Ski Trip 2024

Monday 18th March 2024

Monday 18th March: Day 2

Mrs Woodhead’s Blog

The days are starting to speed past here and it’s already time for a shower-time update on our activities.

Last night’s quiz went down extremely well with the children. The first few rounds were tricky but, as they were multiple choice, every team felt able to have a go. Sadly, Ashmie couldn’t remember how far it is (on average) from the earth to the moon, despite having been given the answer in a Maths question a couple of weeks ago. The movie round prompted lots of enthusiastic discussion but it was the music round that really brought the room to life as every song was enthusiastically continued long after the clip had stopped, rather giving away the answers in many cases. The final round was a very different sort of challenge. With only a few strips of (dry) spaghetti and 4 marshmallows, each team was asked to construct the tallest possible stable tower. This task was achieved with varying degrees of success. It seems that there are budding engineers amongst Emily, Molly, Ashmie and Imogen whose tower was very tall and very stable, much to the annoyance of the other groups.

After bedtime stories as usual, everyone settled quickly to sleep and most needed some encouragement to climb out of bed again this morning in time for our normal 7.30 breakfast. The drizzle wasn’t encouraging but, undaunted, our three groups headed off to different starting points. William’s group climbed onto the bus and headed for the Pontillas lift – a first for many. They were delighted to discover that it was actually snowing at the top. Heading even further up, they ended up skiing at over 2700m, high above the clouds and in beautiful sunshine. Eric has becoming something of a hero with his group as he has steadily built their confidence; every day with a variety of interesting green runs and some exciting extra challenges. Evie was particularly thrilled to be allowed some ‘ free skiing’ time today. Lionel’s group have been exploring more different parts of the mountain and are looking forward to some even more demanding runs in the next few days.

I asked the children to tell me something they were proud of so far. It’s an impressive list:

  • Molly can turn with no skidding
  • April skied over the wooden ramp.
  • Evie can carry her own skis with no trouble at all, having thought she couldn’t do it at all.
  • Alice can jump on skis.
  • Roxi has gone much faster than yesterday.
  • Kishore can do sharp turns and spray everyone with ice.
  • Imogen can fall gracefully and with style when necessary.
  • Roy fell only 5 times today (not 17).
  • Flynn can parallel ski.
  • Ashmie can use a ski lift without falling off.
  • James survived despite annoying the instructor by clipping his skis.
  • Francesca can do a parallel turn.
  • Remi managed not to cut people up.
  • Harry has polished all his skills and is ready for an adventure.
  • John can stop himself from falling and bounce upright.
  • Henry only fell down once.
  • Emily kept going even when she was really tired and finding the challenges hard.
  • Leo learned to get up really quickly.
  • Saffy invented the sport of ‘sit-skiing’
  • Flora invented the hair helmet (the alternative to helmet hair)

In other news, there was something of a competition for ‘Poser of the Day’, the nominations being Alice, who struck her best pose at the top of each slope; Evie who, thanks to a stray tuft of grass, did the splits in the air; and Roy who, apparently wants a part in Saturday Night Fever. Meanwhile, Mrs Coombs needed her ‘I Can and I Will’ attitude today when she hit some loose snow coming down a black run and slid in an undignified manner for some 40 feet before she was able to recover and ski down the mountain. Mr Burrett and I have continued our self-taught ski programme with limited success but we haven’t given up and we’ve discovered some very helpful people along the way!

There is currently a buzz of excitement around the rooms as a successful room inspection will result in a choice of snack from the ‘Tuck Drawer’. The residents of room 25 have mopped their bathroom after April caused something of a tsunami (not really her fault – the shower head was leaking) and there have been some screenings of the latest box office smash series: Spooderman. We’re soon off to the field over the road for some fresh air and a run around before supper, which will be followed by a games evening in the bar.