23 March 2022
Les Deux Alpes Ski Trip 2022
Well, what a trip!
The journey to France started with a very early meet at KGS for 2.00 am, we then made our way to the coaches with the Sixth Formers being given the role as designated suitcase loaders for the trip. On arrival at Manchester Airport, we enjoyed a very long, and sometimes quite funny, queue through baggage and security. Some people forgot to take their liquids out of their bags - we made sure to remind them on the way back! It wasn’t long until we were on the plane and off to Lyon. The majority of people were able to get their heads down and sleep for the flight. Once we landed, we handed out passports and got through a reasonably quick French border security. We found out the hard way how big Lyon Airport actually is! Once we finally made it to the coach the majority of the skiers were certainly more awake; the journey to Les Deux Alpes was very scenic and flew by.
Once we arrived the Sixth Formers unloaded the coach and we headed inside to the hotel, the staff got us into our groups and we went to collect our skis and ski boots. We were all very grateful to see a warm meal ready for us. Mr Moffatt gave us a quick brief on what the plan for the day was before we were given the rest of the day to unpack and get an early night’s sleep ahead of our first day on the slopes.
The first morning of skiing was a busy one: we were told to be at breakfast for 7.30 am each morning and I think it’s safe to say we saw some very tired faces that first morning. Once we had breakfast, we all got into our new ski groups and met our instructors for the week. This first morning was all about getting used to skiing again for those who have skied before and learning the basics for those who hadn’t. At lunch we all came back pretty exhausted and relieved to have two hours to eat and relax. We discussed with each other what we had accomplished and how our instructors were. After lunch we went back to our groups, collected our skis and walked to the chairlifts. We then returned to the hotel for the night all excited for another big day of skiing.
On the Sunday we were all looking forward to a look around town and an early night. Over dinner one member from each group stood up and talked in front of all of the ski groups and told us about what their group had done that day.
Monday was another amazing day of skiing; it was a whiteout towards the top and visibility was extremely low. In the advanced group, our instructor saw this as an excellent time to practise low visibility skills, which became very helpful to all throughout the day. Monday was the first of our evening activity days and we all went bowling. This was a great opportunity for all the skiers to form better relationships and mix year groups, which allowed us to be more of a team throughout the week.
Tuesday was beautiful, and was also the day the beginner group rode their very first chairlift. We had powder all over the mountain and the upper intermediate group did their first ‘off piste’ run. In the advanced group we made our way to the terrain park to practise our jumps and tricks - which was something we took to and did every day. After an amazing day on the slopes we went back to the hotel, got showered and enjoyed some free time before going out for some amazing pizzas in town.
Wednesday was a big day for all of us. As it was the rugby final for the boys at Twickenham, we took a few scarves onto the slopes and sent photos wishing all the boys good luck. As soon as we came back we had a bit of a last minute emergency with watching the game. We were told we couldn’t use the room we booked to watch the game but fortunately some of the sixth form and the staff worked out a plan to use the boot room and watch the game there! We used bed sheets, speakers and Mr Atkinson’s computer to connect Mrs Atkinson’s phone to a projector; after this we managed to work as a team and get the emergency sorted… in less than ten minutes, it was time for kick off! The whole group came together and we tensely watched the boys work tirelessly to try and win. Unfortunately they didn’t, but we were all so proud nonetheless. After the rugby we enjoyed lovely hot chocolates and crepes surrounded by a picturesque snowy evening.
Thursday was a really fun day, all the groups were progressing rapidly and the beginner group were definitely not beginners anymore. Thursday night was ‘Disco Night’ which was enjoyed by everybody and the moves were being busted out on the dance floor by almost everybody! I even think I caught a few of the staff enjoying a dance to some of the music.
The final day is always an amazing one: the classic KGS fancy dress day. It didn’t disappoint! We saw a variety of amazing costumes, from a huge lobster and creative onesies, to Maverick from Top Gun and a tequila bottle! After the final day we said farewell to our instructors who we became such good friends with and gave them a thank you gift. To say thank you to the staff, the Sixth Formers secretly went around collecting a small amount of money from the pupils to raise funds for a gift from all of the pupils. After dinner it was off to bed and ready for the 2.00 am departure back to the UK. This was a very relaxed departure and the majority of the pupils slept the entire way back. Once we landed it was back to KGS and a perfect time for some music from the Sixth Form to get everyone ready and awake again.
On behalf of all the pupils we just want to say how amazing this trip was and a huge thank you to the staff, Katie from Select, the instructors and all of our parent for letting us go!
Finntan Doyle
The photographs from the Senior School and Sixth Form Ski Trip to Les Deux Alps can be viewed on our KGS Flickr page at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kgsphotos/albums/72177720297560853