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30/07/2010 21:26:40- Services' Alpine Meet



For the past two weeks I've been working in Switzerland for the British Forces on their annual alpine climbing meet. It was a fantastic trip, based in Saas Grund, and in addition to the climbing I was able to catch up with quite a few old friends.

Each week I was running an alpine climbing course. The courses are designed to train forces personnel to lead others in the high mountains and although quite demanding they are very satisfying to work on. Not only are the students fit and highly motivated but they usually have an excellent sense of humour.

Due to the nature of the courses I actually did very little leading at all, with the students taking turns on the "sharp end" of the rope. In many ways I actually found it even more stressful than leading, but the guys (and girl) all coped well and climbed to a good standard.

Although based in Saas, we also climbed in Zermatt and around the Furka Pass to make the most of the weather and conditions. In fact, in the full two week period we only lost two days to bad weather and climbed a route on all of the other days. The photo shows Royal Marine Major Chris Haw leading on the traverse of the Breithorn.


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