A Rocky Review

The summer holidays were more of an adventurous than a relaxing affair for Geography teacher Miss R. Randle, after she was selected to accompany cadets at the Rocky Mountain National Army Cadet Summer Training Centre.  Here she gives us an insight into the challenges she experienced and that our own Lower Sixth NCO's could aim to partake in.

Rocky Mountain National Army Cadet Summer Training Centre
"The amount of spam that arrives in my email inbox on a daily basis is vast but back in February when an email arrived entitled ‘Canadian Exchange’ I actually read it before pressing delete. The British Army were seeking a female officer to provide pastoral care to twelve British ACF and CCF Cadets whilst they took part in a Leadership and Challenge Course at Rocky Mountain National Army Cadet Summer Training Centre. The Canadian Cadet Force invites twelve British Cadets each year to join their Canadian counterparts at the camp. The British Cadets were selected from CCF and ACF units from across the UK.

RMNACSTC is located to the east of Banff in the foot hills of the Rockies. Cadets attending the RMNACSTC range in age from 16 to 18 and come from across Canada to take advantage of the unique challenges offered by Alberta's mountain setting. No other location in Canada can offer such a range of adventurous activities.

The focus of the camp is leadership and challenge so cadets are expected to not only learn the skills required to safely participate in a range of adventurous activities but also develop their leadership skills. Activities on offer included glacier trekking, mountaineering, mountain biking, white water canoeing, kayaking, hiking, and rock climbing. The activities were organised into five day blocks separated by two rest and relaxation days – some of which were anything but relaxing!

As a guest officer I had a free of choice of activities and so chose to take part in as many activity cycles as possible so that I could experience all that the Rockies had to offer. The learning curves for each of the activities were steep and frankly terrifying at times but the experiences were second to none.

My first cycle was glacier, one that I felt fairly confident in having spent time as a glaciologist prior to entering the teaching profession - little did I know what lay ahead. Two days later I was dangling on a rope in a bottomless crevasse whilst three rather small cadets practised their crevasse rescue skills on me. After of two days of ‘snow school’ everyone was ready to attempt the traverse of des Poils Glacier with the hope of making a summit attempt on Mt. des Poils (12,321feet).

Our day started at 2am to ensure the snow was still firm enough by the time we reach the bergschrund on des Poils. Walking whilst tied to three other people with ten metres of rope between each person, in case someone falls into a crevasse, is not an easy task at the best of times but is one that is even more challenging on ice in the dark. By dawn we had traversed the lower section of the glacier and had started the steep ascent through deep snow in our quest for the summit. Crossing the bergschrund (a huge crevasse) took great skill on the part of our glacier guides but everyone made it safely across. The final ascent to the summit involved a four pitch near vertical climb in a blizzard. The sun was well up by the time we reached the summit and we enjoyed a brief window of clear visibility before we had to retrace our steps.
The sense of achievement was huge especially as some of the cadets had never set foot on a mountain before let alone crossed a glacier to get there.

White water canoeing on the Red Deer River was another highlight of the trip. With some experience of canoeing on moderate water I again felt fairly confident initially but soon my comfort zone was being pushed as we faced four metre standing waves and rapids gnarly enough to sink even the most proficient paddler. The thought of swimming in a glacier fed river was enough to make everyone focus on their paddle strokes and read the river quickly.

There are too many highlights to give details of them all here; the course at Rocky Mountain is something that has to be experienced to believe. It would be fantastic to see a Lower Sixth NCO from Repton taking part in the course next year – are you up for the challenge?"