Easter Ski Trip: Mr Garrod Reporting鈥︹
After a pause of 4 years, we are delighted to have resumed annual ski trips! Competitive quotes revealed that taking 40 pupils to Canada would actually be quite achievable, so Mont Tremblant, Quebec became the focus of my planning. A 鈥渟now sure鈥 destination, even at the end of the season, with every expectation of there being at least a couple of foot of snow on the ground around the village. Climate change had other designs, but we made the most of what we had!
The journey went incredibly smoothly, with the whole party being sat together on the plane and several Year 11s taking advantage of the opportunity to do some trans-Atlantic revision!
Arrival in Mont Tremblant saw us take up residence in the Marriott Hotel, with pupils being delighted at their rooms and the pedestrianised village around us. We very much enjoyed taking the gondola from in front of the hotel, up and over the hotel, to the other end of the village. Here we found the ski hire shop, the ski school, the nursery slope and the lifts to the summit. This really was the most incredibly convenient 鈥 luxurious 鈥 arrangement you could imagine!
All pupils started on the nursery slopes, with those that had skied before being assessed and then taken straight to the summit. Everybody else stayed on the nursery slopes until confident. Those with poorly fitting boots were able to step over to the ski shop to exchange them.
We were advised that we would have to stop skiing early on the Monday, due to the Solar Eclipse. Of course, we didn鈥檛 mind – blue sky, warm weather and a rare celestial event right in the middle of our ski trip鈥 So lucky!
Within a day or two, everybody was up to the summit, progressing their ability by enjoying tuition and encouragement from the wonderful ski instructors. We all met up at the summit rest area for lunch each day, to eat and share stories of our experiences.
Meals were wonderful, with buffet breakfasts (several pupils eating Kilos of bacon and egg each day). In the evenings, we ate at some of the local restaurants 鈥 the food was great and everyone ate well. On the Thursday, we went to the most stylish restaurant in the village, to celebrate the birthday of one of our pupils.
We had great fun with our apres-ski, with a couple of evenings together playing indoor games, having a village-wide exploration game (including 鈥淲here鈥檚 Wally鈥), a birthday party and a trip in a yellow school bus to see an Ice-Hockey match.
On Friday, we unfortunately had heavy rain forecast. This would ordinarily have fallen as snow, but due to the incredibly unusual warm weather, it meant that the pistes would turn to slush and the skiers would have been soaked. Instead we went to an underground shopping complex in Montreal for the day, where everyone enjoyed shopping for a few hours.
Throughout the trip, praise was received for our pupils from the hotel, the instructors, the ski shop, the restaurant staff, hotel guests, airport staff and members of the public. The six of us that staffed the trip came away from the experience just incredibly proud of each and every one of them. Lifetime memories for all 46 of us for sure!