Page 27 - The Bugle 2018

Winter Mountaineering Adventure Training in Scotland
In the early hours of March 2018 in Chepstow, one Platoon Commander, two Corporals and a collection of Rifleman, a Platoon minus in strength, waited in the cold for pick up from the 4 combi vans. After a successful exercise in Kenya, we had been loaded on to Adventure Training courses in Inverness to do Mountain Biking and Winter Mountaineering. We loaded into the combi vans in snowy condi- tions and snow chains in the back, for a 10-hour journey. Having arrived and had a brief from the training Sergeant Major and Training Sergeant, we split into our separate groups and went to collect our kit issue. For the mountaineering course, we were treated to rucksacks, Rab jackets, Gortex and other wet kit, walking trousers, North Face fleeces, selection of Rab gloves, ski eye wear, sun glasses and safety equipment.
The next morning, we met Georgie, a civilian instructor, who began introductions and related our activities to Army core values and standards, comfort zones, team training and a lot of in-depth information about the mountains itself, snow and weather. These briefs continued every morning before we went out. The first day’s training was in the Cairngorms, where we started to navigate to check points in snowy and misty conditions. Warm kit was essential, and ski goggles were helpful. Navigation was done on a bearing as the fog and mist made it hard to see identifiable features. On route we were shown basics of how to manoeuvre through different terrains, using boots, walking sticks etc.
The second day we discussed coping strategies and comfort zones, prior to heading out to the mountains in Newtonmoor. We once again concen- trated on navigation, with more low level and basic mountaineering techniques. Although we did split our group down to individual tasks so that everyone felt like they were participating, we were crying out for more challenging training.
The next day we learnt about avalanches, trans- ceivers and how to use them, before pushing out for our first Monroe, completing it in good time. The weather had cleared up and the views were amazing, the sun licked the surface and made it shine. That evening one of the civilian instructors gave an inspirational presentation on his scientific tour to Greenland, to see how much of the glacier had retreated since the 1970s. Towards the end of the week exhaustion was creeping in. We went back to the Cairngorms and did some low-level drills with crampons. We started going through more mountaineering techniques of how to make shelters, take snow samples and moving up and down harder terrain with ice axes. At the end of the course, we presented what we had learned to the Course Officer. This included Core Values, which we directly linked into the mnemonic Leaders, Comfort Zone Ring, Growth models, what we would do differently as a result to the AT package and how the points will benefit us on operational context, ending with our high points and low points.
In summary, a Winter Mountaineering course run by the ATFW is good and fun, but you need your
IT IS GOOD TEAM BUILDING AND YOU WILL BOND WITH YOUR PEERS
tabbing legs. It concentrates a lot on navigation in the mountains using 1:50,000 with little to no features and the main focus is on ground relief. The instructors are good and it is interesting to see Core Values pitched by a civilian mind. The coping strat- egies are good tools, unfortunately we could not put them into practice as I do not feel we were put in that zone. It is definitely worth going especially for young Rifleman who have just passed out of a training establishment. It is good team building and you will bond with your peers.
Cpl L Bradley B Coy
THE RIFLES
FIRST BATTALION 33
OpsWO does Prelims before another brief on CAST
A WINTER MOUNTAINEERING COURSE RUN BY THE ATFW IS GOOD AND FUN, BUT YOU NEED YOUR TABBING LEGS
Snow biking