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Other years I have even managed to get paid to go skiing by working my half term as a ski rep! Anything to get my shot of adrenaline but also avoid paying the ever-increasing cost of a week on the snow in peak season. But that’s quite enough from me; so if this article has struck a chord with you and perhaps brought back memories of your own time on the slopes on another school trip then please get in touch to share your recollections. You can reach me by emailing claughton@ standrewsprep.co.uk . Next year I should like to do an article on POST CE CAMPS so please write to me with your memories and recollections if you have ones that you are willing to share. If you have pictures too then do please include those as well. Thank you.
Richardson and he managed to locate not only a picture of the group but also his old ski pass! Another who went was Mark Soper and he remembers that it was a significant turning point for him. He had been the previous year but didn’t really enjoy it, this time it really ‘clicked’ and it started a lifelong passion for the sport which continues to this day. Rick Hollway remembered Mike’s kindness when, one day on the mountain, he was cold and despondent. MRB walked him up and down the slope pretend shouting “You must not be cold! It is Verbotten! Ve vill not allow it! You vill varm up!” All done in stereotypical Nazi tones. It took a while, but he got Rick warm and smiling again. By my reckoning there have been at least 40 school ski trips in the last 50 years. Other teachers who have run them include Simon Evers, Andrew Price, John Smith, Pete Birch, Colin Venner, Jan Hafernik and Mark Tomsett and these have been to a number of other countries including France, Switzerland, Canada, Italy and Andorra. I have been fortunate enough to go on twenty of these school trips and have enjoyed them all enormously. Nowadays it’s not just hugely more expensive and a lot busier on the slopes but also a good deal more complicated. As
Igls Spring 1976
well as his co-driver. Colin recalled a number of things from that trip: “When we got to Igls, we stayed in a small hotel called the Hotel
Mathew Richardson’s ski pass
Tirolerhof. I remember endlessly practising stem christies and kick turns on the Nursery Slope in the village. The skis we had used cable bindings, the ski poles were the old-fashioned basket type and our boots were leather but did have ‘modern’ clips, not laces! The 1976 Winter Olympics were just weeks away and Igls was the venue for the famous Downhill race. We all hoped that we would meet the local hero, Franz Klammer, but I think the closest we got was watching him on the TV. It was all very exciting though. We visited several other local resorts around Innsbruck – Axamer Litzum, Tulfes etc. At the latter I remember there being a very long T-Bar
Tonale 2003
(or coat hanger as we called them) which wasn’t designed for light young boys and several of us fell off and I got dragged all the way up – very painful! I remember Mr B used to collect parking tickets on an almost daily basis which he screwed up and threw away! Ours was the only English vehicle there.” In the Easter holidays of
well as risk assessments there’s the matter of helmets, mobile phone policy, medication and allergies. Granted, the ski company takes a lot of the organisation off the party leader’s shoulders but, taking a party of youngsters to the slopes remains a huge responsibility. The benefits far outweigh the disadvantages though and the children invariably come away having learnt so much more than just how to stay upright on the
Wengen 2005
’76 Mike arranged another trip to Austria, taking eight boys to Igls once again. This time his co-driver was Paul Spillane who kindly sent me the following recollections of the trip: “I was Mike’s co-driver in the spring of 1976. On the motorways I was instructed to maintain a steady 48 mph. This ensured that the minibus neither coughed nor burst into flames. We stayed en route with the Stumpfs at Rottach-Egern in Bavaria, where Anton’s stepmother Kathleen effortlessly fed and provided bedding for all ten of us. Above Innsbruck is the resort of Igls, on the Patscherkofel mountain where, two months before our arrival, the legendary Franz Klammer, wearing a prophetically gold ski suit, had won the Olympic downhill at an average speed of 63.9 mph. We skied the Patscherkofel’s challenging pistes and the long gentle blue runs at Tulfes. My attempt to emulate Klammer left me with several months’ discomfort from my ‘Igls knee’. Spring snow, spring sunshine, ski lessons, free skiing, a lot of falling over – and bouncing back up again with the elasticity of youth, delicious Tyrolean food, party games and much laughter as this branch of the Androvian family enjoyed every minute of the adventure.” Also on that 12 day trip was Matthew
Staff ski trip 2005
snow. Being in a ‘controlled risk’ situation, away from home, managing their own possessions and becoming more self-reliant are skills that benefit their future in so many ways. One feature of most of the trips I’ve gone on has been the ski quiz that I have traditionally organised for the ‘Apres’ on one of the evenings. It takes the form of solving the anagrams I produce of every child on the trip. Last year we had 49 children with us in Andorra so, suffice to say, it does take me quite a while to produce. However, sat in the front of the fire (with a good beer) on a few winter evenings, is worth the effort when one sees the enjoyment and amusement it generates. In addition to the school trips. I have also organised half a dozen ‘staff only’ holidays for colleagues who share my passion for snow sports. These have also been hugely enjoyable and, as with MRB’s earlier exploits, we have driven and flown on a number of these but the most relaxing was back in Feb 2005 when ten of us travelled to Switzerland by train and got to within 400m of the chalet at Lauterbrunnen!
Saas Fee 2006
Saas Fee 2010
Aosta 2018 – anyone for Tony’s Tuckshop?!
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