Williamsport Andorra Ski Trip
During the February half term, a group of pupils went skiing in Andorra. The journey started on Saturday at mid-day waving parents and family goodbye. Eight hours of the year 12’s questionable playlist later and we had arrived at Dover to take the ferry across to Calais. After getting back on the bus in France, it was time to settle in for a night of the year 11’s deafening singing. We travelled from Calais, all through France and crossed the border into Andorra, arriving at our hotel in the late afternoon of Sunday. First it was time to head to SkiFit to get our boots, skis, poles and helmets. Although this was a long processes it was nice to know everything was ready for the morning and our first day of skiing
Next day we were up early ready for a 7.00am breakfast and then a 5 minute walk to the gondola to take us up to the slopes. Once we reached the top we were met with the magnificent views of the mountains and the unexpected blazing sun. The first session in the morning was all about figuring what ability people were and being put into our suitable groups. As most of us had only previously experienced skiing during a few sessions at Llangrannog, the time was spent trying to refine the basic skills needed to get off the beginners slopes and advance up the mountain. This is when we also encountered some amusing crashes such as Tom Oakes’ attempt at dominoes with the rest of the group. The first day was also when we experienced the unusually warm sunny weather and in our typical British attitude everyone started complaining about the heat!
After a 2 hour break for lunch, we were back on the slopes. Groups began advancing onto the bigger slopes and we were mostly starting to get to grips with our ski legs. When the afternoon came to an end it was time to head back down to the town and get our bowling shoes on. The most competitive group of bowlers were definitely the teachers which ended with Miss Merrison winning allowing her to brag to everyone and Mr Gale being in a grump for the rest of the evening.
On the second day we once again headed up the mountains. We had a full day of skiing followed by tubing and sledging. This was the perfect opportunity for a student’s Vs teacher’s snow ball fight. It was clear we had won as the teachers pulled rank and we set off back down the gondola for a rest and some dinner. The next day we once again had a full day of skiing. In the evening we had a quick 30 minute drive to the ice skating rink. For the sixth formers and the teachers a highlight was definitely watching Meg completely out of her depths falling all over the place. However it was nice to see everyone’s improvements and team work to help each other get around the ice.
