Ski Trip Day 1: Saturday 6th February 2010
After a long but comfortable journey, we have arrived in La Tzoumaz – it is beautiful! Fiona from Les Elfes met us at the airport and we took the coach up through the snow - covered mountains to the village. The views are spectacular and the village is picturesque. Apparently, we are also very lucky as they have recently experienced a good fall of snow and so the slopes are soft and ready for skiing tomorrow! Having settled into the chalet, the students took part in a ‘scavenger hunt’ of the village and made the most of the opportunity to play in the snow and have snowball fights. This was followed by a well-deserved and delicious Swiss meal. Everyone is happy but exhausted and it’s an early night tonight (we hope) so that we are all ready for skiing tomorrow.
Bonne nuit from Les Elfes!
Ski Trip Day 2: Ski Trip 2010
After a restful night’s sleep and a delicious breakfast, we all hit the slopes for an early start to the day’s skiing. What fun! Everybody started on the nursery slopes for an initial ski assessment and were placed in appropriate groups with the relevant instructors. The weather was perfect – soft snow and beautiful blue skies made for excellent skiing conditions. All skiers have made good progress and it looks like we’re going to have a successful week. This evening, when doing ice sculptures, the DESC artistic talent was revealed (particularly with Izzy’s sculpture of a sofa and Amal’s ice-burger!). Afterwards, following yet another tasty meal, the whole group was challenged to a game of ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’. After a tie – break, the following students won the game and proved themselves to be the ‘brains’ of the holiday: James, Tommy, Andrew, Adam, Matthew & Tim.
We’re off to bed now for a well-deserved rest but everybody is looking forward to another day on the slopes.
Bonne nuit from Les Elfes.
Ski Trip 2010: Day 3
We’ve enjoyed another sunny day on the slopes. All groups are making great progress with their skiing and the beginners also went up the mountain this afternoon. After skiing, we played a game of ‘Wolves and Elves’ outside; this involved teams participating in various activities, ranging from ‘tug of war’ to ‘catch’. After dinner, we held the annual DESC Ski Trip Awards ceremony were students are nominated for either a ‘Care Bear’ award or the ‘Dingaling’ award. Today’s ‘Care Bear’ award went to Leila for being so kind and considerate to other skiers – she was even helping Mr. Nash and Mrs. Minchin down the Red Runs! The ‘Dingaling’ goes to Johnny Sang for blaming others for snowboarding in his path, causing him to injure himself. He was very brave throughout and well done to Johnny for handling it all with a smile!
Bonne nuit from Les Elfes!
Ski Trip 2010: Day 4
We’ve had more snow today and the weather is getting even cooler. This makes for great skiing conditions and also gives us a good excuse to drink lots of hot chocolate! For today’s après-ski, the students had a choice of either swimming or ice skating. We also savoured the local cuisine of cheese-fondue this evening. The day was rounded off with a Torchlight – walk around La Tzoumaz. Today’s ‘Care Bear’ award goes to James for sharing some of his food with his group in a café on the slopes (don’t know where James gets his appetite from!) The ‘Dingaling’ award goes to Tim for falling off the T-bar lift but, despite this, clinging on till almost half-way up the slope! You go, Tim!
Bonne nuit from La Elfes!
Ski Trip 2010: Day 5
It started snowing last night and the snow continued throughout the day today. The slopes are covered in light, powdery snow - ideal for skiing and falling over in! It was very cold – the perfect excuse to stop off for a Swiss hot chocolate on the slopes. Tonight’s after – dinner entertainment was a competition: ‘Boys versus Girls’. Wow, we really saw some competitive spirit, whether it was in passing an orange between team-mates without using hands or dropping a pen into a bottle … and well done to Amal and Johnny Khouri for volunteering themselves to be ‘mumified’ for the benefit of their team! Today’s ‘Care Bear’ award went to Kirsty for being so helpful, and the ‘Dingaling’ goes to Josh for a long list of reasons (too many to mention), including his shopping habits! Although Allen was a close contender for the ‘Dingaling’ for dropping her snowboard down a slope. After another action – packed day, we’re all looking forward to a good night’s sleep.
Bonne nuit from Les Elfes!
Ski Trip 2010: Day 6
We had another excellent day’s skiing today and are sad that it is our last day (although we are looking forward to coming home!) Today’s Care Bear award goes to Dana for always being polite and smiling. The Dingaling award goes to Kipruto for falling over so much while skiing, although he doesn’t seem to mind falling! It is also Robbie’s birthday so we all sang him ‘Happy Birthday’ and helped him eat his big birthday cake. We finished the night off with a disco and this year’s Disco King and Queen are Dana and Hasan – congratulations guys!
Bonne nuit from Les Elfes!