Advertisement
Published: April 9th 2009
Edit Blog Post
About six months ago our Deputy Head walked into the staffroom and asked if any of the teachers would be willing to go to Italy for the schools first ski trip abroad.
Go to Italy for a school ski trip? Not the sort of thing that happens in New Zealand very often. Of course it didn’t take me more than 2 seconds to sign up for the trip. Other teachers later remarked that ‘no one else even had a chance to volunteer’ as Bridget and myself immediately started bouncing and shouting “PLEASE, PLEASE, PICK ME, PICK ME!”
On Saturday 28th March, we all assembled. Thirty-five 8 to11year old girls, four teachers and three husbands / partners. Yes even the boys were allowed to attend - as long as they passed their CRB and met our strict standards!!! (We also needed them to help - hurling suitcases, carrying skis, judging the talent show, increasing ratios when travelling through airports…)
Everyone in the group was pretty excited, although none of us were particularly looking forward to getting a whole group of school girls through Heathrow Airport on a Saturday. Luckily we were well looked after by the great British Airways
ground crew who ensured that checking in 35 girls and a ridiculous amount of luggage was as painless as possible.
The flight went smoothly until we began our descent into Milan Malpensa Airport. The teachers all raised their eyebrows when the captain asked us to ‘return your seats and tray tables to their upright position, fasten seatbelts and please take a moment to take note of your nearest emergency exits’
Excuse me? WHY? Pretty soon the reason became obvious. Flying over the snow covered Alps + high winds + pouring rain = very bad turbulence. My worst nightmare! The girls were amazing though. While a few of the older ones screamed “we’re all gonna die!” The younger ones were having a great time, laughing and shouting as if they were on a fairground ride. As you can imagine, I (pathetic drama queen I know) was clutching Chris across the aisle and one of my eleven year olds for dear life. I tried to start up a session of bible songs but was promptly told by Chris that I was “scaring the children”
After a few minutes the sick bags made an appearance. Unfortunately, the turbulence meant that one
poor soul missed her bag and was sick all over her new sweater and the seat in front of her. Thank you to the great British Airways flight crew who helped clean up the mess and dished out more travel sickness pills when we were safely landed.
A little bit dazed but glad to be alive, we boarded our coach for the 4 and a half hour drive to the little resort called Folgarida. Located in the Val di Sole in the Italian Alps, the drive would have been spectacular if it hadn’t been for the darkness and heavy snow. The girls and some of the adults managed to get a few hours sleep on the coach. By the time we arrived it was 4:30 am local time. It was snowing heavily and everyone was exhausted!
The next few days we all settled into the routines of Resort life. A typical day consisted of:
7:15 Wake up call. Dress in ski clothes.
8:00 Breakfast served.
8:30 Catch the gondola up the mountain.
9:00 - 11:00 Skiing lessons.
11:00 - 1:00 Back down the mountain in the gondola, relax for 45 minutes, lunch served.
1:30 - 3:30ish Afternoon skiing lessons
4:00 - 6:00 Snack time and afternoon activities (swimming, treasure hunt, games etc)
6:00 - 7:00 Relax in rooms. Get changed for dinner.
7:00 Dinner served.
7:45 After dinner activities - karaoke, disco, quiz, talent shows etc
9:00 Girls go to bed. Adults fall into shaking mess in front of the fire, make use of hotel bar and play Uno. Uno became quite a big thing among the adults. Bridget, Chris and Rod were competitive. Zoe on the other hand, had a slight tendency to make up the rules as the game progressed. I was completely hopeless and Gill and Peter, quite sensibly, knew when to quit!
As you can see, not our usual travel experience but loads of fun with outstanding company. The skiing was absolutely awesome and the mountain views were amazing. Folgarida is a great place for beginners and intermediate skiers. The advanced groups (I cannot believe how talented the girls are) skied over to Madonna di Compiglio to tackle harder black runs and off-piste areas while the learners made the most of the lovely ski school area.
After being a bit of
a numpty on a snowboard, I was determined to master skiing. As it turned out, I much preferred skiing. I found it easier to get started and enjoyed spending much more time on two feet - rather than lying on my back wondering how to get back up. Chris even enjoyed skiing much more than he expected and typically was miles better than me by the third day!
The girls in our beginner group were fantastic and very supportive of each other. Of course they progressed much quicker than me and seemed to have absolutely no fear of steep slopes! I was quite happy at the back of the group, trying to master the snow plough, parallel turns and basically staying upright. Just when we felt good about our basic skills, using the chair lifts and the drag lifts, we were whisked up to the top of the mountain to enjoy a lovely long blue run and a few red runs. Personally, I found the red runs terrifying but we all had great fun and felt so relieved to finish each one without injury! Our instructor spoke some broken English in a heavy Italian accent and was hilarious. The
girls adored him - even as he shouted “NO NO NO COME HERE, COME HERE, NO SIT DOWN. SIT DOWN IS DANGEROUS! SNOOOW PLOUUUGH… SNOOOW PLOUUUGH!”
Sadly Bridget suffered a knee injury when a plaited, long-haired, Viking came down the slope and skied into Bridget’s ski. They both fell and Bridget spent two days back at the resort recovering. We were gutted but pleased when she was able to join us again later in the week.
The weather was stunning. The Italians had their shirts off and were sunbathing on deck chairs perched in the snow! Despite this, we did get two sessions where we skied in thick fog and some groups spent the afternoon battling heavy snow and wind. I spent the afternoon having a nap at the empty resort and being thankful for the silence!
After a week, the girls began to start each day a little more subdued. Our last morning saw us waking them up at 4:30am for our coach ride back to Milan. This time I was determined to stay awake to see the sun rising on the Dolomites. It was absolutely stunning - glad I did it, although I was straight
into bed for a deep three hour sleep as soon as the girls were reunited with their parents in London.
Any volunteers for the next school ski trip?!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.469s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 35; qc: 151; dbt: 0.1281s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.6mb
Tash & Tash
non-member comment
Cool school trip!
Nice photos Anna! so you didnt master the snowboarding huh?! Looked like so much fun though....in our day we were lucky to get to the beach on a school trip! haha