Exercise BLUE ICE

Blue Ice and August Epic are beginner level activities that aim to introduce members to the alpine environment.

Each year in July and August and favourable snow conditions pending, the AAA heads up into the Kosciusko National Park to learn and practise alpine skills. These activities are run over five days and are aimed at aspiring mountaineers, however, all members are welcome and these activities are a good opportunity to polish up on rusty techniques. Generally the types of skills practised include:

• alpine survival
• snow and glacier travel
• ice-climbing
• basic rescue techniques
• navigation
• first aid

An example itinerary:

Day One. Meet in Canberra and sign out equipment. Travel to Jindabyne. Revision first aid training. Prepare packs.

Day Two. Hike (snowshoe/ski) to Blue Lake. Construct snow cave.

Day Three. Ice-climbing. Snow and glacier travel. Rescue techniques.

Day Four. Day trip from Blue Lake practising skills. Improvised shelters.

Day Five. Hike out. Return to Canberra. Return stores.

These activities are generally fully funded and all alpine equipment can be sourced from the AAA and Regional Adventure Training Store, so participants generally only need to bring clothing and a small amount of cash for their personal use.

The dates for these activities are contained in the Calendar , as are the contact details for the activity coordinator. An exercise instruction is sent to all participants, and this contains all the detailed information required to prepare for the activity.