The Journey Home

Most of us decided to take a lie in this morning with only a few making it down to breakfast. After we were all rested we assembled in the meeting room for a quick 'Italian tourism tax' collection and then headed out for some last minute shopping and admiration of the slopes.

After we were all shopped out we went back to the hotel for our last meal and to get our bags. We loaded up onto the coach and made our way towards Milan.

 

Super, super sleepy Mr Hinks, nice rest?

We arrived at the airport really early so we went for some food whilst we waited for the check in to open. Once through all the security checks we did the final bit of shopping and waited patiently to board.

 

Once we had boarded we set off on time due to land early in Manchester, the flight was definitely one to remember as we met two models and TV presenters on the plane which some students had great pleasure in talking to. Once again, Mr Hinks was ecstatic with the plane's choice of beverage.

We landed in Manchester early and arrived back to school 45 minutes ahead of time.

The view from the plane.

It's been another wonderful and enjoyable trip, thank you to everyone for making it so. 

Keep checking for updates on the 2014 trip to Brian Head, Utah and for any information on 2015.

Day 6 - Fancy Dress Finale

The last day unfortunately finally arrived, we had a quick breakfast then scurried off to our rooms to get our fancy dress outfits together. We all congregated in the boot room at 10:30 and admired each others outfits. Here are this years costumes:

QM Snow Patrol 2013

Mr Potato Head, the ninjas, oompa loompa, and Father Francis.

An alien, baby, clown, goth angel, red indian

minnie mouse, duck, rabbit, zebra, cat

zombie, rabbit, zombie, soldier, lilo, stitch, easter bunny

Papa smurf, smurf, Panda, pikachu, spongebob, zorro

MORPHS ASSEMBLE

Morning session was under a mixture of cloud and sunshine with very cold conditions, again! The skiing was centred in Claviere for all groups. Everyone had a great fun ski with lots of bumps, jumps and off piste. The locals were astonished with our costumes. The year 11s enjoyed their sing song again on the chair lift.

In the afternoon, group 3 swapped instructors as Stefano was feeling under the weather, they skied with Lena's dad Andrea. Mr Hinks and Bekki went on the lift line adventure to retrieve all of the fallen poles of the week. The conditions were very heavy but we did it. 

Bekki in a tree hole

At the bottom before the bridge

The dreaded bridge

the exit of the adventure - a ten minute side step

Rachel's off piste antics

Sixth Form photo at the end of a great day

At the end of the lessons, the three instructors: Stefano, Beppe and Lena came to the hotel to present the Italian ski awards and the results of the giant slalom race.

Group 1 Gold = Ruby Brown - 32.37s

Group 1 Silver = Catherine Radburn - 32.39s

Group 1 Bronze = Kristen Dawson - 32.63s

Group 2 Gold = Liam Jones 23.06s

Group 2 Silver = Saskia Daniels 24.66s

Group 2 Bronze = Amy Hampshire 24.90s

Group 3 Gold = Dominic Boniface 18.56s

Group 3 Silver = Kayleigh Hill 19.14s

Group 3 Bronze = Ben Fortes-Mayer 19.24s

Mr. Hinks - 15.81s

After our last evening meal we had some packing time and then we had the QM ski awards.

Awards:

Most Spectacular Wipeout - Rachel Chorley

Stylish Skier - Amy Hampshire

Most Wipe Outs - Ella Mae Parkes

The Best Panda Eyes - Jenny Robinson

Most Psychedelic - Simran Bains Sira

Chief Blogger - Kayleigh Hill

The Italian Snail - Pavan Sangha

Best Beginner - Ruby Brown

The Lift Master - Stepahanie Patrick-Ashton

Biggest Bruise - Ellie Rowley

High Maintenance (HM) - Ellie Harris

Best Helmet - Charlotte Johnson-Howe

Poser of the week - Tom Aston

Italian Speed Demon - Dominic Boniface

Bragger of the week - Ben Fortes- Mayer

Born to ski - Sam Hopkinson

The Born Skier - Matthew Smith

Most Improved Skier - Liam Jones

Most Outfits - Anshuman Saha

Helmet Artwork - Jay Sahnan

Reddest Nose - Bradleigh Smith

Marshmallow Award - Lewis Ward

Staying Power - Catherine Radburn

Most Punctual - Everybody except Year 11

And a new addition for this year: the t-shirt awards

Slalom Champ - Dominic Boniface

Sid the Snail - Pavan Sangha

Captain chaos - Nirali Parekh

Disaster Master - Stephanie Patrick - Ashton

Drama Queen - Tom Aston

Faster than the Stig - Elizabeth Ash

Goggle Eyes - Liam Jones

Dirty Berty - Bradleigh Smith

Day 5 - Sunshine and Powder

After a night's snowing, we awoke to deep powder and glorious 10 degree sunshine. After a swift breakfast we set out for the morning on the slopes. We all had fun playing in the powder even though there were plenty of falls!

Everyone took part in the giant slalom as part of the ski school and were timed, medals will be awarded tomorrow at the presentation evening. They all competed between their own ski groups so not too much competition.

 

 

 And Jay was exhausted after his millionth splat of the holiday

After lunch we headed back down to the slopes after the splat hat was swapped over to Liam's helmet for picking up the wrong skis in the boot room this morning. 

The first chair of the afternoon proved a challenge for Ellie and Kayleigh as one of the other groups was 'in their spot', Kayleigh had to do a 'swift turn' and ended up facing up the slope then skiing backwards, where Ellie then skiied under her and flipped her over then fell herself. Big embarrassment for Kayleigh for her first fall of the holiday. 

 

Ella (Shaniqua) 'all by herself' as she was singing on the chair lift.

Mr Hinks' ace photography skills

Stefano, "Mark", PavAN and "Lippi"

 Nirali and Lewis re-enacting their ski crash for the splats nominations.

For the evening meal we went for a pizza at a local restaurant which was 'bellisimo'

Splat hat went to Ben for complaining about the 'easy' black 99 then promptly falling over.

Dude hat went to Jay for being persistent and always trying his best and really progressing over the week.

Day 4 - Extreme weather

We all awoke to a rather grey sky and a chill in the air. Breakfast was swift as usual and the groups formed up with all their extra layers on.
Group one met up with their new instructor, Lena an Australian who is fluent in Italian and lives high up in the mountains of Claviere.
All the groups struggled with the weather, we had very cold temperatures, with one group stopping for hot chocolate, fog and snow by lunchtime. Can you guess who this is?

After lunch only 3 advanced skiers headed out with Stefano and 3 students from group 1 and 2 with Lena, well done to those that did, the conditions improved although the snow became heavier. They all stopped for yet another hot chocolate!

 Students enjoyed extra shopping time and relaxation along with a film night in the dungeon! The visibility was so poor that everyone was struggling to see the end of their skis!

 Mrs. Wood has ended up with splats hat, falling due to poor visibility and a coming together with a student.

Kayleigh is once again a dude for catching Mr. Hinks out with losing his room key. "I am sure it was in my pocket"  Kayleigh also did the dare! I am not sure how she got an 8 year olds t.shirt over her head, "I don't think the shop keeper did either."

Day 3 - Buongiorno or Bonjour?

We awoke to the first real blue bird morning, had a quick breakfast and dressed lightly for the fabulous 9 degree weather. Group 1 worked off the first chair hoping to progress further up the mountain, group 2 skiied over towards Cesana. Group 3 spent the morning in France, skiing on the Colleto Verde side at 2560m doing a black mogul field for the first time. Here are some pictures from the morning:

 
 
After a hearty Italian lunch of lasagne the groups ventured out again, to group 1's delight, they had a new instructor called Antony. They went up on the French chair: Les Chalmettes and did a new run, Blue 99. Group 2 had a great time doing lots of big distance skiing, which they really enjoyed as well as learning a few tricks and jumps. Group 3 went to the Chalvet side of Montgenevre and skiied back to the hotel, which impressed the Year 11's immensely.

After the evening meal which included Tiramisu for dessert much to Mr Hinks' delight, we set off up the mountain in search of some snow fun with our bumboards. Anshuman was the bumboarding champion going the furthest but the fun soon turned into a snow melee, which resulted in a boys v girls, students v teachers snowball fight :)

 

bumboarding fun

Ellie R on the bottom acting as a bench

Liam getting snowed in

action shot

on the edge

just 'chillin'

Becky "Bit of a problem, I forgot to close my coat!"

Snowchains

Splat hat went to Mr Hinks for forgetting the Year 11s when we all went bumboarding, in his defence he says "they were late!"

Dude hat went to Nirali for knocking Tom O over with her more aggressive, terrifying war cry.