2014 Ski Trip - Day 1
Ski Bound
With excellent weather reports and a great deal of excitement, Hyndland Secondary school set off for their second Ski Trip to Alp D’Huez. The early morning rise and bus trip to Edinburgh offered the first challenge for one of the pupils who was still running on what we like to call “Hyndland Time.” (15 minutes later than the rest of the world) The 1 hour delay at the airport offered us some rest bite and a chance to gather the final provisions- Irn Bru. This was also far better than the 8 hour delay we had last year.
We arrived after a relaxed flight and the pupils gathered their belongings and senses. Emma Cochrane in particular who had to question “is this France?” The bus climb up to the resort offered the students their first taste to the scale and delights of what was to come, and as our resident comedian Mikey noticed, “Wow, that is a big hill!!” We were received with a warm welcome by the friendly staff and an equally warm hotel. The pupils were rushed down to the cellar for the ski fit. This was followed by a well-deserved dinner, change of clothes and the traditional 6pm quiz. The pupils left for bed for an early night, eagerly waiting the first day skiing.
The pupils launched themselves up to the slopes with the full gusto we expected, immediately followed by; “it’s too cold” and “I don’t have my gloves.”- Bruce Caldwell. After quickly ironing out our early problems, the groups were split by level and led up the mountains by their fearless instructors; Martine the expert instructor with Olympic connections, Yves/Eve the intermediate instructor with cracking goggle tan lines and finally Anne, the slalom competitor. They readily assessed the young athletes and quickly found out that;
1. Bruce Walker can grow a wonderful beard
2. Erin McFarlane and Laurie O’Dowd do not have the same size of feet
3. Miss M and Jennifer Lewis needed a quick ski swap
4. During practice fire alarms, it’s important to wear your shoes
After day 1 on the slopes, the pupils caught their breath, adjusted to the altitude and crashed on a pile of bean-bags in the cinema room to end the day.
The following days of Skiing saw an increase in skills, confidence and enjoyment. It did however see a decrease in the weather conditions. Fog and heavy snow put a dampener on some faces. However despite adverse weather conditions the hardy Hyndlanders stepped up and powered through. Two notable skiers, Eric Gibson and Jennifer Lewis concurred their first Black run in tricky and testing climates. Well done! Success did however turn to failure after a number of ski lift shut downs, in particular Ishbel Ross who managed to catch her ski on top of the safety bar and nearly completed a full circle of the chair lift back to where she started. The tumble tally is mounting up and one skier standing out (or sitting down more to the point) has been Jennifer Kennedy who has failed to stay on her skis during most Ski runs. 20 falls and still counting!
The trip has been a spectacular ski success, although not all the activities have been on the slopes. A new game sweeping the Alpe D’Huez resort has been “Bottle Flipping,” providing hours of entertainment and a number of comic videos. The evening Apres events have been a great deal of fun too. The pupils ventured to another part of the resort to experience an alternative way to tumble down the pistes, Bum-bording. The races nearly always ended in a wipe out and a number of laughing kids. Fashion was also important for this event as Laurie paraded across the town to the slopes in his swanky leather Chelsea boots. Not helpful in knee deep snow.
The best of the evening entertainment has been Monday nights Challenge Cup. This has now become the traditional Hyndland competition, but this this year it was bigger and louder than ever. (Bruce Caldwell even lost his voice, much to our dismay he found it again) The four teams took to the challenges with full enthusiasm. The teams; Sherlock’s Babes, Vulga, Apples and Angus’ Team (without Angus) were all picked at random however Laurie in Sherlock’s Babes found him-self surrounded by 6 girls. He must have been so disappointed? Each challenge asked the competitors to be tested in both brain and brawn. There were some surprising winners after Ellecia matched the boys strength for strength and took the arm wrestle trophy home for team Sherlock’s Babes. Emma Cochrane demonstrated great skill in threading a needle beating Caitlin MacLeod by 0.5 seconds. Bruce Caldwell and Justin Geddes proved that boys can also do gymnastics, and showed off their acrobatics in the “Piggy back around the world” challenge for team Vulga. But it was not to be team Vulga’s day as Team Apples took home the top spot and the trophy, joining team Lawson Loyal in the ever growing list of the Hyndland Challenge cup winners.
The trip so far has been a wonderful success and we look forward to more Skiing stories and Hyndland Heroics. Along with the many more laughs and jokes to come.
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