Do our military need to learn to ski?
Wednesday February 17, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

The question has been raised after the death of an airman in an avalanche in Germany. He was on a training exercise with over 20 other personnel.

It is normal for people in the services to be offered the chance to undergo some form of ski training. 

A very small number will ever use the skills as part of an operational deployment, but the military says it has wider importance.

"It is good for morale, discipline and team spirit and learning such things is very important for British servicemen," says General Richard Sheriff.

He was speaking last year at a dinner at the HQ to commemorate 25 years of the army coming to Verbier to train.

It is called exercise White Knight and we had a fuller report on it here.

Last month in Serre Chevalier in the southern French Alps, PlanetSKI reporter, Phil Frewer was surprised to see more British army out training.

He refers to it in this piece he has written about his holiday in the resort.

But the issue has been raised on the BBC following the death of a serviceman in Germany with some interesting comments.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8505768.stm

So what do you think, a glorified jolly or essential training for our brave boys in uniform?

See the comment box below.

So is it essentail training or a glorified jolly?

PlanetSKI reserves the right to edit any comments. In most cases a selection of your comments will be published, displaying your name and location unless you state otherwise in the box below.

Your name:


Your email address:


Your location (town or country):


Your comments:

Why shouldn't they have the option? horse riding seems pretty common for the British Army and there are few horses in battle nowadays. If the Germans can do it, why not the British Army? I can see the whole team building, keeping people deployed argument. Makes sense. Should be an option. Not compulsory.
Xavier Adam, Solsona, Catalunya, Spain


I think skiing is a very important part of all three services’ adventurous training. Taking new recruits out to the Alps is an experience in itself. But probably more importantly it’s time for the service men and women who have recently done 6 month tours of Afgan and Iraq to relax and enjoy a well earned break.
Jack Harvard Taylor, London

Bookmark this page

Related Articles

When does the season start? (Thursday September 9, 2010)
Skiing the volcanos (Saturday September 4, 2010)
Get fit before you go (Wednesday September 1, 2010)
Touring on telemarks (Wednesday September 1, 2010)
Feeling clever today? (Tuesday August 31, 2010)
Brave, skilfull or totally insane? (Monday August 23, 2010)