Page 98 - The Bugle 2018

THE LEARNING CURVE WAS AS STEEP AS EXPECTED, ESPECIALLY FOR THE FOUR RIFLEMEN WHO HAD NEVER EVEN STRAPPED ON A PAIR OF SKI BOOTS
On 1st December 17 eight Riflemen from across 5 RIFLES deployed to Val d’Isere in the French Alps for Exercise ALPINE FROSTED BLADE 33, the Infantry’s Alpine Skiing Championships. The first few weeks were spent with superb French instructors learning (or re-learning!) to ski and getting to grips with the fundamentals of alpine racing. With only Lance Corporal Owen (A Coy) having previous racing experience the learning curve was as steep as expected, especially for the four Riflemen who had never even strapped on a pair of ski boots.
Despite the unfavourable weather conditions (lots of fresh powder on the slopes), when the time came to strap on cat suits and head into race week confidence was beginning to grow. In the A Team Lance Corporal Owen, a former Army level skier, was beginning to find his form of yesteryear while team captain 2nd Lieutenant Hunt (B Coy) and 2nd Lieutenant Raleigh (D Coy) were showing the consistency required to perform well as a team across the four different race formats. Likewise, the B Team, led by Lance Corporal Gillham (A Coy), were getting stuck into racing competitively.
The A Team proved tactically astute and consistently finished in the top eight for each race, as well as 3rd in the Super Giant Slalom. This culminated with being rewarded with 3rd in the overall team standings (out of 30 teams) – a superb performance considering our level of race experience going into the exercise. It is worth mentioning to Lance Corporal Owen who finished 6th overall individually (2nd in the Riflemen and
JNCO competition) and was duly selected for the Infantry Alpine Team who went on to compete at Exercise LIONS CHALLENGE, the Army Alpine Skiing Championships. The B Team, consisting of four novice skiers, performed admirably and had some impressive individual and team results.
Four Riflemen eventually headed back to Bulford while the A Team moved to Serre Chevalier for Exercise SPARTAN HIKE, the Divisional Alpine Skiing Championships. Here we finished 12th on our hill (of three hills) as a team. Lance Corporal Owen, who stayed in Serre Chevalier for Exercise LIONS CHALLENGE, once again showed his talents by finishing 8th overall on our hill amongst some incredibly tough competition from other non-combat arms and reserve units who devote much more time to their alpine racing than we can in the Infantry.
The 5 RIFLES Alpine Ski Team is now in a good place to build on our performance over the next few years and implement the lessons identified. Overall Exercise FROSTED BLADE remains a unique opportunity for Riflemen of all ranks. Aside from other benefits such as Rifleman Bacon (A Coy) learning to cook bacon and discov- ering Secret Santa isn’t real, the exercise allows Riflemen to throw themselves into an expensive sport that tests courage, physical ability and determination with minimal personal contributions required.
Lieutenant D Hunt
7 Platoon Commander
Exercise ALPINE FROSTED BLADE 33
Members of the 5 RIFLES Alpine skiing team