Day 3
As day broke the slopes beckoned, after a breakfast consisting of cereals, bread & jam, it was time to grab our kit and get up the mountain.The only delay was the handing out of the "goon" jacket & "Sheepy" by Mr. Moxon at the morning meeting. James Coley proudly wore the goon jacket for wasting a few hours looking for his wallet, whilst Elsa Pullman got Sheepy, (ironically a small yellow toy duck) for not coming to Ski Fitness. Both the jacket and Sheepy are awarded daily by Mr Moxon to the most worthy candidates from the day before. By 9:30 we were up the mountain and at around 10:00 everyone was ready to ski. The sun shining down upon us there wasn't a cloud in sight. The first morning gave way to some excellent skiing from all the groups. Mrs. Wilson even tried her hands at instructing, showing the top group exactly how not to make it down one of the red runs as she slid down backwards spread-eagled. The morning was only slightly spoiled by more than half the expert group getting separated from their instructor on the run before lunchtime, making Steve Rawson a prime target for the goon jacket tomorrow. Fortunately all the group reconvened at the restaurant and it was time for lunch. After lunch we discovered that Jack Read also liked the floor more than he liked skiing after attempting several dare devilish jumps. Eddy Gosney decided, even though he had only been on the slopes a day, it was time to try out some more radical moves that he had heard the top group usually got up to. This involved him sitting back on his skis (accidentally of course) and sliding all the way down to the bottom of the T-bar and beyond. No need to worry though as the skis were undamaged. At about half past four, it was time to come home. We fought our way through the crowded gondola station and back to the accommodation where hot showers beckoned and a tasty dinner waited. It was then time to tire ourselves out even more in the sports hall with bowling, basketball and a ping pong tournament.
Day 4
The second day of skiing proved just to be as good as the first, if not better. Everyone had found their feet, but in many cases not all of their clothing! Fortunately all items which had been missing were found and in most circumstances in the student’s own room! Steve Rawson was the second unlucky candidate to have to wear the “GOON” jacket for general shenanigans and Poppy Blaxhall was given the responsibility of looking after Sheepy to test whether she would be able to take care of someone else after several issues with personal organisation! The weather was glorious up the mountain with no clouds over the resort and next to no wind. All groups skied across both Fiescheralp and Bettmeralp with the top group testing out the run onto Riederalp. The lovely powdered snow conditions were found mainly on Bettmeralp where most groups had a bash at the slalom course. Whilst over on Reideralp, the top group found some pretty icy runs and after a short while and hard trekking, which nearly left the instructor drained as well, made it back to Fiescheralp. After a well deserved dinner, it was time for our evening activity of swimming / water polo / freestyle diving competition. The award for the best dive had to go to Jack Read who after showing of his gymnastic abilities with back flips and twists, completed a hand stand off the diving board along with a 180 twist to end the competition. The year 11 boys then decided to take on every other male person on the trip. That included the gigantic Mr Cooper who after careful deliberation was judged to be at least the equivalent of 3, in a mass water polo competition which they lost in the last minute due to a sudden death shot by Harry Young. After swimming it was back to the accommodation to recover for the next day’s skiing.
Day 5
The day saw Jack Reid receiving the “goon” jacket and Gabi Gillott receiving “Sheepy”. A proficient start to the expert groups skiing was on the chair where Peter Hartley decided it was a fantastic idea to leave one of his skis at the bottom of the lift! Once Peter and ski were finally reunited, the top group headed over to Bettmeralp for a few blasts down the slalom course. The leading times by students so far are: Will Gratton with a time of 24.81 seconds, closely followed by Jack Read with 24.82 seconds and Chris Price with a time of 24.92 seconds. Miss Chamberlain set the teachers’ time of the day clocking 23.50. Whilst this was happening, the group below them were heading over to Riederalp. However the skiing over there involved way too much ‘shoosing’, so they headed straight back. The Lower groups enjoyed some “amazing” skiing on Fiescheralp before reconvening with everyone for a curry at Lunch time in the restaurant at the top of the cable car. The afternoon followed in the same fashion as the morning with only a few wipe-outs the best of these unfortunately once again being in the top group.This time it featured Matt Everard and Chris Price colliding mid turn, due to the fact a snowboarder had decided he preferred the part of the piste they were skiing down. Both parties however were alright and soon saw the funny side although not as quickly as the rest of the group. The evening activity involved a gentle wander into town to a lovely local Italian restaurant for pizza, which was cooked before your eyes, followed by several scoops of Ice-cream. After everyone had eaten their fill it was back to the accommodation and off to bed ready for the next days skiing.
Day 6
As the sun rose above Fiesch, the clouds became clear and we all new the conditions today wouldn’t be as good as the previous days. That said the top group took on all the black runs the resort had to offer. And all the groups enjoyed another full day’s skiing. For the evening Mr Cooper and Ms Hadfield had organised a quiz based around super heroes and everyone dressed up as a superhero. The instructors all made a guest appearance to judge the competition and the winners were Chris Price as The Incredible Hulk, in head to toe green and Corina Philps in pjs and the most back combed hair anyone had ever seen!
At the time of going to press Bryn Moorhouse is creating a DVD of photos to remember your trip by. Some of these will also be on the website soon!
Many thanks to Bryn and Chris for providing these entertaining accounts for hvcollege.com.
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