On Friday 2nd April, 19 students and the Harrow staff travelled overnight to La Tzoumaz, a tiny village in the mountains next to Verbier in Switzerland. After excellent flights with Etihad airlines and a quick transfer from Geneva airport, we were made very welcome at the Chalet by the Les Elfes staff. The day was devoted to getting ski boots, visiting the shops for last minute ski/snowboarding purchases and preparing to hit the slopes.
On Sunday morning we woke up to a magical start to our week; it had snowed overnight and was still snowing when we all jumped on the bus up to the nursery slope. For the beginners it was the first time on skis/snowboards and for the intermediates and advanced students, the opportunity to demonstrate their skills before heading off to cable car to the top.
On the first two days we were treated to fresh powder and the quality of the pistes were magnificent. Students who made significant progress were moved groups and by the third day everyone was on the blue or red pistes around the Savoleyres cable car at 2354m above sea level. The confidence and ability of the beginners groups had developed significantly, the intermediates had learnt the art of speed but had to keep being reminded that technique was also important and the advanced groups worked on further on their technique and skied a wide variety of runs. In the latter part of the week, we were treated to blue skies and warm temperatures. Indeed at lunchtime at the Baratin, Les Elfes’ private hut at the top of the mountain where we had lunch, it was comfortable to be in a t-shirt and the instructors sunbathed!
The last day of skiing and snowboarding came around far too fast and we had to say a big thank you to our instructors for all their help and support. Before dinner on Thursday and the evening’s activities, we had the big pack-up (aka mucking out). This was an interesting and lengthy event made worse by the significant amounts of Swiss chocolate that had been purchased! The last night’s presentation and slideshow was a fantastic finale to our week. The instructors presented a number of students with prizes and announced the winners of the race before giving all students a certificate of achievement.
We had been on the slopes for 6 days, wallowed in the thermal baths at Sallions, been on a torchlight walk, played numerous games of table football, pool and Wii, been treated to superb food and plenty of it and so much more. As a group we had spent some quality time together, skied and snowboarded hard, made profound progress and loved every minute of it. No one wanted to leave and the bus on the way back to the airport was very quiet. Roll on next year...
Kathryn Gavin
