From 14 to 18 February 2011, thanks to a generous invitation of the Polish Land Forces Command, a group of staff members of Headquarters Multinational Corps Northeast (HQ MNC NE) were able to explore the possibilities and conditions of the Polish Mountain Training Centre “Jodła” in Zieleniec.
The group headed by the MNC NE Commander Lieutenant General Rainer Korff consisted of members from the three Framework Nations (i.e. Denmark Germany and Poland) and included representatives of all ranks. The purpose of the week spent in Zieleniec was to train skiing. Some HQ members were skillful skiers; others had never tried it before. However, before the trip was over, everyone had enjoyed 5 days of either learning a new sport or honing their prior skills in this very technical discipline. Especially the beginners made a tremendous step forward from barely being able to stand still and upright on the first day to slaloming down at difficult slopes on the last day of the trip.
How enjoyable the trip was best illustrates a personal story of one of the participants who used to ski many years ago until he had an accident in which he broke his leg in six places. Thanks to very good instructors from the “Jodła” Mountain Training Centre, even such a bad experience was soon replaced by joy and delight of going downhill at high speed with full control of the skies. In fact, it was not very good for the morale of most participants to be overtaken in speed and style by 6 and 7 year old children.
At the Mountain Training Centre “Jodła” in Zieleniec various Polish units conduct mountain training all year round as preparation for their duties and assignments. Zieleniec is a popular and recommendable ski area with its own micro climate that ensures snow until April. The military have their own ski lift but for a small expense the participants were able to use the entire skiing area, including the civilian part, to the full extent. 
Beyond the opportunity to replace work at the desk with fresh air and physical activities which is a great benefit at any time, a huge advantage of the trip was the opportunity to meet and become friends with colleagues from other branches with whom the participants of the trip might not usually cooperate with.
All participants of the ski training tour send their sincere thanks to the Polish Host Nation for this great event and hope that it will be possible for other MNC NE members to be able to learn the fine art of skiing in the future.
