EscalaSki Trip

The academic year had not begun yet, I was still a ‘kandi’, and everything was still new. Yet, many questions arose: “Is there going to be one this year?”, “Is there already a committee?” and “Will it be together with the Triple-A again?” All those questions I was unable to answer. I had heard tales and rumours of past ski trips, but organising one? That is a different story.

Not that long ago, the Triple-A associations decided it would be an innovative idea to merge forces and create what would be known as the CommiSki (red: not such an impressive name, I know, but we will get back to that later). At the beginning of the year, we assembled the mightiest people of all associations again and sat down to start the negotiations. After one long, inefficient talk with some random board members, the committee was formed.

Members from Astatine and Alembic quickly joined, and yes, without Arago. They decided that ‘too many trips’ was a thing. To this day I happily disagree, as would they, later. However, we successfully put together a seemingly capable committee and started working; the EscalaSki (red: see, a lot better) was established. Due to the relatively late start, a travel agent was our only option to decrease the workload. Slight panic occurred within the committee when people started dropping out last minute and the search for new people had to be revamped. Giving external people the opportunity to enrol would get us some seats, but unfortunately not enough. And that is when they came: the long lost Aragonauten. Via a personal connection, they decided, one by one, to participate. It was a nice sight to see spots being filled and now we could finally say that it was in fact a trip with the Triple-A. The glory of organising the trip would of course not be lost to another association and the name would still bear only the first two.

"the bus sold beer" Bus

Some drama and trouble later, it was time to go on the trip. A bus filled with students, presumably all carrying a form of entertainment for the road. The foresight was troubling and seemed challenging. Making sure the bus drivers were not mad at arrival looked like a good boundary to set. It was made clear that alcohol would not be permitted on the bus which made the committee quite nervous. It was when we had the first conversation with the driver that we were more than happily surprised they were not estranged to students. Just after the drivers switched they told us they had a fridge and sold beer. Many of the well-behaved participants that did not bring any alcoholic beverages saw their chance and took it. I believe the driver was not yet finished talking and there was a row long enough to sell out the beer instantly.

Day 1

At arrival one would assume people were quite tired. It was 10:30 in the morning and sleeping on the bus is not a skill everyone possesses, although I was one of the lucky few. The excitement and adrenaline gave everyone enough energy to make it a busy morning by arranging for everyone to go to the slopes. There were also problems with the deposits, and we had to efficiently make everything happen, from room division to ski rental. It all went fairly quickly, and it made myself and some others excited enough to grab a day pass which I do not think anyone regretted. The first day was great: the weather was good, there was snow and nobody had an accident. We even made a reservation for dinner together with the Alembic members at the local restaurant: L’ Alambix (Foto 2). Yes, I kid you not. The food was also great, as the name would raise that expectation. A good first day with, however, a prospect of bad weather. Weather worse than everyone’s nightmares…

Day 2

It was morning, and a happy roommate had already got breakfast at the bakery. It was early but the idea of another day of skiing made it easy to get out. Waking everyone up was easily done by opening the curtains, but the sight was nothing I had expected. Nothing could be seen. Just white, with some cars visible below the balcony. Interesting to say the least. As naïve students we simply had breakfast and did not think about what this weather would mean for the skiing. Everyone grabbed their gear and jumped towards the lifts. These turned out to be closed… The weather was so bad, not a single seated lift in the entire region was opened. Especially the people that had not gone skiing the first day were quite disappointed. That day became game-day as you would probably expect. Closing such a day full of games can only be done with a game of Centurion.

Day 3

The next morning was, well, filled with headache. The sky had, luckily, cleared completely. The difference was astonishing. Incredibly sunny and snow everywhere. It was on the fresh slopes you really got to experience the amount of snow.

Day 4

The next day everyone woke up in fear of sore muscles as the bumpy slopes had taken their toll. It was a tough morning to get up, but then again, we were there to go skiing, so skiing we did. There was still a lot of snow, and the slopes were prepared nicely at the start of the day. So, a good day for skiing, but not a good day for stories. For that, we go a day further.

Day 5

This gave the not-that-well-experienced skiers the confidence to try the black slopes. The metre-thick snow made falling much more pleasant which was required on some, maybe quite some occasions. It was also good for having a well-deserved tea break on the slope because you could comfortably sit back and fall in a perfectly fitted snow chair (Foto 3). Quite the contrast compared to the day before. Later on, the slopes became quite bumpy and it was very much the opposite of what a decent minded man would call comfortable skiing.

This day of drama starts with several inexperienced ski enthusiasts wanting to join the rest of the group. Everybody was excited to go on a vast exploration to the other valley and see what we could find. Already at the top of the pass, one person decided to follow the wrong person and do a descent on their own, which was not an amazing 25-minute wait. After a little high-speed chase to find the rest, we had to wait again because they decided they could do a quick descent as well. Here I was, waiting 40 minutes while having skied maybe half of that time. I was pumped to get going and as the rest of the group closed in and descended towards the lift, it happened. A big crash occured between one of our inexperienced skiers and a random French girl. Just as they both decided to brake, they steered into each other. Our member was luckily fine and seemed to be without injuries, but we could not say the same of the girl for whom we again needed to wait. 40 minutes quickly turned into an hour, which not so quickly became one and a half hours. As a scooter arrived, our optimism grew, but unjustly. She was treated a little but as we saw a snow groomer approach, we knew this meant no good. Our member was finally released from his duty of I-am-not-sure what exactly, but he was released, and we were relieved. Just as we decided to take the lift back, we heard the blasting sounds of a helicopter approaching, and yes, it was for her. She had to be carried away via air transport. Not a good day for our inexperienced participants. Such moments give no man energy. We happily continued our trip, but it was noticeable that it had stricken fear in some. The rest of the day was very pleasant but was partly overshadowed by the poor man’s incident.

Day 6

This day revolved around the enterprise of pizza. In terms of integration between associations, nothing works better than free pizza. Getting 41 pizza’s, however, is a challenge. There was a nice pizzeria just next to our accommodation and we thought they would be able to arrange this for us. We were correct about their capabilities, though it took quite a while to find this out. Our French has seen better days and the people at the pizzeria spoke no English at all. However, we made it work. 41 pizzas within an hour, happily given to all people. We were very proud of that accomplishment and next to some good skiing that was the most interesting thing that happened on day 6.

Day 7

The last day of our trip had arrived and although everybody was excited to go up the mountain again, cleaning had to happen as well. It was unclear whether we had to clean in the morning or afternoon but as good clean students we decided to do it at the latest. This meant we had time to take a nice group picture, for which Astatine of course was not on time (Foto 4). After some emotional last skiing, it was time to prepare for the ride back, both mentally and physically. All leftover food and drinks had to go on board which made some people very excited for the way back and some people a little less. People were not as shy with the consumptions as they were on the first trip we quickly found out. Music, games, talking and a lot of different beverages were passed through the corridor. It was a lot of fun and ended up with only one seat that had to be cleaned, or at least, for which the cleaning costs had to be paid. I call that a success. With some final singing when we arrived in Enschede, people were very excited and satisfied with the week-long trip. It was so much fun to hang out with people from all different associations and further. It made quite some Alembic members even excited for next year’s trip. It so happens there have been talks about a next ski trip and a committee already being made. There are rumours of one possibly bigger, with more associations, more people, and more fun than ever before….