Ulysses Trust ID 2842
Ex SNOWBOARD SAPPER 22, Austria, 12 – 24 March 22
101 (City of London) Engineer Regiment (EOD&S)
Exercise Snowboard Sapper 22 was the Corps of Royal Engineers Snowboard Championships for 2022 and for a long while it looked like it wasn’t going to happen… luckily Covid-19 restrictions in Europe lifted just in time to allow this fantastic annual sporting event to take place!
The exercise saw nearly 70 individuals from across the Corps of Royal Engineers deploy to the resort of Alpendorf in Austria from 12 – 24 March 22. All those participating conducted a week of training to introduce novices to the sport and develop the technique of more experienced snowboarders with professional instruction. This was followed by four days of fierce competition in which both novices and senior riders had the chance to compete against one another in a range of different competition formats such as Slalom, Boarder Cross and Freestyle to determine the best team and most talented individual snowboarders in the Corps. The competition element is key to individuals developing crucial attributes such as courage, teamwork, and sportsmanship as they test themselves mentally and physically in a controlled but challenging environment.
As the only Reserve Unit in attendance, 101 Engr Regt (EOD&S) flew the flag for reservists everywhere and sent a team of 8 Army Reservists, many of whom had never attempted the sport before but all of whom were willing to push themselves outside of their comfort zones and give it go!
Days 1 to 6 saw all exercise attendees divided into different ability groups under professional instruction with there being an unprecedented number of novices who would all be trying the sport for the first time. The more experienced riders quickly headed off to find their feet while the novices first learned the basics on a gentle slope serviced by a button lift. Any seasoned snowboarder will remember their first button lift for all the wrong reasons and anyone nearby would have witnessed many a novice piling up in a heap at the bottom of this one as they attempted to drag themselves to the top of the slope over the course of the first few days!
As the week progressed, the training for the senior groups became more technique orientated with fluid carving turns being key to both slalom and boarder cross events. The novices quickly progressed onto steeper terrain and began learning to link turns together, challenging themselves to overcome the fear that takes root once you’ve fallen hard a few times and have the bruises on your backside to prove it. They too would eventually also start practising skills specific to the competitions with many of the novices quickly developing to an impressive standard they could be proud of.
After the initial training week, a 4-day schedule of competitions saw both senior and novice riders from all ten unit teams compete against one another, pushing themselves their personal limits and putting everything they’d learned into practice in a disciplined and focused way to optimise their performance. The mood remained fantastic throughout with friends that had been made the previous week supporting and encouraging others regardless of their team loyalties. Everyone enjoyed the opportunity to challenge themselves, with many of the senior rides having never tried any form of competitive snowboarding before but relishing the opportunity!
In the end 23 Parachute Engineer Regiment came out victorious as the overall winners, but with a spread of results across all events clearly demonstrating that there was hidden talent throughout the entire Corps. A day of free snowboarding with their teams at the end of the exercise meant that individuals could consolidate their skills as a team or decompress and reflect on what they’d learned after an intense exercise before the long drive home…
The “Novice” Perspective from OCdt Alex Hulme (101 Engr Regt):
Our first day on the slopes was emotional. Everyone was excited to strap up and get on the slopes. I think a lot of us thought it would be as simple as skiing… how wrong we were!
We spent the first day on the “bunny” slope next to the restaurant learning how to slide on our board with one foot strapped in, how to go up a button lift and how to go down a slope using the “falling leaf” technique. There were a lot of falls and a lot of laughs, and it was on this very first day that I think all of us wished we had those padded shorts people had mentioned beforehand…
Come the second day we were all determined not to be on the bunny slope for another day, so we all focused on trying to link turns and get down the slope like pros! I think my eyes lit up when we heard that we would be leaving the bunny slope and going further up the mountain where the conditions were better, and it might hurt less to fall over?!
It turned out the conditions were better and most of us were learning to fall over in ways that didn’t hurt as much! We could get a bit more speed moving on slightly steeper terrain and most of us were just about able to make it up a button lift now without falling over repeatedly. Most of us were getting a lot more comfortable moving on a snowboard now, and while we were still falling over, we were falling over with style…
The next few days saw us explore more of the mountain and eventually we started training for the competition elements that we would face later in the exercise. Our first attempt at a “Boarder Cross course” was nerve-wracking but exciting – we put all our lessons into practice in preparation for the races ahead and became a lot more confident as the days went on.
I sadly missed out on Boarder Cross competition itself as I’d injured myself the day before catching my heel edge and falling hard onto my backside… the story of my entire time on the slopes! That. Heel. Edge. Hurts. And I had the bruises to prove it!
The Slalom race was a great day for all. We raced down a track turning around alternate gates and it was great to see out of the novices who were the fastest and who could make it to finish line without falling, even with some serious speed! Unfortunately, I was eliminated after two rounds, but it was fun to finally get to race and it made me realise just how much I’d learned since we arrived.
The Slopestyle competition was insane. It was more confidence than anything. We had practiced a few days before in the snow park, challenging ourselves to try small jumps and novice features and I had been trying to redeem myself on the “Disco Box” – A smooth plastic box that you can ride over but on which you must be perfectly balanced otherwise you risk slipping over on it. First run I overshot it. Second run I wasn’t fast enough and stopped on top of it. On my third run I landed on the box, slid elegantly over it, and dismounted it with the grace of an elephant on ice. But it felt like an amazing feat for someone that had never touched a snowboard a week prior. It was exhilarating!
In our free time, we got to mix and socialise with our regular counterparts – this was a real highlight and we all made some friends who definitely saw me catch a heel or fall over more times than I’d like to admit, but who would help me up or encourage me to go again.
It was an amazing experience and I’d like to thank the organising committee, along with my regiment, for enabling a team from 101 Engineer Regt (EOD&S) to attend the exercise. We’re already looking forward to Exercise Snowboard Sapper 23!
The “Senior Rider” Perspective from Capt Charlie Collins (36 Engr Regt):
After a 2 year, COVID-enforced hiatus from the slopes, the opportunity to travel out to Austria and compete in Ex SNOWBOARD SAPPER 22 was too good to miss! Despite having snowboarded for over a decade, this was my first Corps concentration, and it was a hugely memorable and enjoyable experience. My first ride of the trip was a slightly nervier affair than normal, having been identified as a ‘senior rider’, but as always, everyone was feeling a lot more confident by the time we reached the bottom of the first slope. After working on the fundamentals for the first few days, we were ready to begin preparations for the competition phase of the exercise, which included Giant Slalom, Snowboard Cross and Slopestyle events. Whilst there were varying degrees of ability and confidence across the group, the way they were organised gave everyone the opportunity to test themselves and compete on behalf of their Regiment, which was great to see and really added to the sense of achievement by the end of the trip.
Like many of the other riders in the senior group, I hadn’t previously received a huge amount of professional guidance on my technique due to the cost and language-barrier issues associated with doing so on holiday. As a result, I found that the coaching we received from our British instructor brought my riding on a huge amount over the course of the fortnight and I have lots to build on going forward. Aside from snowboarding, the exercise was a great opportunity to catch up with old and new friends from across the Corps, whilst soaking up the ambience of an Austrian ski season. Whether you are an experienced rider or someone just looking to try snowboarding, I couldn’t recommend this opportunity highly enough, so make sure you get your name in early for next year!
Quotes
“There aren’t many sports that test your nerve like snowboarding does and many of the novices realised this during Ex Snowboard Sapper! Having both feet strapped to the same board requires real focus and calmness under pressure. It’s not like skiing – if you lose your balance you’ll fall over. And if that happens at speed, you’ll know about it…because of this, it’s one of the best sports for developing mental and physical courage that I know of” Capt James Lethbridge (101 Engr Regt)
“Difficult compared to skiing, but a great challenge. Once you get it, there’s nothing better than “shredding” with fluid turns. Seeing your mates progress in skill to harder slopes is thrilling and tightens the bonds you build with fellow soldiers” LCpl Todd Franklin (101 Engr Regt)
“It was emotional, but I loved it” LCpl Fran Reed (101 Engr Regt)
