WELCOME TO THE PIPE DOWN PAGES

Ex PIPEDOWN (PD) is the Divisional level Ski Championships for 1 (UK) Armd Div, 2 Div and UKSC. It is also one of the two essential qualification competitions for the Army Alpine and Army Nordic Championships. Guest teams from the Other Services and Corps-based teams may be accepted subject to availability.

The organization and control of PD12 is the responsibility of HQ 1 (UK) Armd Div. The Exercise Controller is Maj Matt Birch RA and the Exercise Director is GOC 1 (UK) Armd Div, Maj Gen James Bashall CBE.

The aim of Ex PIPEDOWN is to provide a safe but competitive environment for soldiers to develop and test their military and personal attributes of determination, courage, endeavour, leadership, fitness and marksmanship, through Nordic cross country, biathlon and alpine skiing.

It also encourages novices to take part and develop their skill base and provide a challenging environment which will enable them to feel more comfortable with the stress, pressure and fatigue of operations.

The main administrative control for the exercise is carried out by the race office, which is situated in the Tourist Office in Les Contamines.  It will be open for registration between 1030-1530 on the day of arrival and thereafter 0800-1800 hrs daily.

Alpine and Nordic race declaration forms are held in the race office and are to be completed in accordance with the rules laid down in the AWSA Ski Race Rules.

Faxes and telephone messages only, can be taken by the race office. There are no facilities for sending and receiving mail when on PIPEDOWN.

The rules for PIPEDOWN follow the AWSA rules, which are adapted from the FIS and IBU (International Biathlon Union) rules respectively.

Alpine Rule Book
2011 AWSA Nordic Rules Essential Comp Rules Precis
Army Nordic Rules

It is always a good idea to get your team to familiarize themselves with the rules for the competition before deploying on the exercise. As this will give them time to ask any questions they may have regarding the rules, which at times can be confusing to a novice racer.

Familiarising yourself with the rules will also aid in the preparation of your team as there are some items of equipment that are specified as being necessary in the rules which the novice team may overlook.

Nordic	Alpine
15/10km Classic	Giant Slalom – Seeding
10/7.5km Biathlon Sprint	Giant Slalom – Individual & Team
4 x 10/5km Relay	Floodlit Challenge
4 x 7.5km Biathlon Relay	Downhill – Individual & Team
Military Patrol Race	Slalom – Individual 7 Team
	Super G – Individual & Team

This page allows you to link to reports provided by snow-forecast.com This is a very comprehensive snow report which is updated regularly and will keep you informed of the conditions in resort for the following 3 days. In order to view a Snow Report for Les Contamines Click Here.

There are always things that you forget when planning an exercise such as Spartan Hike. To try and ensure that you forget the minimum amount of things a list of useful tips has been constructed by the PIPEDOWN Staff. If you have any useful tips for the exercise that are not included in our list, please contact us via the Contact Us page and we will be happy to include them for the benefit of other participants in the exercise.

1. Take a Kettle as the French do not use them
2. Take a mug each as French tradition involves drinking hot drinks from bowls.
3. Snow chains are essential.
4. Begin the planning phase for the exercise well in advance to ensure that you have enough time to complete the preparations.
5. Try and obtain sponsorship for your exercise to offset some of the costs.
6. Buy any new equipment in France as it is generally cheaper and you can get some good discounts in resort.
7. Do some pre-exercise fitness training before departing for the exercise.
8. Get your grant applications in early to ensure you can get the money before you depart on the exercise.

For access to the AA route planner click here.

Lift passes for the period of PIPEDOWN can be secured at reduced rates. For PD12  the cost of the pass is €188. Teams wanting lift passes for any pre-training can also be purchased at a reduced cost. Full details on how to obtain reduced price lift passes is available in the Admin Instruction.

There are many places to hire skis within resort. One of the best places is from Intersport which is located near to the Race Office. Intersport will provide discount to military customers of up to 20% and they have a wide range of quality skis suitable for all disciplines within both Alpine and Nordic.