Ski Trip to Bad Gastein

A huge thank you to Lower Sixth student and 2023 BBC Young Reporter winner, Luke, who has provided an entertaining account of this year's Ski Trip to Bad Gastein:

On Saturday 10^th February, 6 teachers and 46 students arrived at WGS and boarded the coach ready to embark on the adventure ahead. The anticipation and excitement meant that through the extremely long journey of 16 hours to Bad Gastein in Austria the atmosphere was great, thanks to George for the speaker with an amazing playlist! When we finally reached our destination, we were exhausted but excited about skiing the following morning.

Upon our arrival at the slopes, we collected our skis, boots, and poles before being warmly introduced to the instructors who would be looking after us for the week. First, we had to do a test run to decide which group we would be in. Of course, on the first practice run I fell over so had to redo it, finally getting placed in the intermediate group – before moving down a group later on, but we won’t talk about that! This was only the beginning of the falls for me on Day 1. Just after lunch, my group found ourselves at the very top of the mountain engulfed by a snow cloud. This already spelled disaster, but as I began to ski down, I suddenly felt airborne. In actual fact, I was! Falling, tumbling, rolling down and down, at least 10 feet from the original slope! I was stranded in deep snow, wondering how I would ever get back up, but thanks to our very own Spider-Man in Dr Pounder, I was saved.

Besides this, the first day of skiing was amazing and spirits were high as we prepared for the evening meal and the Tyrolean evening – a highlight for many. This was an opportunity for us all to experience local music and dancing and to try out the many different instruments that were on offer like a ‘singing saw’ - now that was interesting. After a busy fun-filled day we relaxed before heading to bed so we would be prepared for our early wake-up of 7am the next morning.

A particular highlight of the trip was the reveal of the winner of ‘No I-Deer of The Day’. This was a silly hat of a deer which would be worn over the helmet for the entire day of skiing by the winner, who had essentially done something ridiculous that day on the slopes. Of course, for my impressive fall off a mountain I was given the honour of wearing the hat on day 1. On day 2, I passed the hat over to Layla as she managed to get lost for 40 minutes whilst her group were practically on the other side of the mountain. We all still have no idea how she was able to do this, but it was definitely deserving of the hat. On day 3, the honour was given to Bobby after he sent a tiny ski school child flying as he skied into them on his way down a red slope and then made a speedy exit. Mr Martin, presenting the winner each night, joked that he had been on call to the police about the issue. On day 4, Ashton confidently decided to lead his group down the steepest black slope, but this inevitably went wrong as he managed to lose his ski before rolling, sliding and flipping down the entire slope – this really must have been a sight to behold! Finally, for the journey home Dr Pounder was chosen to wear the hat, in the airport and on the plane for being over-confident saying he could ace the slalom before falling over at least twice. This was definitely worthy of the hat, sorry Sir!

Other evening activities including a swimming session, an ice hockey match, a quiz night and a last night presentation were all good fun. I particularly enjoyed the ice hockey, as it was fascinating to watch another sport quite different from anything I’d seen before. And I obviously won the award for clumsiest skier in my group at the awards night.

For everyone, skiing was an enjoyable experience, littered with many stand-out moments and views to last a lifetime. Just some of these moments were Noah making his whole group topple like dominoes on a blue slope and Louis’ spectacular fall on a jump, even if the picture looks like he landed it! Perhaps, the most special part of the ski trip is the bonds that are formed between students of all ages that last when we return to school. For instance, when else does a year 8 spend time with a group of sixth formers forming a connection. Overall, the ski trip was a fun, memorable experience and I thoroughly enjoyed every second. I wonder what the standout memories of next year will be…