Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic Canford School CCF had, for a number of years, been embarking on a cross-country skiing expedition to Norway. After an enforced hiatus we were delighted to be able to offer this trip once again this year, to cadets across both detachments of our CCF (army, navy with an RM section) on what is described by those who go, as the toughest and the best trip the School offers. This year saw twenty-seven cadets aged 14 to 15 (year 10) ready to deploy, challenging themselves in an alien environment, learning a completely new skill and then testing themselves, often to the limit, physically and mentally, on a three-day ski-touring expedition. The life skills learned and personal challenges overcome are all enormously beneficial to each individuals’ long-term education, whilst the experience itself will live long in their memories. The expedition is not selective, and the weaker applicants invariably learn the most and benefit greatly. Once again, this year we were able to include a cadet who was on a full bursary at the School courtesy of the Ulysses Trust, the Connaught Trust and grants from a School trust fund.
The whole team; instructors, school staff and cadets would like to take this opportunity to thank the Ulysses Trust for their generous and continued support for the expedition, making it that much more accessible to all cadets at Canford School.
Cadet Reflections
Day 1
The first day was busy with a lot of information to take on board. Meeting our instructors for the first time, getting to know who was in our group, an introduction to the content of the course of lectures and practical skills, and the issuing of our skiing kit. Having had the different kit explained to us, particularly the difference between fish scale skis and skis with skins, we set off out onto the tracks to learn some basis skiing skills. Single poling, double poling, snow ploughing and star turns gave most of us something to get our teeth into as a challenge. Some of our group had a lot of alpine skiing experience so found basic skills a little easy, but they were supportive of the rest of us, giving good advice. We did think our group was being followed by a ‘sniper’ as Annabel would fall over even when standing still – because she was shot by the sniper! It made us all laugh and have fun together.
Day 2
This was a day of building on skills learnt during our introductory sessions yesterday, and as part of that we ventured a little further away from the tracks as well as actually off the tracks. Our instructor took us to an off piste small hill, covered in trees, and we spent most of the morning ascending and descending what became to us our ‘Mount Pointless’. At the outset we didn’t think much of the small hillock, but soon came to discover the combination of icy snow and a myriad of small trees made for a significant challenge. Almost all of us struggled with the slippery surface, and we all fell over numerous times. The skills required to get up and out of the crater created when falling in deep snow was draining on energy levels and made us realise the importance of good techniques, giving each other a helping hand, but also ensuring to eat and drink regularly to not become completely exhausted!
Learning to control speed coming down the more steeper hills was another challenge of today, the snowplough technique was very tiring on the legs. Two people in our group had never skied before and both did extremely well!
Day 3
More training filled the morning, and we skied with our big rucksacks and equipment as practice for the actual expedition phase. To understand how to pace ourselves and ensure the group stay together we were taken on a longer ski route, including much steeper uphill as well as downhill stretches. We were reminded of the herring bone technique from our session on day 1 to help get up the steeper parts of the hills. My brain could not make any sense of this technique, and though I tried really hard, I found it very difficult to get the edges of my skis to grip the hill properly. On the last downhill section back towards our accommodation myself and Rebekka thought the terrain was flattening out but to our surprise, the downhill continued. Because we did not expect it we struggled to slow down our speed, and for many minutes continued to play ‘falling over tag’. Once I got up, Rebekka would fall over, and when she got up, I would fall over. We were very tired from it but also could not stop laughing!
In the afternoon our group spent time with our instructor packing our rucksacks for the expedition, ensuring we all had the equipment required. We also talked about the expedition route and how long it might take us to reach the first hut. We were all starting to feel real excitement about getting on with the actual expedition!
Day 4
I was excited as well as nervous about the start of the expedition, mostly because of the unknown elements. At the very start I fell behind my group because of the icy snow which I found tricky and had to work hard to catch up with them. Thinking back to the training days and the different techniques to use gave me a way to overcome the difficult start and helped me feel I would be able to take on the mountain. Later in the day I experienced a further challenge by pulling the pulk with group kit in it. I very much enjoyed the challenge as well as sense of achievement of completing the task. My shoulders enjoyed it even more as while pulling the pulk they got a break from my rucksack, which was on the pulk!
The first day of the expedition was a lot of uphill, some in the tracks and the last, very steep climb up to the hut, out of the track. I found it easier to be in tracks to get up the hills. For the last and steepest part we had to put in a lot of zigzags to make the route a little less steep. As the first group to arrive at the hut we started making a quincy (snow hole) by putting our rucksacks inside an emergency shelter and then shovelling lots of snow on top of it into a big mound. We had to leave this for hours waiting for the snow to compact down before then digging our way back in to get the rucksacks out and excavate the mound further to be able to sleep inside it. Unfortunately, the snow conditions were not quite right, and the snow did not bind together well enough so it was not safe for us to sleep in the snow hole. It was quite an experience building one and also quite hard work. Though it was disappointing not to sleep in our snow hole we did get to sleep in a hut, which I think overall was probably more comfortable than the snow hole would have been.
Day 5
We woke up to very different weather on the second day of the expedition. Gone was the glorious sunshine of day 1, replaced with a whiteout and us only being able to see a few metres in front of us. Because someone had managed to lose a ski during the last steep climb of day 1 we were waiting for a new pair to be brought up to the hut, and during this wait there was a sense of carnage going on around us. Groups were being swapped around, instructors and teachers were talking about route options, and people’s mixed ability skills made it a little tough to know what would happen. As part of a mixed up group I skied back the route we had come up to the hut yesterday, and found the initial very steep, icy hills very difficult to ski down. For a part of it we took our skis off and walked down to where we felt confident in putting our skis back on. The skiing was a complete contrast to the day before, this time mainly downhill! Through kilometre after kilometre of going down we all gained much confidence in how to manage our speed, pulk and rucksacks both in and out of the tracks. At yesterday’s starting point we were then collected by minibus and driven to the final RV point for the end of the expedition and skied into the second hut from a lower point than the others. It was great to meet up with them all again. Another attempt at making a quincy did not go quite to plan, this time we had nearly finished excavating it when it cracked open like an egg at the last minute! Mac our instructor was half in and half out as it happened and came out covered in snow. We spent another night in a new hut, this one much more comfortable than the last one, although our rations were not much nicer than the ones from yesterday. We had a great team evening with fun card games, lots of singing and enjoying warming up from a long day outside.
Day 6
On the final day of the expedition, I was part of a small group who did not get to ski to the second hut. Instead, we did a long day tour at a lower level, with a complete mixture of weather from low cloud and rain through to sunshine and back to low cloud again. Initially I felt disappointed not to have joined the others but realised I was still challenged by what the day brought and at the same time could enjoy it more as there was not such a strong sense of pressure to reach a destination nor climb hills at great speed. Mac our instructor had lots of stories to tell us, including from his work supporting Bear Grylls during him making programmes for the BBC. What a star he (Mac) is! During the nicer weather we saw some amazing views of mountains and fjords. What was also great was to see that even staff and instructors, including a native Norwegian, can be beaten by the mountains and fall over when they ski!!
Veteran and instructors’ reflections
“It is great to see and give the opportunities for the cadets to develop a positive relationship with the outdoors, themselves and others in their groups. Leading a group is always great fun for me and it keeps me active and healthy.”
Jim WO1 RA
“I was a CCF (RAF) cadet and was given a multitude of opportunities. A key one in my teenage years was doing Ten Tors. This was truly formative. Since then I have gone on to train young people in this and many other activities, convinced in the belief that such opportunities are developmental, breed resilience, confidence and grows character. This is why I do this now and have done since I gained my summer ML in 1980!”
Anonymous
“For many years, I have been supporting Canford School CCF on their annual AT expedition to Norway. During this time, I have experienced many wonderful moments and realised the amazing changes to the cadets’ courage, self-discipline, teamwork and leadership skills. All of the above reverberates with so many of the instructors. For me personally it is a great opportunity to give something back where someone once gave it to me.”
Cpt Mike Mooney RAPTC
“I very strongly believe in this type of education. The satisfaction of seeing young people being stretched outside their normal comfort zone is fascinating, and it is very rewarding to watch how they grow as a result.”
Anonymous
“Adventurous training is one of the finest vehicles to leadership that is championed by the British Military. CCF cadets experience this through such ventures as Canford offer. For many years I have been delighted to support this training and find all the cadets a joy to train and impart knowledge to about the mountainous environment in winter, on skis. The cadets have always been enthusiastic, attentive and put their all into all activities, be it skiing, snow digging and associated skills, and ensure they travel through the winter landscape in a reasonable and safe manner. During each trip I see young people develop and when put into situations which require it support one another in sometimes hazardous conditions. I find it a privilege alongside cadets and staff who work tirelessly to ensure the cadets have a memorable time.”
Mac MacKay
Outcomes
Key skill 1: planning. Did you learn the importance of planning for all eventualities and ensuring you were fully prepared? Give an example.
Planning for all eventualities was a big part of our training. One example was always wearing our avalanche transceivers, even though we were reassured the terrain we were skiing in was not at risk of avalanche this was still important just in case. Packing and carrying spare/extra layers of clothes is another example, and I found this useful as during the expedition I got cold and actually had to use some of my extra layers to warm my hands up. The planning also helped me feel less anxious about new things because they were explained well. I also learnt that I need to be more organised as my personal planning was not always as good as it should have been and I had to do things again to get them right.
Key skill 2: communicating. Did you learn the importance of careful and clear briefing together with good communication between each other? Give an example.
Yes. I felt very clear about what every day had lined up for me as our instructor always set out the plan for the day at the start of each morning. During the expedition, when the original plan could not go ahead, it became very clear how important communication is as for a while we were all unsure about what was going to happen. Once an agreement had been made between all the instructors it was clearly communicated again and we understood the reasons for change.
Key skill 3: teamwork. Did you learn the importance of supporting each other and helping each other when times were challenging? Give an example.
Working as a team and always looking out for each other became a big part of what we did, and being in a group with people I wouldn’t always spend time with at school was actually good because I had to spend time getting to know people better. Because our group had quite mixed ability skiers we learnt how easy it can be to speed on ahead if you find things easy but also learnt how demoralising that can be for the person finding it more difficult. Checking on each other, passing on messages and being positive together made a big difference. Helping each other get up when falling with big rucksacks was also really important as we all found that difficult! The adults are really important for this too, and when I found the last steep hills to the first hut tricky, singing 99 green bottles with one of the teachers felt silly but also took our minds off feeling tired and exhausted.
Key skill 4: leading. Did you learn the importance of having a leader? Can you think of an example where it helped?
It was very important to have a leader otherwise I don’t think we would all have known what to do. Jim (our instructor) was amazing and always found fun ways of leading us, both when we were training as well as on the expedition. It kept our morale high and helped us all achieve what we needed. During the expedition, when being at the front and leading the group I learnt how important it was to check my pace and that it suited everyone so no one got left behind..
Key skill 5: evaluation and reflection. How important is it to think about what you learned? What you would do differently next time? Give an example.
The trip challenged me as I have never skied before, and trying something completely new I just had to get on even when things were a little hard. It has taught me that I do not need to be scared of new challenges, and in future I will push myself into more opportunities as it has made me realise you can do difficult things if you put your mind to it.
I have learnt that the goals you start off having may change as you go along, and that it is not always about you. Sometimes sacrificing your own aims to help others is the right thing to do. I feel this is a good skill in life and a good way to live later life.
One of the most important things I have learnt from this trip is how to collaborate better with people I’d normally not spend time with or get on with. It has reminded and helped me get out of my comfort zone. I feel these are whole new skill sets I didn’t have before this trip and I will remember to use them in future.
