Ex SNOW STORMER

SKI FOUNDATION 1 – Val Thorens France, 12 Regt RA Wksp

On Friday 11th March a group of soldiers from 12th Regiment Royal Artillery Workshop Thorney Island, who had no prior skiing experience, deployed on Ex SNOW STORMER. SSgt Overland led the exercise as the skiing Instructor. With a wealth of experience and knowledge behind him he promised us by the end of the week we would all be able to ski confidently and would earn the Ski Foundation 1 (SF1) qualification. On the evening of Saturday 12th March, and after a long drive from Thorney Island, we arrived in the picturesque resort of Val Thorens. After some initial admin and getting sized up for our skis, we were all keen to get our heads down and recharge our batteries for our first day on the slopes.

Sunday morning, we were all up and raring to go, after breakfast we all met up in the ski room at 0900hrs ready to get stuck in. Firstly, we had Scribe: LCpl Elliott Hoult (12 RA WKSP)

Enjoying the views of Val Thorens resort

to get started with the very basics, such as getting the skis on! We were introduced to sliding and then the ploughing method; a technique which allows beginners to manoeuvre the slopes at a slow speed. As we were all beginners we started off on the green (very easy) routes. A nice steady gradient where SSgt Overland could deliver some key lessons and watch our individual techniques and give personal feedback. With everybody off to a good start, the next day we would move on to more challenging routes.

Monday saw us take our first ski lift up the piste which definitely unsettled a few members as they were looking down at some of the epic routes back to the bottom. Staying on a green route to begin with we started making our way down. However, the increase in steepness proved overwhelming for more than a few, Cfn Middleton and LCpl Teal found themselves on their bums more than their skis. Later that day I was having a blast thinking I was untouchable when I finally came unstuck and deployed the face anchor into the piste. A quick dusting off, some hurt pride and a chuckle we were back off again. Trying a few blue (easy) routes that day was challenging but we were all coming on quickly.

Day three on the slopes, we started off on the steepest blue route we had done so far, where after one run down SSgt Overland had the great idea of coming back down without our poles; which immediately struck fear into all of us. But there was method to his madness as it actually helped a lot of us improve. Other exercises he had us doing throughout the day proved to be extremely helpful. However, as the routes got steeper the more defensive some of the members skiing

Red Route

became. LCpl McMaw and Gnr Mckeown had shown they could ski very well but as the gradient started to creep up, they began to go back into a plough, but with a few wise words from the Instructor they regained their confidence.

The next couple of days things got a bit trickier as we started exploring more of the mountain and the routes became more difficult. However, we began to consolidate more of what we had been taught as the majority of the teaching points were in the bag. This enabled us to focus on getting down confidently and only take on feedback when the Instructor felt it necessary. Members were progressing very quickly, Pte Gurung in particular, who at the start of the week was skiing very defensively became ever more assured and grew in selfconfidence. We spent a lot of our time at the bottom of the runs with the group watching Cfn Leckie doing a Seal slide most of the way down the piste; much to our amusement!

LCpl Hoult and LCpl McMaw

Cfn Middleton, Gnr Mckeown, LCpl Teal, SSgt Overland, LCpl McMaw, LCpl Hoult, Cfn Leckie, Pte Gurung, Cpl Pickersgill

Sadly, the week was drawing to a close. It was amazing to see how far we had all come in such a short space of time. With the majority of us starting to confidently ski across the Val Thorens and Méribel routes. I did attempt a red (difficult) route with instructor SSgt Overland and Cpl Pickersgill; which I managed pretty well until the bottom where I caught an edge and ended up on my back! Everybody came away with the skiing bug and are all looking forward to doing it again as soon as the opportunity arrives.