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Beginning in 2008, the Air Cadet Organisation started an annual operation called Exercise Snow Eagle. It provides cadets with the opportunity to experience ski touring, alpine skiing and winter survival techniques all within sub zero temperatures. The course lasts 10 days and is situated in the village of Oberstdörf on the southern German/Austrian border. I was fortunate enough to be the cadet chosen to represent our wing on the 2009 course. Without a shadow of a doubt it has to be one of the best experiences I have had during my time with cadets.
Snow Eagle 2009 started bright and early on Friday 27th March when I caught the train from Ipswich to London Liverpool Street with my kit (there must have been at least five weeks worth of clothes in my suitcase). After an exciting couple of hours on the train I arrived at Liverpool Street and made my way via the underground to RAF Uxbridge. On arrival at Uxbridge underground station I experienced my first high point, in the form of a Galaxy milkshake from the most fantastic milkshake parlour I have ever frequented; this has to fall into the top 10 experiences of the trip. Unfortunately the negative side to this was that it wasn’t open on the return journey L. After travelling for 4 hours I arrived at RAF Uxbridge to wait for the luxurious coach which would drive us to Oberstdörf, Germany.
All of the successful candidates assembled at the gym, made our introductions and boarded the coach and left for Germany.
After a rather uneventful coach journey we arrived in our destination mid-day on the Saturday. We were fitted for our kit (mine was size XL due to that Galaxy milkshake) ready to start skiing on Sunday morning.
After a rude awakening at 7am Sunday morning (7am on a Sunday morning!) we arrived at the slopes ready to ski for 9:30. I think I exaggerated my skiing expertise by saying that I had been skiing before on the dry ski slope (well I had a couple of times), so they placed me in the advanced group, not a good idea. I realised the extent of the mistake when I was on the top of a blue run, with my skis on, standing on real snow for the first time. The first run wasn’t so successful as I must have fallen over at least ten times and made a complete fool of myself by showing my inability to stop as I sailed past the rest of the group and ended at the bottom on my bottom! At this point I realised that maybe I should have told them my skiing experience was not too great. For the remainder of Sunday and the majority of Monday we continued with alpine skiing, mainly on blue runs but progressing to reds as time went by. The progression to reds meant more falls and more embarrassing incidents, mainly at my expense.
On the Tuesday we went a short ski tour (cross country skiing) to an area of deep snow. Here we learnt basic winter survival techniques such as building snow holes, snow shelters, igloos (see images on the right) and learning what to do in the event of an avalanche. Snow holes are, as the name suggests, holes dug out into the snow to provide basic quick shelter in emergency conditions. Snow shelters are snow holes that have been dug out further and deeper, to provide more space and surprisingly some warmth too. Finally after building an igloo we went through the emergency procedures in the case of an avalanche.
  
On the Wednesday we went on a longer ski tour which took us to the summit of a relatively small mountain, just under 2500m high. This was by far the most challenging day of the trip, having to ski uphill to an altitude of 2500m is not the easiest of tasks but it was a great sense of achievement when we finally reached the summit. Not only was it difficult getting to the top but it was equally challenging coming back down. When we descended it was the equivalent of skiing 3 black runs in succession, but off piste which provided yet more opportunities for me to make a fool of myself. See below a picture of our group when we reached the summit.
Thursday was by far the hottest day of the trip, with temperatures topping that of Spain and it was a relaxing day of alpine skiing (normal downhill skiing). Finally it came to Friday and as this was the last day of skiing the plan was that we were going to have a day of skiing, skiing and more skiing. However my day came to an abrupt halt when on the first run I turned too rapidly and I slipped all the way to the bottom of the slope, taking out a German boy as I went. This was quite painful at the time but funny when looking back on it however I am not too sure that the German boy feels the same way about it. Consequently for the remainder of Friday I sat in a cafe and sunbathed, a nice end to a week of skiing.
Exercise Snow Eagle was not only the best activity that I have done with cadets but one of the best experiences I have had in my life, I would thoroughly recommend this and encourage anyone thinking of applying to do so. It was a brilliant 10 days, great fun and I made some fantastic new friends aswell. The best 10 days of my life.
The Exercise Snow Eagle 2009 group.
Sgt Ben Miller
1287 (Wattisham) SQN
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Activity Reviews 
