Chamonix - ice training - first installment!

Crucial
Invigorating
Illuminating
Inspiring

I complained that I was running out of superlatives on the ice and
now, 2 days later, I am still struggling. It was all of the above.

Last week I took my team to Chamonix under the guidance of the amazing
Peter Golding with Matt Price for a spot of "ice skills training" and
"team development".

What I wanted was an opportunity for the Ice Team to come together and
start to feel like a team. I wanted them to deeply understand what it
is that we have committed ourselves to. I wanted their ice survival
skills to be learnt and tested. I wanted them as individuals to feel
some real pressure and I wanted them as a team to achieve. All of this
happened in a few short days in Chamonix, France, and above all, we
did not just enjoy the experience, we loved it! It was fun, real fun;
the banter was fast and furious, yet inclusive and forgiving - testing
and challenging yet enabling us to grow!

After a frustrating day trying to find boots big enough for Matt P we
were kitted out and ready to go. A team dinner at the local bar - The
Office - in Argentiere enabled us all to drop the barriers and start
to understand each other. Working with Matt Price we studied and
learnt about "Relationship Awareness Theory" based on Jung - all part
of our mental journey of self and team awareness and management. We
understood more about what motivation drives our behaviour and how we
react in conflict - conflict is not just an argument, we can find
ourselves in conflict internally when we are far removed from our
comfort zone - a place that will become foreign to us as this
expedition develops.

I wont describe each and every moment of the 4 days on the glaciers, I
will let the team share that in their own words, but I will try to put
some words down that express some of the emotion of the time on the ice.

You realise the limitations of language and the human ability to
express ourselves when confronted by the raw power of nature. We were
witnessing geography on the move - a planet in the making. All around
us was the constant thunder of rock and ice falls as we climbing on to
the base of the Mer de Glace glacier. Discreet signs stating the
previous level of the ice shocked us all as we had to climb down newly
erected ladders some 20 meters from the 1990 height of the glacier -
the ice is retreating, it is real! It is humbling and frightening!

In the cold cloud covered crystal river we focused on picking the best
route between the massive suspended boulders and the yawning
crevasses. Working as a team with rope discipline first on our mind we
found a beautiful crevasse ridge for practice. As one team prepared
themselves, the other, with Mike Dann in front just marched toward the
edge at speed with Mike disappearing over the frozen lip. The previous
days "slow time" training came to the fore with the rest of the team
taking his weight and deploying the newly practiced "crevasse recovery
techniques" to great effect.

Some fun was had as others "volunteered" to throw themselves into the
abyss, quickly followed by a flurry of snowballs! Good fun and good
learning.

We pressed on to our first night's camp at the junction of two massive
glaciers; we found a safe patch amidst the tortured and broken ice
floes......

I'll tell you the rest later!!

Hurrah
Manley

two moths

good shots

that first cold beer