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.

Day 2 - Sun, skiing, skidoos and kitchen duty!

After a good nights sleep the QM snow patrol got up to a late breakfast, 8.45, and  a beautiful sunny sky.
The 3 ski groups assembled at the slopes in anticipation of another great ski day. Luciano's  group would be taking their first ever chair lift ride up the mountain, which proved to be quite a challenge. Chaos loomed.

 
Kayleigh and Dom wearing the Dude and Splat Hats.

Ellie on the travelator, teapot pose
                                                                      In the boot room getting ready to go

  QM Snow Patrol 2013 Luciano's group at the top of their first chair lift.


Back in the hotel for lunch, and time for Hinks' revenge...

Not pregnant, send them to the workhouse!!

Afternoon skiing, Group 3 managed to get over to the French side for a black run, 

Look at group 3 doing short turns on their first black run of the holiday, in France!

Day 1 - don't be fooled!

After a 'good nights' sleep the QM Snow Patrol awoke to a sunny Claviere. Everyone was hungry for breakfast, however some students were not feeling so well! One of our year 11 girls ran out of the dining room feeling 'sick' this morning, after a short while a friend came and fetched Mr Hinks saying that she really needed help. Mr Hinks to the rescue to find "I've been sick this morning, and yesterday morning and the one before that" with a few shifty looks the reply of "is it what I think it is?" and after they exchanged worried looks, the girls fell into heaps of laughter on the floor. Mr Hinks feeling the fool retired to the dining room.
After a long ski fit, the QM students grouped off to meet their instructors: Stefano, Beppe and Luciano. Weather conditions were awesome in the morning with clear skies and sun. All groups did really well with lots of falls and bruises in the beginner group, group 2 saw some tree hugging from Sas and "cliff" dangling from Tom A. See picture below.

 Tom just hanging

 group 1 on the nursery slope

 

strike a pose lads, Bradders day 1 splat "Miss I've lost my passport!"

 

Rachel's incident with her pole. She said it got caught in the chairlift, bent backwards and her 'iron lady' hands straightened it and "it broke".

This afternoon, the big freeze continued with lessons in -10 degree temperatures, but everyone progressed nicely. After lessons we went shopping, had our evening meal and bingo.

Splat Hat went to Dom for breaking the hat. He couldn't bear the jingling so tore one of the bells off, to his disappointment he shall be jingling all day long tomorrow. 

Dude Hat went to Kayleigh for doing Gangnam Style on one ski as well as being an excellent supportive student to the younger skiiers. 

The Journey to Claviere

Everyone gathered at a cold QMHS just before lunch. Year 11 made a run for the back seats! We arrived at Manchester Airport on time and had a pleasant flight. The snow over the Alps looked particularly snowy. I think we are in for an epic week. We are currently on the coach heading to the town of Claviere high up in the Milky way region. Here are a couple of photos to get our blog going.

Ah! super sleepy!

Updates and Snow Report

Wow!

What a wonderful scene and we will be there in a few days. Please remember that the clocks 'spring' forward on Saturday evening so please remember to adjust your clocks. At least we have a later departure now, so hopefully everyone will be on time at QMHS for 11.50 am, no need to be earlier.

Parents please remember to park down past the grey metal gates so that the coach can have clear access to the main car park. For safety we prefer the coach to be loaded on the car park so the coach needs plenty of room to get on.

Hoodies will be given out from Tuesday this week and luggage labels on Wednesday.Thursday. The hoodies look awesome again so thank you Wave Print for all your efforts once again.

Snow Conditions

Simply Perfect

45/45 lifts open

Base snow depth = 100 cm

Upper depths = 140 cm

Temperatures = Cool for the time of year - around zero degrees Celsius.

Remember to follow the blog as our week in Claviere unfolds!

:-)