The last weekend in September saw two local Sqn's come together to take on two towering mountains in North Wales . A total of 14 cadets and five staff from 487 (Kingstanding and Perry Barr) Sqn and 1459 (Heart of England ) Sqn travelled to the Capel Curig Army Training Centre in the Snowdonia National Park . On the way to Wales , the cadets and staff were given a tour around the town of Telford with its many delights! Flt Lt Brendan O'Neill was later heard to say “I've never been to Telford before, it's very nice!”

On the way to breakfast on the Saturday morning, the cadets, and the staff for that matter, were shown the day's objective. Towering majestically and rather threateningly above the camp was Moel Siabod. This mountain stands 872m above sea level and once everybody had taken in a large gulp of Welsh air, it was into breakfast in the impressive new mess hall at Capel.

It wasn't all about just trudging up a mountain though; the cadets were split into two teams and during the ascent to the summit a lot of map and compass training was undertaken.

It was a beautifully sunny day, but as per normal with mountains of this height, it was a bit blowy at the top and the cadets and staff were soon donning their layers to keep warm! On the way down the cadets took it in turn to lead their teams, particularly in relation to walking on bearings across open ground.

Sgt Sarah Cotton and CI Nicky Gallivan had prepared a quiz for the cadets on the Saturday night. Also taking part in the quiz were the old buggers (their quiz team name), Flt Lt O'Neill and Flt Lt Watson. They managed to score 31 out of 40; the missing nine points came mainly from the music round.

There was no let up for the cadets on this weekend and again following a good Army breakfast it was into the mini-bus for the short ride to Mount Snowdon . The Pyg track had been chosen for the ascent up Snowdon , the highest mountain in Wales at 1085m. Once again, the weather was perfect and view was tremendous all the way up the mountain. Whilst the Pyg track is fairly easy at the bottom, once the summit is in site, it soon starts to test all the muscles in your legs and the summit actually looks like it is laughing at you.

Following a 30 minute break at the summit and a chance to look around the new café and shop, it was back down the way we came up until we branched off on to the miners track.

Flt Lt Brendan O'Neill, OC 487 Sqn commented “Both myself and the OC of 1459 Sqn, Flt Lt Neil Watson, have been greatly impressed with the cadets this weekend. The timings of the ascents to both Moel Siabod and Snowdon have been good and they have all learnt something in relation to map and compass work. It has been good to share the weekend with another Sqn from our Wing, something we will be looking to replicate in the near future.”