Expedition Reports

Exercise Northern Wanderer conducted by Tayforth University Officer Training Corps (UOTC) was both ambitious and challenging in scale and scope. The exercise took place above Rjukan in the Telemark region of Norway over the period 3rd January to 10th February 2011 and drew Officer Cadets from St Andrews, Dundee, Stirling and Abertay Universities. Two separate […]

My love hate relationship with this 4.3 mile high summit started in 2007 whilst still serving as a regular Army Air Corps soldier, 5 years later as a Territorial Army Air Corps soldier and full time mountain guide this pile of ancient rock, scree, ice and snow is still testing and challenging me, and even

Expedition ANTARCTIC ODYSSEY 11 was part of a Reserve Forces adventurous training project to climb the ‘7 Summits’ comprising the highest mountain in every continent; a challenge yet to be achieved by any military organisation. The project is jointly patroned by the Duke of Westminster and Sir Chris Bonnington and to date the team have

Like any adventure training trip, the journey out was full of anxious new, and a variety of experienced skiers,  in their seats ready for a long 20 hr coach journey to Les Arcs. All I can say is thank god for a toilet and Capt Ebo playing DJ on the DVD player. The group of

Intsail is an annual Intelligence Corps Adventurous Sail Training Exercise open to all Corps personnel as well as non Int Corps personnel working alongside the G2 community. Training objectives are essentially those set out in the RYA Competent Crew and Day Skipper syllabus, so the exercise provides an excellent opportunity for novice or recently qualified

In early October, eleven of us set off for the Indian Himalayas, with the aim of climbing several previously unclimbed and unnamed mountains around 6000m in height. The team was made up of a broad spread of ranks and units, both TA and regular. After arrival in Delhi, we picked up our Liaison Officer from

Introduction Dragon Venturer Eagle was a trekking and climbing expedition to the Everest region of the Nepalese Himalayas which took place from the 8 to the 28 October 2010 to mark the occasion of the 150th Anniversary of the Cadet Forces. The Expedition team consisted of 20 Army Cadets aged 14 to 18 along with

Following on from previous successful expeditions run by this unit that were quite technical adventurously, we were in pursuit of a new challenge that would be more accessible to all cadets and provide an exclusive experience out of the everyday for the participants. Oman was selected as our destination for October 2010 for its majestic

Dive One: Dive One: Our first dive consisted of becoming familiar with all the diving apparatus and diving techniques. The previous day we had been issued with all our equipment to save time so we could have more time in the water. Also our dive instructor gave us an overview of what we would be

On the 18th Sept 10, 10 personnel from 165 Port Regt and 2 personnel from 17 Port and Maritime Regt departed from Heathrow to Edmonton in Alberta, Canada for expedition Mulberry Paddle. After the eight hour flight, we were met by Lt Lisa Bayduza, Commanding officer of 2995 Lac La Biche Army cadets our hosts

7 Battalion The Rifles deployed on their Annual Training Period to Oakhampton camp for 2 weeks on 10th Sep to consolidate and confirm training that had been taking place throughout the year. In order to give the soldiers some much needed R&R from the mainly range based activities, it was decided to organise a series

For the 13th successive year, Major David Waterworth, Devon ACF’s Cadet Executive Officer, organised and ran an Adventure Training expedition to the Los Picos Mountains of Northern Spain. Once again the Ulysses Trust awarded a very generous grant which kept the cost to the individual Cadets and Adult Instructors down to a very affordable level

A group of 14 intrepid adventurers deployed to the most northerly point of the North Devon coast on Saturday 25 September 2010. With the sun shining and our spirits high, we were all excitedly looking forward to finding out what the coming days and 120 miles would bring. Starting off at the lovely seaside town

An Icelandic proverb: If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute! After a couple of hours’ kip on the floor of Stansted Airport and an uneventful flight to Keflavik, five cadets and three staff from Queen Ethelburga’s College CCF set up their first camp in Reykjavik at the start of a two-week walking expedition.

Between August 3rd and August 12th, Sheffield UOTC took 16 intrepid Officer Cadets to Cortina d’Ampezzo, in the midst of the Dolomite Mountains in Italy. The purpose of this expedition was to introduce the group to the climbing methods of via ferratta, where one climbs up the side of a mountain using a variety of

Every Leader knows that an expedition never entirely unfolds according to the plan and that the inevitable curved ball or two is to be expected. Co-ordinating two expeditions travelling to France on the same day with a multitude of pick up points collecting eighteen canoeists and ten mountaineers on route to Dover not unsurprisingly did

The weather and views were stunning, and the long walk provided an excellent opportunity to acclimate ourselves to our ice gear and to practice the principles that would keep us safe while journeying across ice and crevasses for the duration of the trip. The gradual ascent became quite steep as we neared the 3300m col

On the 6th August 2010 eleven cadets and two staff joined the Ocean Youth Trust (OYT) Scotland challenge vessel ‘Alba Endeavour’ for the start of an exciting adventure which would take them across the North Sea into the Fjords of Norway and back through stormy conditions to Edinburgh. Often the question is asked ‘What are