Ex Eagle Ski 2023

Ex Eagle Ski 2023 saw the largest AAC deployment in years… The was however an Adventure Training Exercise in Les Arcs, France, rather than on Ops, but it didn’t disappoint!

Acoach of 50 (3/4 Regt split) set off from Wattisham on 20th January, quickly exhausted their subsistence at Dover Burger King and linked up with the other AAC Regiments at UCPA, Les Arcs 1800, France. Just short of 200 AAC personnel convened here to undertake Ski Foundation 1/2, all delivered by AAC instructors. We gathered like sardines for an evening brief where Maj Barton set the conditions for the week, reminding everyone, in line with the aims of AT, “you’ll be tested”! The following morning would prove him right with temperatures dropping to -15 degrees, less than ideal for those learning to put skis on and slide very slowly down a gradual decline. In lieu of effective loan pool ski gloves and a desire to look cool on the slopes, my SF1 group (a mix of 3 and 4 Regt) thought they’d mistakenly signed up to a Norway cold weather survival course. However, they found a midmorning chocolat chaud and the unabated laughing at their colleagues initial ineptitude on skis went some way to distract them from the bitter conditions. Mercilessly, the temperature crept up during the week, as did the confidence on piste. By day 3 the group could confidently send it down a blue run (at times convincingly) and most were eager to tackle some red runs. With no fresh snow but confidence in abundance the group started to stray into the margins, darting between trees and down steeper unpisted terrain. This was fully encouraged and only led to one broken collar bone (only discovered when back in the UK). Knackered, battered and bruised, the evenings were a time to relax. If the Folie Douce failed to quench the thirst, the UPCA would host evening entertainment from karaoke to beer pong, often seeing the AAC pitted against the other French guests, with tension not seen since 1815. Friday saw the whole exercise take part in a team Nav Ex/Command Challenge orchestrated by the instructors across the Les Arc ski range. With everyone GPS tracked, an artificial speed limit imposed and an unrealistic number of tasks to complete in the 2 hour period, the only real winner being the competitive spirit displayed by all those that took part. However, the exercise proved to be a great success with aspiration to go even bigger and better in 2024.

Capt H Bedford