exercise snow queen 1

Gordon. wrote:

BAOR was a holliday for a lot of people..

It was, but there was a huge shortage of women in particular, especially 'out in the sticks' at Hohne where there is still no urban areas close by.

It was drink drink drink, with Ulster and a few exercises in between drinking sessions, in my time on BAOR.

I knew of a few who died of alcohol poisoning.

I did Snow Queen in 1969.I drove an old Merc Benz 911 all the way from Berlin down the corridor to Helmstedt daring not to exceed the speed limit in case the VOPO (East German Police) stopped us and the RMP's having to come out from their cosy little offices at the checkpoint at Helmstedt to escort us to an inevitable charge of speeding as we had to stick to the speed limit set by them from the checkpoint in Berlin to Helmstedt.I think that we had just over two hours or so to do the journey to the border.Our journey down through West Germany as it was known in those days took us through Braunschweig,Fulda, Wursburg,Nuremberg, Regensburg,Regan then on to our destination to a town called Bodenmais not far from the Czech border.
We lived in a farmhouse accomodation just outside the town.We stayed with a family called the Baumgartners who were absolutely lovely hosts and they made us very welcome. We cooked our own meals as we had a cook with us for the duration.The Baumgartners had a small nursery slope at the rear of the farm that we used to teach the troops the basics.A fresh lot arrived on a weekly basis by coach and took the trained skiers back to Berlin. We went to a mountain range called the Grosser Arber for ski-ing which had some great runs and restaurants for a wee drink when we could.We used to attract attention from the locals when some of the Jocks were a wee bit inebriated and tried to ski doon the runs.We also brought a couple of the regimental pipers who entertained the locals all I might add for free booze.The doodlesack was great hit with the Germans.

We also frequented the local disco's in Bodenmais which was a nice little town in those days.The local lassies were nice also.I stayed there for nine weeks until the snow began to melt as Spring was approaching.On the day we were leaving for the return journey to Berlin in April, it snowed continuously, the snow was about eight feet deep on both sides of the road but sadly we could not stay for another day.We bid our farewells to the Baumgartners who I might add were sad to see us go as we made quite an impression on them even to the extent of helping them to deliver a couple of calves when the cows were giving birth.We also left them with some rations that we had and the kids were given loads of sweets.Yes I really enjoyed Snow Queen it was a welcome break from the tedious duties back in Berlin.I enjoyed the driving experience also and going through the various towns and villages Germany is a really lovely place.On looking at the Google Maps etc and seeing how the country has developed over the years, it makes the UK look as if it is in the dark ages,only my opinion folks.

I know I'm opening old topics but having just joined and reading through the forums, a lot of memories are coming back.

Did Snow Queen 73/74, had a great time. Not sure the name of the place we stayed but it was right below the Kehlstein and the village was once an SS garrison. The chalet we were in had about 14 storey's of cellar. Most were blocked off but we managed to get down a fair way through air shafts etc.

The bloke who owned the slopes that we were on was the bar manager of the General Walker Hotel. We spent a few nights there after hours. Great times.

We went back to the same place in the summer for more adventure training - climbing, absieling, canoeing, drinking...