Day Five

We awoke this morning to a thick new blanket of snow, poor visibility, and snow still falling. Hermann had been up at five to clear the road up to the hotel with his own personal snowplough. Cool! Everyone was ready today for brilliant skiing - confidence up, the hard work of learning the ropes achieved; it was now time to go for it. We met today at The Bernkogelbahn gondola which was taking all the groups to their skiing destiny. Before we start today special mention needs to be made of Felicity Bray, who has crept under the radar. Having never skied before this week, she graduated from the beginner’s group on the first morning, and has been skiing with the intermediate group ever since. Today she went off piste and ended up waist high in snow. She doesn’t even look out of place amongst skiers who have been two or three times before. Respect is most definitely due.

The intermediate group were on an Eddie inspired journey today which included skiing off piste through woods and tackling a series of blue and red runs. John Woods claims Eddie called him ‘Amazing!’ today. Amazing John certainly was, specifically in terms of the eight spectacular wipe-outs he achieved. Tomorrow he promises a mustard yellow top over his 80s ski suit. We are all blessed! Lucy Murdoch also managed to get stuck, chest height in deep snow, and required the gentlemanly actions of Oliver Curtis to pull her out. Oliver also was helping get Erica Brown’s boots on first thing. He wins gentleman of the day award.

 There is a group of five girls, alongside Felicity Bray, who have been rising above some of the more bonkers and competitive skiing that the boys cannot resist in this group, and none the less they are not in the slightest bit phased. Jenny Pledge and Ella Walsh-Oaks have both been carving up the powder with panache, Emily Kent, aside of calling Miss Marks ‘mum’ in error, also cuts a pretty fly groove on the slopes. Rebecca Tighe and Jade Bacciarelli are the final two in the jigsaw. Rebecca’s speciality has been either forgetting things or managing to be slightly late for the coach! After the shopping trip to Zell-Am-Zee Felicity Bray and Rebecca needed to be talked back to the bus with Emily Kent issuing homing instructions from the bus! Jade brings an edge of cosmopolitan style to the slopes, never seemingly tired at the end of whatever exertions Eddie has created for his group. They really are a lovely bunch of kids and a pleasure to have on the trip.

Funghi’s advanced group did some black runs, went off-piste and then did a slalom run. As usual Funghi pushed them hard, with Georgina Hanley completing stunt of the day, managing a cartwheel in soft snow and somehow landing it and skiing off as if nothing was wrong. Ella Wilson lost the fewest falls race to Max Foster and Georgina, clocking up three considerable falls, but none as spectacular as Alex Young, who parted company with skis and poles and ended the wrong way up in deep snow. Nice! In the slalom, Max Foster won, completing the course in 45 seconds. Georgina came in second at 52 seconds, one mistake costing her dear. All agreed they had an ‘awesome’ day’s skiing.

Julia, despite still being upset at Mr Damant’s absence from the beginner’s group, tried to put a brave face on and took them on their first proper ski. Everyone agreed that the day was brilliant, with them completing any number of runs down a blue slope, and George Royall becoming King of the T-bar, spectacularly falling off twice, having comedy panic moments and being determined, with Alex Hope and Josh Madgwick, to ski down as quickly as possible. There were many fine moments of skiing prowess, with Issy Harvey leading her own group down! Rachel Crozier deserves a particular mention, as she didn’t feel well in the morning, but was determined to ski in the afternoon, and did brilliantly! Miss Wills once again managed to come to a complete standstill, and slowly, like a stricken animal, fell to the snow.

We are ready tomorrow for our final full day of skiing. Mr Shawley needs to be congratulated on putting on such a fantastic week’s events. So much work goes into this trip, and now Mr Shawley has the burden of looking after Mr Damant too. His work, indeed, in never done!

Day Three

The start of a new day brought new hope to many that struggled during day one.  Blue sky, sun, perfectly groomed pistes and the knowledge of the menu at their lunch time feeding hole gave them the oomph and pizazz to throw off the pain of sore quads, bruised glutes (backside to you and me!), and in Mr Damant’s case, an almost full body meltdown!

Today the skiing started in earnest. Funghi took the advanced team down a seven kilometre run legendarily named the Jausermabfahrt. This run was also completed by Miss Marks and Mr Shawley. Much was made of Mungo Patterson’s interesting bottom out style of skiing. Georgina Hanley and Ella Wilson were both, with insouciant confidence, sitting back on their skies in order to gain more speed. Charlotte Portsmouth, in the beginners group, did much the same thing, but not on purpose. Afterwards she was heard to say ‘That was fun but VERY painful!’ Max Foster, again in the advanced group, was saying he had once done a back flip on skies. No one believed him.

The intermediate group went with Eddie to what is known as the ‘Mid-station on the Saalbach side’ (thank you Mr Shawley). After Olivia Hill-Goulding and Josh Madgwick  had proved incredibly adept at stylishly crashing and burning they swapped with Alex Hope and Ella Walsh-Oakes at lunchtime, with Josh still hearing Eddie’s legendary line in his ears: ‘Josh, come back in two days when you have learnt to stop!’. Now the daily need to mention John Wood comes in at this point, as he attempted, to Eddie’s certain prediction of doom, a 180 degree turn. The spectacular failure was apparently, according to John himself, pure comedy gold. Lucy Murdoch and Erica Brown also stood out, winning the exceptionally styled skiers of the day!

Now whilst there was some second day jitters, everyone seemed to improve and actually there was some fantastic skiing done by everyone. The beginners group were advancing well in the morning, but could well have over-extended on the ambitiousness in the afternoon. Julia’s best laid plans of getting everyone  to ski from top to bottom  on the nursery slope came unstuck when Jacob Williamson, Lucas Plant and Sam Thurley-Ratcliffe went quite quickly (!) to the bottom! Then Mr Damant decided not to be able to stop at a vital moment and many children were afraid, very afraid. Issy Harvey was very nearly sent to the bottom of the hill but just managed to avoid disaster, despite Mr Damant’s best laid plans. Theo Trebacz was really frustrated as her boots were wrong, but once again Mr Shawley saved the day and Theo joined us again in the afternoon. A big shout out must go to Charlotte Portsmouth, who showed real grit and determination and improved massively, and Miss Wills, who didn’t fall down all the time unlike Mr Damant.

The day finished with a brilliant trip right to the top of the mountains, passing over the black run that the advanced group will be tackling tomorrow. They have to be mad! The views were simply stunning. To stand at the top of the Schattsberg X-Press Ski lift and look at the most amazing scenery in bright sunshine-the Alps spread out all around us was to realise how incredibly lucky we all are.

The evening now spreads before us as this is typed whilst writing the questions for the annual Ski trip quiz.  The pupils should at least be able to answer the first question: How many times did Alan the coach driver slip on the ice and fall down walking to the coach this morning? Answer? Three! Of course no one laughed…….

Day two: No pain, no gain!

The first day of full skiing got underway at 7.30 this morning. The previous evening Hermann, the owner of our hotel, had been presented with a beautifully made wooden box full of true English fayre. The marmite was particularly interesting when compared with the breakfast chocolate sprinkles-Hermann looked dubious!

Having had a delicious breakfast we met our three instructors down in the centre of Saalbach, led by Funghi (the story is too long), Eddie and Julia. Funghi lead the advanced skiers off, they were exploring more varied slopes and the stand-out skiers by common consent were Max Foster and Georgina Hanley, although all the advanced skiers did brilliantly.  The intermediate skiers and the beginners all began on the nursery slopes-Eddie taking the intermediates and Julia, whom we discovered had infinite patience, took the beginners. It is impossible NOT to mention John Wood in this; as if he doesn’t get a name check he becomes most upset. After having mentioned he last skied in the Lebanon, he proceeded to entertain everyone with the most resplendent mid-eighties all in one ski suit. He looked killer. The intermediate group did so well that they graduated to higher slopes after lunch, which was taken in a Pizzeria in the centre of town. Miss Marks did so well she ended up on a blue run, the biggest run she had done for a year.

Julia’s group did brilliantly, although she had some issues with Mr Damant and stamina, as his half an hour of Ski fit pre trip started to look a little light! Miss Wills did brilliantly, and improved gradually throughout the day, and all the beginners learnt the snow plough-an essential skill, and also ended the day doing turns. Ella Walsh-Oakes and Theo Trebacz both did brilliantly, as did George Royall, picking up these skills really quite quickly. The amazing thing was though that everyone had clearly improved through the whole day.

Mr Shawley once again had to put in a shift, changing and altering arrangements and making sure we had the best Après Ski-a visit to the Ice Hockey. We ended up supporting the away team (we had met them in the car park earlier) whilst sitting in the home end. It was a vital game for them-they needed the three points. The game was incredibly exciting and the away team won 6-4, but it was 5-4 for the last 10 minutes and the game hung in the balance. The team had vociferous support throughout and ended with great celebrations, and they came and gave their loyal Westgate supporters a thank you wave!

We returned, all exhausted, to a wonderful meal, and this is being typed just before we collapse to bed. We are starting earlier tomorrow, and there is no room for anything but 100% commitment.  Mr Damant is finding it difficult to walk. This could be interesting!

The first instalment of the 2013 Saalbach Ski blog for Parents and anyone else who is interested!

The first leg of the ski trip has got underway! As the scrum of parents melted away and we left Westgate behind, a brave band of four teachers were left in sole charge of thirty one pupils almost beside themselves with excitement and anticipation. Lead by the seasoned Mr Shawley, and aided and abetted by Mr Damant, Miss Wills and Miss Marks, this merry band of intrepid ski hounds headed towards Saalbach in Austria.

The coach journey, a mere twenty four hours long, can push even the most hardened traveller into a nether world populated by half caught glimpses of films, a sonic narrative achieved on a wondrous variety of headphones, and the consumption of the sort of food that would cause Jamie Oliver serious conniptions! This was CIA level sleep deprivation combined with an unseen unfolding drama that was playing out through the darkened coach windows as Steve and Alan, our indefatigable and good humoured coach drivers, pushed through Kent to Dover, on the ferry, and then through France, Belgium and Germany before reaching Austria. We will draw a quiet veil over the ferry crossing-suffice to say Mr Shawley’s fish and chips were not really up to scratch-Mr Damant’s constitution was more robust!

As for the kids, Erica Brown’s onesie caused a considerable stir, Rachel Crozier took some excellent photos of some thin snow at a service station in Belgium, and John Wood was ambushed by Josh Madgwick at the same venue and sustained a most unfortunate pre skiing injury! Everyone also had to shift away from Miss Wills and pretend they were with another ski party when she chose to demolish a rather delightful display of particularly European squeaky cuddly toys. The odyssey had truly begun.

Suddenly, through the windows of the coach, the magnificent mountains and thick snow trailed what could only be a brilliant week. We arrived at Saalbach at 10.40 on Saturday morning to a warm welcome and some lovely hot Goulash soup at our Hotel. Surrounded by what could only be described as the stereotypical wonder of the Austrian Alps: serried ranks of elegantly dusted pines stretching up the snow covered slopes, and in the middle distance tiny figures skiing down what seemed like an almost vertical slope. ‘You will all be skiing down that by the end of the week-even the beginners!’ intoned Mr Shawley, eyes boring into the for once silenced and subdued Mr Damant!