Ski Trip 2013
On Saturday 23 March to Saturday 30 March 2013, girls from Year 10 to Year 14 went away on the annual ski trip. This year’s trip took the girls to the other side of Europe to Chalet Hotel Sapinière in the small town of Chamonix, Mont-Blanc in France. After an eight hour delay in Belfast, we were all pretty glad to finally arrive! Hotel Sapinière is arguably the best located hotel in Chamonix. With the Savoy nursery slopes literally at the front door of the reception and easily accessible gondolas to whisk you up to one of the best intermediate areas in the resort, I’m not surprised Miss McAuley jumped at the chance to book it for the girls!
To accompany Miss McAuley and the fifty one girls that went on the trip was the fabulous teachers Mrs Lewis, Mrs Loder, Miss Robinson and Mrs Sinnerton. All fifty six of us skied down the beautiful slopes of Chamonix for six days in total! Well, I was being a bit general when I said all. Unfortunately there was a nasty stomach bug spread around leaving a few of our travellers sick in bed at the start of the holiday. Nevertheless, all girls were back to their normal cheery selves again by the end of the week and no one missed out on the opportunity to ski in the beautiful resort!
I think it’s safe to say that none of us came home feeling hungry! Our five course meal at dinner and the buffet breakfast each morning certainly prepared us for a long day’s skiing. Aside from the skiing, we all experienced a truly unforgettable night at the Paret and Wilderness Soirée evening. This event included taking the last cable car, high up into the mountains and skiing down with what I can only describe as a small, wooden item, also known as a paret. To most people this sounds relaxing and calm but when you are at the top of a mountain with no other way down than to sledge yourself down with this wooden paret, your heart really starts to beat fast! Forty five minutes of pure adrenalin. Forty three minutes of the time screaming and laughing at yourself and others falling around you! But the fun didn’t stop there. When we reached the bottom and our heart rates were back to normal, we all sat down to a traditional Savoyard meal set in the forest, in a Mongolian Yourt. It really was a unique experience that you most definitely can’t do at home!
If skiing wasn’t enough, the evenings were jam packed as well! In the evenings we had a movie night, a Paret Soirée night and a night to explore the small town of Chamonix. Not to mention a very interesting quiz night – ending with some very pleased Year 10s and some very unhappy Year 14s!
I felt that the ski trip was a great way to bring all of the girls from different year groups together and it was also a great chance to see the teachers in a different light and also have the chance to get to know each other a lot better! I know myself that I will never ever forget my first Glenlola ski trip and I look forward to going again in the upcoming years!
Courteney Rainey 10A
