Snow buddies
Hills are alive with sound of skiing

By FLTLT Michael Pearson
Volume 48, No. 5, April 6, 2006

The ADF’s top skiiers in Austria, from left, FLTLT Mike Pearson, LEUT Steele Morgan, CAPT Dean Munsie, FLTLT Davin Johnson, MAJ Murray Nelson, PTE Ed Taunton-Burnett, SQNLDR Dom Sims, LCDR Ian Napthali, LT Lee Gibson.

Photo by Alex Hogg

FOUR Air Force personnel had the chance of a lifetime, skiing and boarding the slopes of Austria at the recent RAF Alpine Winter Sports Championships.

SQNLDR Dom Sims, FLTLT Davin Johnson and FLTLT Michael Pearson represented the ADF in alpine skiing in Saalbach-Hinterglem last month, while CPL Troy Vanderplas competed in the snowboarding events.

Sims, along with Army’s CAPT Dean Munsie, LT Lee Gibson and MAJ Murray Nelson, managed three top-ten finishes in most races. Munsie and Sims also achieved competitive times.

“I think we surprised the RAF organisers and racers who weren’t expecting us to be as competitive as we were,” said team manager MAJ Nelson.

He added that the achievements of the ADF team were no small feat given that the RAF team trained for at least eight weeks each year and employed a professional full-time coach.

The ADF team raced for two weeks with the RAF teams, culminating in a downhill race on a challenging course.

The downhill was designed to be very intimidating and test a skier’s courage, technique and skill. It involved a structured build-up to enable racers to prepare for the speeds reached on the course.

Most of the ADF team had never competed in such a race due to the length and steep gradient of the slope.

The championships were followed by an intensive two-week training program utilising an Austrian race coach, in preparation for the subsequent British Combined Services Championships in Switzerland.

Sole Air Force snowboarder, Troy Vanderplas, said the high standard of RAF boarders prompted him to increase his skill level to rise to the challenge.

He said the experience was “awesome”, particularly getting to know the RAF boarders and forming great contacts for future international operations on and off the slopes.

.