Its getting close.

We're defiantly on our way...the freight left today.

The Main Team prepare physically.

Chris heeds Himalayan veteran Jon Evans advice and begins to prepare himself physically with 3 weeks till departure.

  One greasy takeaway pre day with the leftovers for breakfast.

Joint Service Alpine Meet 13 (JSAM)

Gearing up (c) Brad Beresford

JSAM 13 saw members of both teams conduct Alpine mountaineering whilst gaining qualifications and experience that would be required for Nepal. We were hosted by the Swiss Army and based out of their Mountain Training Centre in Andermatt for the duration.

Maud climbing out of a Crevasse (c) Maud Maudington

Despite a pessimistic weather forecast JSAM 13 was a resounding success for expedition personnel, with several awarded their Alpine Mountaineering Foundation and one qualifying as an Alpine Mountain Leader. Team members were able to climb in areas rich with mountaineering history including Saas Fee and the Bernese Oberland. Some of us were able to summit our first 4,000m peaks and everyone gained valuable Alpine experience.

Duncan Palmer

Guess what the expedition is eating!

Expedition Quarter Master Jon Evans spends his sunday breaking down 400 x 24 Hr ration packs.

REMEC Rock & Ridges 2013

All the gear yet no idea of the routes to come, but this is REMEC so two weeks worth of epic climbing was immanent. I was not wrong, with the weather for the most part playing the game allowing for some brilliant climbing as well as vital teaching/learning for the newer climbers amongst us. 

Learning to ascend (c) Maud Maudington

To take advantage of the weather, alpine style starts allowed longer adventures on the rock with groups of varied abilities going off and push the grades. The Rock & Ridges meet for me personally was a massive insight to climbing having little to no lead experience. However having bought brand new gear and carrying it with me everywhere, I needed to get out and use it. Wales offered some ideal venues to learn to lead and some classic venues where visited such as: Idwal Slabs, Milestone bButtress & Tryfan Bach.

Chris Colwill abseiling (c) Chris Colwill

Chris Colwill

REMEC Winter Meet 2013

Alpine weather on CMD Arete (c) Maud Maudington

Ex REMEC Winter Meet 2013 was a two week expedition to the Scottish Highlands in February of this year. The idea of the trip was to qualify all personnel with at least the foundation qualification in Winter Mountaineering. The only downside to spending two weeks out of work in Fort William, Scotland, was having to share our accommodation with civvis, mainly of the Spanish variety. Good fortune was on our side in the form of amazing weather – never before has Scotland seen so many cloud free Munroe’s.

Team on Buachaille Etivemoor (c) Maud Maudington

We bagged a lot of the peaks in the area, including Ben Nevis and the Mamores Range. The routes were demanding and challenging, and were mostly covered in snow and ice. We encountered a variety of terrain enabling us to utilise our new skillset. Some picked up moving on snow and ice easier than others – SSgt Webb ended the expedition early with an inconspicuous trip on Aanoch Mhor resulting in a broken ankle. 

Snow hole on Creag Meagaidh (c) Maud Maudington

The best part of the two weeks was staying out in a snow hole. Surprisingly, it’s warmer in there than you’d think being as it’s a big hole in essentially a large outdoor fridge. Even more surprisingly, they’re pretty substantial and thankfully didn’t cave in during the night. Overall, our general knowledge in the winter environment has been massively increased. The company we were in positively added to the experience. The end result all round was a sense of achievement, a feeling of satisfaction and enjoyment and also a new qualification in Winter Mountaineering.

Maud Maudington the First

REMEC attempt Manaslu 8156m

Sunrise on Manaslu (c) Ben Tubby

In Aug 2013 members of the Royal Engineers Mountain and Exploration Club (REMEC) will depart the UK and flight to Nepal with the aim of making an summit attempt on Manaslu 8156m, one of 14 8000er's and the 8th highest mountain in the world. This is the first time the Corps has undertaken an expedition of this scale and has been in the planning for over a year.

Larkya Peak 6249m (c) Paulo Grobel

The Manaslu summit team will be joined by a development team in September 13, who after visiting Manaslu Base Camp with make an attempt on Larkya Peak 6249m situated to the North before finishing the Manaslu Circuit Trek.

The expedition was open to all members of the Corps of Royal Engineers both regular and reservist with teams being selected back in December 12. 

This blog will give an update of the training the teams have conducted and follow both teams throughout the expedition.

Brad Beresford

“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” 

Edmund Hillary