Led by extreme weather warfare specialists from the Royal Marines, the training package will be delivered in two phases and has been designed to help the Army meet the challenges of deployments such as Op Cabrit in Poland and Estonia.

Capel Curig will host a 14-day mountain training stage in October 2019, when 30 soldiers from a host of cap badges will learn how to operate in a cold, rugged environment. They will be required to conduct regular marches of more than 20 kilometres over some of the highest peaks in the UK, while mastering the skills needed to micro-navigate in hostile terrain.

The training will then switch to Norway’s Bardufoss region for a four-week phase in March 2020. Here, the focus will be on how to survive in temperatures as low as 30 degrees below freezing before the students learn how to ski with full military kit over frozen lakes and brushwood forests.

The programme then concludes with a tactical, fighting phase.

Those who successfully pass this newly designed course will be able to go back to their units and teach their new found skills to fellow personnel.

Reference

Soldier. (2019) Cold Weather Course. Soldier: The Magazine of the British Army. October 2019, pp.17.