I’ll always be grateful to my parents and life for being able to go on the school ski trip in 5th year along with a handful of other lucky students who successfully begged their parents. I remember asking my parents with a rehearsed speech about how it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and how I’d work and pay for half and pass on the Paris trip with my year in transition year and it worked!! I WAS GOING SKIING! I saved and saved up all my pennies, paid off the instalments, blinked and I was on the flight heading to Milan airport with my friends as well as other students from other schools. Straight onto a bus from Milan, we headed towards the snow-covered mountain peaks of the western Alps in the village and ski resort of Sestrière.
Day 1 consisted of our first day ski lessons. I was extremely apprehensive seen as I am brutal at any activity off my feet! Like a new born deer on roller blades, ice skates and even heelies; skiing was just going to be another to add to the list right? Thankfully, I was wrong and along with everyone else, I picked it up fairly quick and we were brought up on our first ski lift to the “baby slope” as our gorgeous handsome trainer Giovanni described it. The details of this trip are washy seen as it was 7 long years ago, however, the main scary, funny and mind-blowing parts are imbedded into my memories under lock and key. This “baby slope” is one of those memories. Just as the tactic goes, we were literally thrown head-first into the deep end and tested whether we’d float or die! Might sound dramatic but, the girl that ended up with a concussion after that slope would beg to differ! Without any instruction on how to steer down a slope and a brief lesson on stopping, heart-eyed Giovanni told us to jump, so us infatuated teens jumped at his order. Around 10 young school girls tore down this slope, straight for the bottom, gaining momentum as we flew down straight. Seen as we didn’t realise you have to sway left to right to steady your pace, we all got faster and faster! Families and skiers successfully dodging us as we zoomed down. Dropping like flies, we all fell one by one. I remember my heart being in my throat as I picked up speed seeing the girls fall and telling myself I needed to join them. Without thinking, I let my knees drop and threw myself into the snow to stop myself with an adrenaline rush so intense I couldn’t stop laughing as I looked around to see the rest of the girls get themselves back up. We slowly but surely made our way to the bottom screaming and laughing and probably all crying inside but ALIVE! You’d think this would scare us from continuing but it just made us more excited to get to the real slopes now that we learned our lesson on how to steady our pace.. the hard way.
The days after just consisted of hours of heart racing skiing to new and harder slopes. From the green beginner ones to the braver blue intermediate ones. Our biggest achievement over the few days however, was skiing across a black slope! Such a ridiculous thing but I remember us thinking this was such an amazing feat! It wasn’t all successful, easy-going, accident-free, expert skiing happening however, but that’s what makes the memories. One being the real struggle of jumping off ski lifts while they continued moving and somehow being expected to stay afoot and out of the way. This proved especially difficult one specific time when I was taking the ski lift with my best friend Róisín (2can) Ahern! Our panicking didn’t help as our awkward legs and skis got tangled together as we jumped. Remaining tangled, we completely and utterly fell to become a pile of bodies on the ground on top of each other, getting pelted by the passing continuing ski lift as the operator and other skiers screamed at us in Italian to get out of the way. We laughed nervously, wriggled around on the ground and couldn’t get up! The entire lift had to be stopped until the two ditzy Irish girls on the top of the slopes detangled themselves and waddled out of the way after some time of struggling! Actually breaking myself laughing thinking back at it, only us it would happen to, TRAGIC!
The near misses, falls and pile ups suddenly weren’t as funny anymore when injuries began to happen throughout the few days. A broken collar bone by one student, a concussion by another and countless bad falls to name a few. One of the days as we skied through some small jumps and hills, our skill and balance was tested. Not only to jump the ramps but to remain in line, afoot and in speed with everyone else as to avoid a pile up and collision. Constantly in fear and the rushing of adrenaline through my blood was extremely exciting and kept me going and kept me brave. However, it took one minor fall to shake me in my boots and become a little less cocky on the slopes and jumps. It happened while taking a sharp turn down a slope, my knee twisted along with my ankle so much so that my ski came off my boot! Thank God however no serious damage happened but it was enough to take me back a notch or two and to stop acting so invincible.
My favourite day of the trip was the last day of skiing. Me and my group of friends got to ski away from the main school group and trainer and got to join the teachers. You get such privilege when your friends are near experts (Thank you LB) and one is the son of the teacher (Thank you Mark); all about who you know! They brought us to new and more secluded slopes, around corners and hills, jumps and places we hadn’t been all week. We sped down the mountain, colliding with walls of snow, buckling over ramps and veering around obstacles trying to keep up and surprising ourselves at how good we got since day one! I’ll never forget the thrill and sheer excitement it made me feel. I had never felt so alive up until then, such pride in myself for being brave and able and the feeling of being both out of control yet simultaneously completely in control of myself. The cherry on top of it all being; experiencing it with some of my closest friends (shout out from the left to right Emma, LB, Siney and 2can!)
The trip wasn’t just all skiing however. There was also the amazing food a.k.a. pizzas and pastas (since we were in Italy after all), as well as the banter back at the hotel, ice skating (where me and Roisin played on the snow at the outside of the rink after swiftly giving up on the skates) and mingling and making friends with the other school students. Let’s talk about my discovery of folded calzone pizzas!! On one of our lunch breaks, I bit the bullet and tried out the ham and mushroom calzone and I can nearly still taste it and see it now! Mouth-watering, saucey, cheesy top with an amazing crispy crust stuffed with the toppings inside oozing out as I cut into it *HEART EYES*. Other’s included the countless Nutella crepes and hotel pasta dishes!
One of the things that absolutely shocked me about this luxurious Italian ski resort however, was the discovery of their use of “hole in the floor” toilets we found in some of the café’s! Let’s not give you TMI but safe to say we did NOT know how to use these, yet we had a laugh at our attempts! Do you sit? Squat? Hover? Huh? I soon had to learn how during my trip to Thailand and Vietnam a few years later! (DM for lessons x – that’s sarcasm btw).
Skiing is one of those once in a lifetime trips that everyone should experience if lucky enough but at the same time, it’s a trip you could do over and over if given the chance, time and money as I feel it would never get old or tired! I will definitely be going skiing again some time in the next few years, and again some other time and AGAIN! But next time I will experience the famous après ski in its full glory without teacher supervision and the legal age to drink! Hell, when I win the lotto I’ll go every Christmas (believe and manifest it and it’ll come true, right?).
I haven’t much tips and tricks about this trip seen as it was a school trip planned for me. My only advice would be to: eat all the pizza and pasta and calzones possible, save money by borrowing ski gear if it’s a one time trip, don’t get too cocky but at the same time take the risks and be brave and lastly, squat (the grids on the floor are for your feet not a seat). Skiing is terrifying but suck it up and it’ll be one if the most exhilarating experiences of your life!
“Explore Adventure Understand”
Chat soon,
Runaway Ro
xxx
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