How I survived 2 weeks filming the Army’s grueling mountain warfare school hiking in subzero temperatures and waist-high snow

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jake Gabbard, a video producer at Business Insider. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

It was like one of those moments in the movies where the main character says, “You’re probably wondering how I ended up here.”

I was filming at the US Army’s Mountain Warfare School in Jericho, Vermont, and one of the soldiers had just put an avalanche transceiver on me. It would tell people where I was if I got buried in the snow.

For the past 12 days, I’d been following the school’s latest class of students training to become military mountaineers, and we’d reached the course’s final event: the Mountain Walk.

It’s a hike up a treacherous area of Smuggler’s Notch, a narrow mountain pass that rises about 2,600 feet over a few miles.

The pass is lined with 1,000-foot cliffs, gets on average between 20 to 27 feet of snowfall annually, and is closed to the public in winter because it’s prone to avalanches, like the one that struck in 2018 and swept up six Army soldiers. Luckily, they all survived.

It was February in subfreezing temperatures, and I was outfitted with about $3,000 in military-issued extended cold-weather clothing. Along with 40 Army students and 10 instructors, I was prepared to hike, climb, and dominate this beast.

And I was going to get it all on camera.

I was in good company

Standing at the mountain base to Smuggler’s Notch, I could hear the wind picking up amid the snow. “This is getting really real,” I thought.

My heart was racing, but I trusted these guys. If there was anybody I wanted to be with during an avalanche, it was them.

The government invested $30 million in the Army Mountain Warfare School in 2019. With rising global tensions, the Army is putting serious emphasis on cold-weather and high-altitude capabilities.

The school offers a two-week training course multiple times a year, annually turning out about 500 military mountaineers who can navigate rocky terrain in places like China and Russia.

The focus isn’t necessarily on fighting in the mountains; it’s about getting to the fight. And I’d seen it all up close for the past two weeks leading up to this moment.

My most grueling shoot ever

Those were the most intense days I’ve ever had during a shoot. I had to follow these guys up cliffs, through snow, and down mountains as they struggled to complete their tests.

When they saw me attempting to keep up with them as the terrain became more treacherous, I felt like I earned their respect. In between training exercises, we spent hours chatting and getting to know each other.

I hiked about 4 miles a day beside them. It was physically brutal, and getting the shots was a challenge at times.

I learned how to rappel, use an ascender, and move through waist-deep powder while filming — they call it “swimming through mashed potatoes,” because that’s what it feels like.

At one point, I was dangling from a cliff, harnessed in with a tether, filming soldiers rappelling down right above me.

By the end of the two weeks, I’d lost 8 pounds. I wasn’t trying to lose weight and was eating plenty; I just couldn’t keep up with how many calories I was burning. Plus, I was losing a lot of water weight.

The cold-weather gear I wore, which the Army lent me, did almost too good a job. I was so sweaty under all those layers that it was difficult to stay hydrated.

I felt a connection with this class

Despite all the physical challenges, what stuck with me the most was the camaraderie and humor. These soldiers were constantly joking and lifting each other up.

Staff Sergeant Nicholas Honeycutt was one of the most memorable soldiers. He was fun, charismatic, and open in a way that kept me coming back to him at the end of every day. I was sure he’d make it through to graduation.

On day six, for example, he was one of only 26 students to pass a difficult land navigation test that involved hiking in white-out conditions, carrying a 50-pound pack through snow past their knees.

They had to navigate to five different locations across the entire base using only a compass, a map, and an altimeter.

The test includes eight graded parts, including land navigation, casualty evacuation, rope systems, and a 50-question written exam. Surprisingly, the test with the highest failure rate isn’t out in the field; it’s a knot test in a gym.

Honeycutt was one of five students who couldn’t pass the knot test after two attempts and was sent home. I was shocked. This man had climbed steep cliff faces, navigated through unforgiving snowstorms, and rucked for miles and miles in deep snow with flying colors.

In the end, though, tying a knot incorrectly could mean death, and Honeycutt was not allowed to continue. The casualty evacuation, where students have to build a rope system to lower their backpack down a hillside, is the only other part of a test where a candidate could be immediately eliminated.

All other parts of the test are graded with a point system. Failing one part results in losing two points. If a student loses 10 points, they are dismissed from the school.

The climb wasn’t what we were expecting

The climb up Smuggler’s Notch is the last hike for each class before graduation. It’s a chance for all the students who have passed the necessary critical tests to put their new skills into action.

At the mountain’s base, we stood around for 30 minutes amid the worsening weather while the instructors waited to confirm the pass was safe.

Much to the students’ disappointment, the climb was canceled after avalanche conditions were spotted at higher elevations in Easy Gully, the toughest part of the climb.

I was relieved that the avalanche transceiver attached to me wouldn’t be necessary.

The rest of the day was no cakewalk, though. The instructors improvised and condensed the climb to a lower altitude, where students conducted “avalanche training” that involved searching for a “casualty” (a backpack) in deep snow. Then, the class hiked to a series of cliff faces where they practiced ascents and descents, and finally finished with ice climbing on multi-pitch ice walls.

Fifty-one students enrolled in the class. Forty finished it.

Graduation was a proud moment for those 40, but also quick. Later that same day, the graduates packed their bags to return home, and I got ready to head back to New York City.

I had bruises on my legs and a camera full of footage that told a story I’ll never forget. This wasn’t just a film shoot; it felt like a mission. And I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

This story offers an inside look at Business Insider’s video “Inside The Army’s Grueling Mountain Warfare School,” which is part of the Boot Camp series. See Jake Gabbard’s final documentary below:

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