Claviere - Day 3 - Second day on the snow

One of the greatest reasons for taking students skiing is seeing the amount of progress that they make in such a short space of time. Yesterday our beginners were snow ploughing their way down the baby slow and today they were taking on blues and reds. The grading system for European ski slopes starts with green, the easy slopes, and then blues, reds and blacks. The gradings are a guide for the steepness or difficulty of the slope. In Claviere there aren't any greens so the absolute beginners go from the baby slopes straight into the blues and then they have to take on some reds in order to explore more of the mountain.

I spent the morning with the beginner group. These 4 were still nervous about skiing and were following the instructors advice really well. Towards the end of the morning we took on quite a steep red section which caused the inevitable tumbles. No one was injured but in my attempt to help one of the students, she managed to slide us both across the piste and crash on the otherside. I laughed it off and reassured her as she was really shaken up. I think that tiredness and fear were starting to get the better of her and the group by this stage. A shaky end to the session wasn't helped by other skiiers weaving through our group as we were making our way down the last part of our run.

We all made it off the mountain safely and back to the hotel for lunch with only a couple more falls on the way down.

Personally, I am starting to feel far more comfortable on skis. That isn't to say that I don't still have a bit of fear at times but I am much happier taking on a red with some speed than I was yesterday morning.

Lunch back the hotel and a chance to recharge before taking on the slopes again for anther 2 hour session. We had to make a plan about the next couple of days as we wanted to make the most of our ski passes and get over to the French side of the mountain. Our ski instructors presented an option to us which we weren't keen on and after lunch we negotiated back to what we wanted to do and will be skiing in another country tomorrow! There are more slopes especially for the beginner groups to practice on so they will be able to ski with hopefully less fear.

I was back with the intermidate class for this session and the growth in confidence in these students too was amazing to see. Our instructor was now leading them for longer durations without a stop and getting them to continuously to tweak and improve their technique. I took something of a spectacular fall when heading a little too quick towards the end of the piste, saw the sign and then let fear get the better of me. Still a quick dusting off and then back on the skiis to get back on the lift. 

This session seem to fly by and before we knew it we were heading back down the hill for a well deserved hot chocolate in the bar.

A bit of downtime before dinner and a chance to freshen up before the next feast for dinner. Both the students and us adults are now making tactical decisions about the amount of food we eat at each course so that we don't end up eating too much. I took the time at the end of dinner to praise the students on their attitude so far this week. Super respectful of the hotel staff, the ski instructors and us teachers. They really haven't caused us any stress and have been delightful on our trip.

Our evening entertainment was a strange one this evening. Students, mainly the boys getting their hair braided and a couple of card games in the bar area saw the evening out.

I was completely exhausted at the end of the day. I just managed to do a duo lingo lesson before a quick call home and then bed. I woke up after a short cat nap to find myself still dressed with the light on. Clearly this skiing malarky is tiring work.