learning from her demonstrations and advice over the following 6 days, everyone’s snowboarding ability developed leaps and bounds and by the end of the week most were confident enough to board down some of the steeper, icy slopes in the resort.
The ninjas, namely Lt Hain, SSgt Martinez and Cpl Foster were all so impressed with the novices snowboarding skills, that by the end of the week the whole unit were able to snowboard together and plans were made for a unit outing onto the mountain on the Sunday. However, after six days of snowboarding, even the fittest of individuals and finest of snowboarders needed some rest. You work muscles that you never even knew you had and you spend most of your time in the squat position, so if you want to come home with bums of steel then snowboarding is the answer. Time on the slopes just flies by and you are constantly having to assess and re-evaluate the slope so it is not easy but it definitely is an incredible experience and something I would recommend to anyone.
After a busy and tiring week of boarding we were all in desperate need of some time off, more importantly a lie in, and that was what Saturdays are made of. So, our Saturday plan was to celebrate a 37-year Army career by shoving Lt Col Penny down a bobsleigh track with an Olympic Bronze medal winning driver – Sean Ollson, ex 2 Para. Exercise Racing Ice, a two-week ice track development camp, was taking place about 30 minutes’ drive from Neustift and our team captain had previously provided medical support, so called in a few favours. This was to be a real highlight of the two weeks with most of the group getting in a bob as well to experience the thrill. It is something that has to be on most people’s bucket
list as it’s an incredible experience, if not just a bit painful on an already sore backside – definitely worth it though. Having got our adrenalin fix for the day, we headed to the more tranquil setting of the Christmas markets of Innsbruck. We were keen to sample the culinary delights and possibly get a few gifts to take home. A Christmas market in mainland Europe is miles better than anything that we can recreate in the UK; it’s just something about the variety and the surroundings that make it feel all the more unique. Having spent a relaxing day away from the slopes (well, sort of), a few people were keen to get back to the mountain to keep perfecting their skills and pick up some serious speed as week two of EX Snowbuck is competition week and with DMG North doing well last year the group were keen to try and maintain this record.
Competition week involves a few different disciplines, for the ninjas and novices the first competition is a wide slalom. This event requires good control and hip action to flick round the gates and high speeds are the name of the game. For the ninjas, Lt Hain, SSgt Martinez and Cpl Foster competed, doing really well and demonstrating some speedy executions of the course gates. For the novices I achieved a second place, followed by Cpl Smith in third and the remainder of team accredited themselves well considering the short time on a board. Cpl Smith achieved a mention in dispatches by achieving her third place after suffering a face plant on the finish line on her first go – don’t eat red snow! The next competition was a narrow slalom – this is where you really have to be on your game and truly strut your stuff on the slopes, flicking your hips forward and squatting back to get from your front edge to your back edge as quick as possible to maintain speed down the mountain – a lot to think about. Our ninjas were first down the course and again accredited the unit well; Lt Hain 2nd, SSgt Martinez 3rd and Cpl Foster 8th. A great team effort on a super speedy course. The novices were next to go and, with renewed confidence, Cpl Smith