Ski day 4 - Cloud cover

Aftter a snowy night in the mountain last night we had hoped for a return to bluebird. We have cloud cover, fresh snow and cooler temperatures. Its a chilly one for sure but the students and staff are well prepared with extra layers!

Mya dude for day 4...

Group two, three and four have disappeared to into the clouds this morning. 

Group two have gone up the blue gondola and spent most of the day over in the area having fun and building confidence on the blues before completing their first reds today- the progress of the students has been fantastic. A lot of happy and proud faces!!

Group one took a ride on the blue gondola today, the highest they have been skiing, explored the area and practiced putting their weight into the turn before coming back onto parallel skis.  Here's a cracking pic of some of them getting ready for Blue L. After this they returned lower down and took a few turns on the baby express- they are becoming quite the experts. 

 Mr Vaughan and Miss Weston have now skied down from the mid station. Awesome. Such a great ski with both of them showing their finesse on the pistes. 

Nice lunch for everyone at the base today. Lunch time skiing for some more of group four to practice the carving.

Group four have had a great day; here, there and everywhere as they explored all there is to offer here. They re-visited the llamas and then had some practise of their carving skills. One or two wipe outs and then they successfully completed the only black run of the resort. All of them have returned absolutely buzzing from today's escapades. 

Group three have been up to the very top and skied some glorious red runs out on the mountain. They have really come on, making lovely progress with their parallel turns and even giving a few jumps a go. 

After our ski day we went into town to stock up on gifts and snacks for the coach journey home. Whilst we are all super excited for tomorrow's fancy dress day we are very sad it will be our last ski day. The evening meal was very Italian; pizza for main followed by our dessert of Panna Cotta. This evening we have had our snow patrol awards ceremony celebrating our time as a QM family out on the snow, what a fantastic snow patrol!!

Day 3: Breaking through the clouds, going higher

Corduroy:-)

The clouds are lifting and the groups went further and higher today.

Groups set off on time once more and we're rested to a well groomed mountain with a little fresh snow.

G3 and 4 headed to the gondola while G1 and 2 set of for the baby express gondola and the quad chair.

G4 worked on their weighting if the downhill ski with the focus on developing good carving turns.

G3..

G2...

G1...

Today's lunch was to be a challenge. We got the whole group to the top of the main gondola 🚠🚡 so that everyone could experience the temperature inversion and the beautiful views. The plan was to have lunch at the mid station. We pulled it off with 5 minutes to spare. Well done Snow Patrol.

During the afternoon session G1 and 2 progressed further. G2 went higher on the blues above the mid station of the gondola.

G3 continued working those parallels.

G4 worked on some J turns to further get ready for carving fun.

After an early evening meal the Snow Patrol set off for the mountain once more but this time under the floodlights. G2 and 2 experienced the lift ride in darkness and had a bit of fun on the snow plateau at the mid station before indulging in Italian hot chocolates and a cake. 

"Snow"

G3 and 4 had multiple runs with instructos Frederico and Jenki.

We finished the evening with a run down with Mr Hinks and Miss Lippiatt. The students were brilliant and showed lots of skill and maturity in their skiing. Well done G3 & G4.

Splat and Dude nominations were done at evening meal.

Mya got the Dude. Nominated by students coach drivers and staff. After seeing many falls and slip up and in lift lines the splat could only go to ... Chaniya.

Ski day 2: Breath taking vistas

Our day is just about to begin. Our more advanced groups couldn't stop talking about the scenery yesterday .Hopefully as everyone progresses today more will see these unforgettable vistas.

After a warm up and some group sorting, we are out! Gondola with G3

I think Mr Hinks jinxed today's views for all but G3 and 4. The cloud base was in a temperature inversion state. So only those skiers going to the top of the main gondola were treated to unforgettable views.

New day and it's time for new instructors. Splat hat and dude were looking fantastic: 

Group one were very fortunate to keep their instructor from yesterday: Luca. They have spent the whole day in the Rindole area, practising turns and dropping and gaining more confidence on the chair lifts. This afternoon they focused on parallel turning and, whilst there were a number of falls all students have made really lovely progress and are continuing to enjoy themselves. For the first time in her life Mrs Hodson has been called angelic and serene as she came down the slopes.

Group two welcomed Alisha, Aishah, Jaiya, Miss Weston and Mr Vaughan and their new instructor Giancarlo. A few runs off the chair lift to warm up and practice turns and stops on Rindole before heading over to the baby express gondola this afternoon to begin learning, practising and mastering parallel turning. A really exciting day for the group! A number of students have built a lot of confidence on the chair lifts now however Jaiya couldn't help pull another peer down either her as she tried to get off causing the chair lift to have to be stopped......oh dear, there's always one. The fantastic thing is the smiles that were still on all their faces!! 

Group three welcomed Dhiyana and Dhivenaa and their instructor Paloma. After getting a quick warm up, they headed straight up to the top of the gondola, above the clouds to see the beautiful views. They then headed down using a range of blues and red runs practising their 'Mignolo' (little toe) and 'pollice' (big toe) on the parallel turns. This afternoon they went even further afield as they went to the top of the chair off the first gondola and explored all there was to offer up there continuing to build confidence with their parallels whilst taking in the stunning sights of the temperature inversion.

Group four welcomed two new additions of Montana and Aadya and their new instructor Federico. After a few warm up drills the group were off and up to the top of the first gondola. Federico had the group switching the leader on each run down to ensure all skiers had a go just behind him as he says ' watching is the easiest way to learn'! A few glorious blues and reds before heading down for lunch. At lunch time the group were lucky enough to go out with Mr Hinks and Miss Lippiatt to practice getting into their own rythmn.......Aadya got very much into her own rhythm which ended up with her stopping in a mound of snow! This afternoon the group went up to the very top Cima Paganella and skied a number of the slopes over on this side, getting more practice at moguls and even doing some one footed skiing to improve technique. 

A great day of skiing all round for Snow Patrol!! 

After another delicious meal the Snow Patrol have hit the ice rink and spent a good hour and a half skating around in circles! Some students have been showing off some fantastic skills; spinning and skating backwards, whilst others have had a great introduction to ice skating. All students seemed to have a great time on the ice and are now settled down for a great night's sleep before getting up to do it all again tomorrow. 

Tomorrows splat hat goes to Aadaya and the Dude hat went to Molly. Our final clip below is of Mr Vaughan from group 2 skiing by the side of Miss Weston. We call his actions... "Doing a Shaalu"

Our fantastic waiter modelling the splat hat...

Goodnight from Andola!