On Friday March 23rd the Harwich and Dovercourt High School skiing students set off on a massive 22 hour journey to Austria. First part of the journey we travelled down to Dover to meet Cassey the lovely PGL rep. We got on the Eurostar at 8:30pm and arrived in France at 9:10pm. Our drivers DJ Steve and Darren powered on through the night and we woke up the next morning on the borders of Germany and Austria. With a quick pit stop for breakfast we then got back onto the Autobahn to Austria. The landscape grew tall as the mountains climbed, we passed little rivers and farmers’ fields to arrive at the Hotel Sonnegg at 2pm on Saturday afternoon, a bum-numbing journey. With a swift unpack we walked to the ski and boot hire shop down the hill and got kitted out. We then chilled out in our rooms at the hotel for the evening.
The next day we woke up, had breakfast, got out skis and boots on and started on our first full day on the mountain. Everybody was excited but a little nervous. When we got to the top of the mountain we walked out into lovely white fresh snow and it was still snowing! What luck – snow on the first day. We had lessons in the morning and a quick hot chocolate and lunch and we were back on the slopes for more lessons in the afternoon. At the end of the first day of skiing everybody was buzzing, excited for the next day, as we were going to be on new runs and more skiing. That evening Mr Francis got the first award of ‘Donut of The Next Day’ because he got himself and Mrs Fender lost, and he’s been there before!
Next day we set off to Hinterglem for a day’s skiing. The beginner groups stayed on the nursery slopes at the bottom but the rest went straight to the top and had a lovely time up there enjoying the breath taking scenery from so high up. Lunch was always a welcome break and allowed students to try out some of the local food. My favourite food was ‘Kaiserschmarrn’, which is fried pancakes. Then back to skiing. At the end of the day we got to go shopping at the bottom of the mountain, with most people buying the local chocolate. That evening we had a go at playing Austrian Skittle’s where the balls aren’t round and the lanes aren’t straight and flat, but we still had great fun.
The next day was by far the best – a beautiful day of skiing in the sun. Then, after skiing, came my favourite part of the holiday – the Spa Trip. We went to a place that had outdoor heated pools, salt and non-salted, to help our poor muscles relax. It was a night to remember.
Wednesday started with a well-deserved lie in and then off skiing for the day. There wasn’t enough snow for the planned night skiing but just before lunch Mrs Fender got a call saying Mr Gillespie had been air lifted to hospital because he had injured his leg. When we all got back to the hotel we found out he had been injured but he was there and we all got told the whole story. He was ok apart from his leg, but he did get to have a go in a helicopter, airlifted off the nursery slopes!
Thursday was a day for a new set of ski runs at Leogang. We had to go up by cable car ascending through the clouds. It was very cloudy for the first runs of the day. The beginners’ slope was up the top of the mountain which meant we saw a lot of each other on the ski slopes. Then before lunch Mr Day had a fall and fell backwards onto his collar bone and broke it – another hospital visit! The teachers where injured not the students – what a surprise. That night we finished with a great disco with everybody celebrating how well they had done in the week.
Friday, the last day of a great holiday, we travelled to Leogang for the last day of skiing. It was a blast! The top group went off piste and had great fun and a quick trip to the ‘trick park’ with its jump. Then the last lunch of Austrian food at our favourite restaurant “the food there was amazing” said Jordan Warner, “I loved trying all the new foods they had”. The day had come to an end and we got onto the coach and said bye to the hotel and set off on the massive journey back home. We mostly slept through the night or watched Mamma Mia and Grease. Saturday we woke up in France and through the tunnel said goodbye to our lovely coach drivers, DJ Steve and Darren. We also said bye to the infamous Cassey the PGL rep and picked up our local driver for the last 2 hour drive to Harwich. We got off the coach and met our families for the first time in a week. Words can’t describe the fantastic holiday we had – it was truly that amazing! Can we go again please?
To view our gallery of the event please click below
