During the weekend Friday the 19 th February to Sunday the 21 st February 2010 Cadets and staff from 2028 Squadron went to Capel Curig Training Camp. The weekend was planned as pre-season navigational training in the heart of the Snowdonia National Park, on what turned out to be a beautiful weekend.

After months of planning everyone set off late Friday afternoon for the journey to North Wales. CI Rogers, the Squadron D of E Officer, already in Snowdonia, met with Simon Rose an Ex Cadet from Southam who is now a qualified Mountain Leader, to complete the last minute plans and preparation for the training. On arrival the Cadets and Staff were shown their accommodation for the weekend. The cadets settled in and went to bed while the Staff were briefed by CI Rogers and Simon Rose. Bedtime for the staff was just before midnight.

On the Saturday morning everyone met outside the catering block for breakfast at 0700 hours and awoke with an inch or two of snow underfoot; not a real surprise to the staff following the briefing the night before, but perhaps a shock to the cadets. A decision was then taken that allowed everyone to do a low level navigational route up to some woodland and along some tracks. The weather turned out to be perfect. No more snow fell and the sun stayed out with blue skies all day. Both the cadets and staff learnt a lot from the Mountain Leader and the day proved to be a great success. Many of the basic skills of navigation were taught along with important advanced skills such as timing and pacing for those more experienced.

Everyone arrived back at camp at 1700 hours and were given free time before dinner at 1800 hours. After dinner Simon Rose (ML) gave a presentation and slide show to the Staff and Cadets showing some of his experiences in the years after leaving the Corps as a Mountain Leader. The talk ended at about 2200 hours and the cadets chose to go to bed.

The Sunday morning dawned to another couple of inches snow on top of the day before and it was still snowing. It was decided not to do the planned climb to the summit of Moel Siabod. The cloud base was too low. Instead all the Cadets and Staff were now based at the camp to do more navigational training, based both within the camp perimeter and in the classroom. After breakfast the Cadets met at the lecture room for the briefing for the day. The Cadets appeared to understand the decision that was taken but clearly some were disappointed. Everyone then split into 3 rotating groups; a group learnt route planning, another group learnt compass use and bearings and the other group learnt 'micro navigation' skills. All groups rotated until everyone had experienced all 3 tasks.

After handing back the accommodation everyone left Camp at 1300 hours but not before driving in the opposite direction to see the mountains in snow. A brief journey into the mountainous region allowed the cadets to see the Moel Siabod under dense cloud and the base of Tryfan Mountain, arguably one of the hardest climbs in mainland UK. (There is no warm up walk-it goes vertically from where you park your car at the base). After a brief farewell all the Staff and cadets departed a deep snow covered Snowdonia National Park for the journey home, arriving back in Southam late Sunday afternoon.

CI Rogers commented, “This is the first time 2028 Squadron has had the opportunity to go deep into the National Park and under the guidance of an experienced Mountain Leader. I am very grateful to ex-Cadet, Simon Rose, for giving up his time to allow the Cadets to experience something I and he were not able to experience in our time as cadets.”

Flight Lieutenant Moreton, CO of 20928 Squadron said,” This weekend took a great deal of planning by CI Rogers and to have an ML with us who we all remember as an ex Cadet was a real bonus. Once again my D of E Officer has organised a successful weekend for the Cadets which will greatly improve their D of E navigational skills.”