A WEEK OF SUN, SLOPES AND SKIING

On the last Friday of the Lent Term, a cohort of pupils and teachers departed to St Anton Am Arlberg for a week of sun, slopes and skiing.

On arrival at Gatwick, our flight was delayed, but this was received well by the group as it gave more time to buy 'essential' gifts in the airport such as designer sunglasses and wholesale portions of Toblerone! On touching down in Munich, the group was greeted by a spectacular double-decker coach for the drive to St Anton. At approximately midnight, we arrived at our hotel, and after a very long day everyone settled down for a relaxing night’s sleep The alarms were set for 6am so we could hit the ski slopes bright and early!

After being fitted for ski gear by the superb instructors and hotel staff, we had a short bus drive to the bottom of the Nassereinbahn gondola to get skiing. The snow conditions were decent with a light coating of powder on top of hard packed snow However, on the second day the group was blessed with large snowfall, and snow conditions were close to perfect for the rest of the trip.

In the evenings, we were treated to a range of activities, ranging from an activities centre in the town of St Anton, offering table-tennis, 9pin bowling, pool and much more, to a relaxing evening at a local spa On the second day, Mr Young set us the monumental task of a 'name the dog' challenge followed by his excellent quiz. And on the final night, awards were given out to standouts in their respective groups

By Jamie Gordon

The skiing itself was enormous fun; with a 200km ski area and 88 lifts there was something for everyone, and all groups enjoyed skiing in the wonderful snow on five days! The Gampenbahn restaurant made a fortune on wiener schnitzel sales throughout the week from the group, and the trip stayed relatively injury free which was a great relief.

Overall, a very good time was had by all There were plenty of improved skiers throughout every group, and the trip was a thorough success!