On Tuesday 16th December, staff and pupils from Cowbridge Comprehensive School departed for Alpendorf in Austria on the Senior Ski Trip.

The 24 hour journey was long but spirits were kept high with the excitement of the coming days’ activities. Several DVD’s kept the group entertained on the bus with the cult American classic ‘Superbod’ being a particular favourite with Mr Glan Williams.

On arrival at the resort the party was met by representatives of the tour company ‘Snowslippers/ who quickly supplied all members of the trip with skis, boots and poles for the week. Shortly after, we were welcomed to our base camp for the week which was the Hotel Larchenhof. Owners Peter and Heidi Schmidt would prove to be fantastic hosts throughout our stay and the facilities at the hotel were first class.

Pupils regularly enjoyed the use of the sauna and solarium, while en suite rooms were both spacious and very comfortable. The hotel maintained a warm family-run atmosphere and pupils and staff all enjoyed the delicious three course meals that were provided throughout the week.

On the mountain, pupils were split into three groups based on experience and ability levels. Two snowboarders were given the luxury of one to one lessons, which really helped progression. Group 3 were instructed by Ailsa Hart who is a very experienced member of the Red White Red ski school, while Group 2 enjoyed the experience and knowledge or Dylan Williams, who is a director of Snowslippers. Group 1 included several pupils with over 15 weeks experience on snow so they really needed to be put through their paces. Fortunately the instructor for Group 1 was Mr Dai Jurkovic, who is also a director of Snowslippers as well as the current Olympic coach to the Croatian National Ski Team. Dai is widely regarded as one of the top coaches in the world and he has published several books on ski coaching as well as mentoring the top European and American ski coaches.

His coaching methods were outstanding, involving very intense sessions. All pupils and staff were firmly pushed outside of their comfort zones and worked exceptionally hard throughout the week. Group 1 regularly covered in excess of 50 miles of runs per day. Snow conditions for the entire week were outstanding and every morning we were greeted with fresh powder to ski and board on.

Every evening Snowslippers had organised activities planned to keep the party fully entertained. Fantastic fun was had at the bowling competition where Mr Neil Thomas’ group took the gold medal with a combination of fine skills and gamesmanship!!

The final day skiing involved all groups competing in a professionally run slalom race. With a lot of group rivalry and pride at stake, Group 3 produced some outstanding performances with David Gee claming the bronze, Jack Fisher the silver and, with an excellent time of 35.03, Morgan Hopkins took the gold.

In Group 2, Leo Phillips took the bronze, Sam Davies the silver and Richard Brown won gold with a time of 32.88.

Group 1 all produced exceptional times but eventually it was down to Matt Rowland to claim bronze, Matt Wilcox gained the silver and, with an incredible time of 29.69 seconds, it was Sean Latham who took the gold medal and Snowslippers trophy for fastest skier of the week.

Just to reinforce his position and remind us who was the boss, Group 1 instructor and former top 50 world slalom skier Dai Jurkovic, then completed the course with a time of 25.06. He was also carrying two backpacks and 3 ski jackets that Group 1 had left at the top with him to help improve their speed!!!!!

The slalom competition finished with an official awards ceremony which was run by Snowslippers instructors at a local hotel. This formal event also gave the pupils an opportunity to thank the instructors for the excellent tuition that they received throughout the week.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank the Headteacher and Governors of the school for allowing us to run the trip pre-Christmas. Major advantages of this decision were that there were no lift queues, empty slopes, safer skiing and plenty of time for pupils to revise for important AS/A2 modules before returning to school.

I would also like to thank school staff (Glan Williams, Laura Hale and Chloe Thomas) who accompanied the trip and contributed towards the fantastic and friendly atmosphere throughout the week.

The organisation, accommodation and instruction were all first class and I would therefore like to thank Snowslippers who proved to be an outstanding travel company. Staff and pupils were so impressed with all aspects of the trip that we have already provisionally booked to return to the exact same destination next year. Furthermore, several members of Group 1 were invited back by the director of Snowslippers to attend instructors courses, which will enable them to work for Snowslippers for the ski season.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the pupils for the way in which they conducted themselves. The school staff, bus drivers, hotel owner and ski instructors all heaped positive praise on the attitudes and behaviour of all our pupils. They were an absolute pleasure to take away and a real credit to parents, staff and the school.

Mr Neil Thomas
Head of Physical Education