•The trip is open to any pupil in any year.

•Due to it’s  2 year cycle most pupils are in Forms 3 & 4.

•It is a holiday first and foremost. However the benefits to the self-confidence, appreciation of others and other cultures is invaluable in the development of the individual pupil.

Below is a Junior pupils' perspective taken from the 2009 school magazine:

A Junior Pupil’s Perspective

The ski trip started at 2:00AM on the morning of our departure. As soon as our alarms went off or our mothers screamed at us “get up, you’re late”, we grabbed a piece of toast and were off to the airport. I won’t bore you with the details of our journey but we arrived in Ehrwald in and around 1:00PM. Our hotel was situated about a quarter of a mile from the centre of town. As the bus drove up to the magnificent 4 star Alpenhotel we all cheered as we saw the heated outdoor swimming pool and adventure playground, but then we turned off the road to be greeted by the smaller 2 star Alpenhotel complete with tepee and shed.

That afternoon we hired our ski equipment and settled into the hotel. By evening Alex Burns (Lower sixth) had fallen through his bed onto the bunk below and yours truly managed to get stuck in an elevator. That night we were all excited about the day ahead, so excited that some of us couldn’t even sleep (although that may have had something to do with the loud whirring noise of the heating system).

The next morning we awoke sharply at half six to the sound of knocking on our doors and we were down to breakfast in a flash. The hotel provided us with a packed lunch and by 8:00 we were all crowded on the bus to the gondola. All those who had been skiing before got back into the routine of wearing skis, while the beginners learnt to put theirs on. I think we all really enjoyed our day skiing, and the days to come were even better. The snow melted quite a bit while we were there but it didn’t affect the skiing and definitely not our high spirits. Every day we stopped at the restaurant even though it was rather expensive. We spent our evenings in the hotel and on some nights enjoyed activities arranged by the staff. They included a team quiz, an advertisement competition, a disco and a major snowball fight. On several occasions we swam in the 4 star Alpenhotel’s swimming pool across the road, although the chef complained that our shouting put him off his cooking (I bet the food must have tasted pretty bad after that).

We took the bus into town a couple of times where we raided the Spar of chocolate and beverages. On Saturday, 2 days into the ski trip, we were joined in our hotel by Inver College, Monaghan. The two schools didn’t really get on but we still enjoyed ourselves. On Tuesday we finally went to what Ehrwald is famous for, the Zugspitze and its glacier. Luckily the cable car to the glacier was just outside our hotel. When we got to the top the view was spectacular, and so was the skiing. There weren’t that many slopes but plenty of off-piste runs for those adventurous people in our groups. The week just flew by and all of a sudden it was time for the big race. We put all our hard practice into work as we flew down around the slalom and across the finish line. We all really enjoyed it but had to wait until the evening to find out who had won. As our final day of skiing came to an end we reluctantly removed our skis and bid farewell to our instructors. That evening some of our ski instructors came to the hotel to announce the winners of the race and deliver medals and certificates which was followed by a disco. The next morning we all headed off to Munich airport and headed home. We all enjoyed our week immensely and I don’t think any of us will forget it (I know the hotel cleaners won’t).

 

Alexander McMaster, II

Page last updated on 2nd Feb 2010 by G Wong