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Ski Trip February 2009 On the 15th February 2009, I went on a ski trip to Denver, Colorado, America. I went with the Salveson Ski Group. This ski group gives 10 disabled children a chance to go and ski each year. After our 10 hour flight to America, we had to go another 2 hours on a coach to get to our lodge. The lodge we stayed at was called Viking lodge. On the morning of Monday it was time to go skiing. We would get on a bus each morning and go up to the ski resort. At this point we were up 8,000 feet. On the first morning, we spent most of it getting kitted out with all our gear. After all of this was done it was time to go to the slopes. On the first day, we all started on the easiest slopes. By the afternoon, most of us were on the first chairlift heading up to Discovery Park.  This slope as much steeper and you could go a lot faster. To go down this slope you had to learn the skill of turning so you could go down without falling over. On the first run I spent most of the time on the floor and not on my ski. A few runs later we found out the reason for me falling over. The reason was that my out rigger brake had completely snapped off.  After this was all sorted, I only had a few more runs left that I could do in the time I had. At the end of the day we would all go back to the base of the resort to take our gear off, meet up with our friends and then get on the bus back to the lodge. Most nights we would stay in and order either pizza or something else. Some nights we went out to eat. Our evening entertainment included a quiz, talent show and table tennis tournament. On Wednesday we were all on a run called Jack Kendrick It was a green run and it was peak 1 out of 4. If you had any chance of getting down it you had to know to turn otherwise you were going to hit the snow. After a few runs on it I could go down it without falling over. You can have 5 different runs. Greens: easiest Blue: medium Blue, Black : pro Black: extreme and Extreme Black: impossible.  As I had never skied before I could only get on to the blue runs.  I was lucky enough to have a great instructor called Loraine and a great helper called John. They both helped me when it came to skiing.  As both of them had been skiing for such a long time, they allowed me to go right to the top as I had enough skiing ability. Just to make sure, they took me down a tricky run called Mary Jane. This was 11,200 feet up the mountain. As I had done this successfully without falling over, they allowed me to go right up to the top of the mountain.  This was called Parsenn Bowl and was 12,060 feet up the mountain. When I got to the top I had about a minute to look at the scenery then I found my instructor heading off. I followed her all the way down. I skied from 12,060 feet up the mountain to around 9,000 overall I had skied 3,000 feet. As it was the last day we all went out for dinner.  The next morning came and we all found ourselves packing.  It was the end of the trip and it went so fast.  It was truly an amazing experience.  The best bit was going to the top. The worst was leaving.  Thank you to all the helpers and a big thanks to the Salveson Ski Group.  Ben Fox – Year 8   |
Images from the Red Nose Day Talent Show that happened during lunch-time on Friday 13th March 2009.Â