Spending a week away from home with school, I expected this trip to be exciting and full of new experiences. Although being completely looked after and taken care of by all the teachers, I knew my independence would be challenged, not only with everyday things but also with my skiing. I have skied since the age of 3, and therefore I would say I am quite a confident skier. I knew, however, that although I was an experienced skier, there would never be a moment where I was bored and not pushed hard on the slopes. The teachers organised us into 4 different groups based on our past experience with skiing. Group 1 had never been on the slopes before, and Group 4 was heavily experienced and able to parallel ski. Throughout my time on this trip, I noticed that not only the people who had never been skiing before had highly excelled but also myself and the others in Group 4. Every single student gained a new skill during their time on this trip.

I hadn’t had an instructor in 3 years, so while my skill of skiing was good, my technique wasn’t perfect. I knew my posture, especially the placement of my arms could be improved. Within only the first day of skiing, my instructor Sabrina corrected my posture, ensuring I held my body correctly when skiing which allowed my skiing to also improve. I was able to reduce the risk of me falling as I now knew the correct way to lean when turning and of course, I also now knew where to hold my arms correctly, (which was my biggest fault when skiing previously.) Sabrina also set up exercises that my group and I had never tried or even seen before. We would do these challenging exercises in the morning, on the easier slopes, and then move on to the harder and more exciting slopes in the afternoon session, while also enjoying the beautiful view high up in the slopes. All groups from 1-4 took part in various exercises, and in my opinion, these exercises were what helped everyone excel the most.

Whether you are an experienced skier or not, I would say this trip is something everyone has to do/try at least once in their lives. People may get discouraged and think they may be ‘too good’ of a skier for this trip and that they will not learn anything, but I guarantee you will. This was a trip where everyone always had a smile on their face and by the end of it, no one wanted to go back home and were already talking about going next year.