ROYAL Marine commandos from Plymouth skilfully scale a frozen mountain side in a bid to covertly infiltrate an enemy camp.

By climbing undetected the commandos can spy and gain an advantage over their enemies, feeding precious intelligence back to headquarters.

There may well be easier ways to infiltrate the mountain-top camp, but this way the commandos can gain the upper hand.

The ice climbing drill is just one of a number of skills which the marines are exercising in Gratangen in northern Norway during the cold weather warfare deployment, entitled 'Lupus'.

"We carry out this kind of training because we are the eyes and ears of brigade [3 Commando Brigade]," said Colour Sergeant Pete Lee from Stonehouse-based Brigade Reconnaissance Troop.

"We could be the pre-landing force and the enemy could be looking over a specific area waiting for us.

"The last thing the enemy would expect would be for us to climb up an area like this. We look for the most unlikely areas to infiltrate, and then carry out our covert operations to feed intelligence back to brigade."

CSgt Lee knows a thing or two about training in this harsh and dangerous environment. Since 1989 he has trained here more than a dozen times.

As a Mountain Leader it is his responsibility to oversee the training of the marines. And this year it has proved to be particularly challenging.

On one particular day last month the still air temperature was -30 degrees. As the cool Arctic breeze picked up, the wind chill dropped the temperature down to a staggering -52 degrees.

Even the elite marines know when the elements are 'on top', so they called a halt to the drill. They stop exercising when the still air temperature drops to -30 degrees.

"If you're not prepared, then these temperatures can kill," the 44-year-old said.

"That is not a risk we can take here on exercise. You have to be able to administer yourself properly making sure you eat and drink well, and are well dressed for the climate.

"For many of the young marines exercising in Norway for the first time, it has been a wake up call.

"It's the first time they have been exposed to this. They might have had a skiing holiday with their families before, but this is very different."

Marines go through pre-Norway lectures focusing on how to live, survive and fight in this unforgiving wilderness. They then descend upon Norway for the physical training.

But despite the hours spent in the lecture room, the elements do take hold occasionally.

CSgt Lee said two or three marines have suffered from 'frost nip' – the first stages of frost bite – since the deployment began early last month.

But by and large the hundreds of Plymouth-based marines – including those from Stonehouse-based Command Support Group and Turnchapel-based 539 Assault Squadron, and Royal Navy sailors from the Devonport Naval Base-based Fleet Diving Group, have successfully completed the training unharmed.

CSgt Lee believes it is "essential" to maintain the cold weather warfare skill which the marines proudly boast.

"Being the people we are we need to be able to operate in cold climates which can invariably involve Afghanistan," he added.

The servicemen and women are currently taking part in cold weather courses and associated specialist training in the run up to Exercise Cold Response.

Exercise Cold Response will involve thousands of troops – including those in the Royal Navy – from 12 countries, in and around the coast of Norway.