Scotland - Land of the Brave!
Fourteen Public Service students from HCT, have recently returned from a week in the Scottish Highlands ice climbing, camping and mountain climbing.
The Public Service programmes are designed to help students prepare for entry into the uniformed services and the annual expedition tests the students teamwork, personal organisation, communication, leadership and navigation skills, as well as pushing their physical limits.
The week started with a day walk along part of the West Highland Way, but rather than follow the traditional tourist route, the students took in a number of 900m peaks. An evening Ice Climbing session saw the students don crampons and ice axes as they attempted to scale 40ft vertical ice walls.
The actual expedition lasted three days and two nights requiring the students to carry tents, cookers, and sufficient clothing and food for the trip.
Setting off from the base of Ben Nevis the students had to apply their navigation skills during a six hour walk to the first camp. During the walk the students had to cross a river via a steel rope bridge, some used their skills learned during a previous trip with the Royal Marines to cross the river using a Commando rope crawl.
Evening camp was a derelict building that provided some shelter from the elements, although the stars could be seen through holes in the roof. Cooking was carried out on camping gas cookers with food ranging from Army type ration packs to supermarket boil in the bag noodles.
Day two did not involve the same distances as the previous day, but involved a considerable climb to the camp, which was at 800m beside a lochen nestled in between three 1000m snow covered peaks. Once the tents had been pitched and ration packs eaten, nine of the students embarked on an evening walk, crossing snow fields and enjoying the breath-taking three peaks before returning to their tents.
After another 'boil in the bag' breakfast, the final day saw the group complete a 4 hour, 800m decent back to Blackwater Hostel, the luxury of showers and a comfortable bed for their final night before embarking on the 500 mile journey home.
