Claviere - Day 7 - Final day on the Mountain

Today I am breaking with my usual tradition of writing my blog in the mornings. Getting up at 5:30 am to start the journey home wouldn't really be the best time to write so I have written this entry before going to sleep. Possibly not the best plan but I probably wouldn't get this written otherwise and today was quite a day.

This morning had a bit of a false start as I had to facilitate a student going home but not until after we started skiing. So once he had gone I got dressed super quick to join the team on the mountain. I had dodged the Shrek hat earlier in the week but alas it was definitely my turn after my spectacular tumbles yesterday. 

The view this morning was of a foggy mountain and I had reservations about what the visibility would be like. Well the morning wasn't too bad. There were patches of poor visibility but as we got higher up the mountain it was fairly clear and so the usual routes around the reds and blues of the mountain were fairly easily covered.

After lunch, however, was a different story. We got back up to the top and visibilty was ok but the rest of the mountain was fairly bad so taking our usual starting route, pretty much all as a group, we went for a trip down into the mist and visibility just disappeared. We stuck together in our teams and followed the instructors back down to the ski lift safely and returned to the top where the fog had got considerably worse. The only decision here was to get everyone back down the mountain. We weren't alone in this decision with the other instructors doing the same and some skiiers and boarders not with instructors also taking the chance to follow us down too. This was a really weird experience as at times you couldn't see the piste markers but our instructors knew exactly where we were going and stopped to check we were all together coming off the mountain. The fog lifted in places and when we got down to nearly the bottom of the mountain it was a really sunny day! We took the opportunity to grab a group photo and then 1 final short run in the clear patch as a final hurrah.

Our instructors came to the hotel to give us all our certificates of achievement and we had prepared cards with a small token of our appreciation for them all. The three instructors had lead us all week and the progress that our students made was amazing to see.

The rest of the afternoon was given over to packing the last few things before another gut busting dinner. I was so full when pudding arrived but I couldn't say no. 

We finished off the trip with another karaoke session as the kids have all been singing during the days when on the chairlift or coming down the mountain. We all had a blast and I hope that I'll have some voice left for tomorrow.

Over the last few years I have lead and accompanied so many trips but this was my first at my new school and my first leading a ski trip. I took colleagues that I didn't know all that well and some students who I only met briefly in school during the odd meeting about the trip. It has been a real privilege to take all of these people on this adventure. People often say that running a school trip is a free holiday, but apart from the fact things went so smoothly and having the chance to improve my own skiing, it is a massive responsibility looking after other people's children in a foreign country doing an adventerous activity and not something to be taken lightly. I really do enjoy leading trips and sharing these experiences and this trip has been a brilliant experience for the students.