 It was snowing as we pulled in to the small resort of Montgenèvre. Miss Blakeman declared that this was the first time on a school ski trip where they had arrived to a resort with a fresh blanket of snow. This was obviously a good sign.
As we pulled up in the car park everyone was eager to get his or her skis on. Nobody was allowed to go skiing before everyone was kitted up and ready to go. This wait was particularly agonising for me as I already had my own equipment. The time eventually came when everyone was suited to face the conditions 1850 metres above sea level. The next morning all of the instructors set about fine tuning the groups and moving people around. I am a 100% snowboarder, so Mr George kindly agreed to take me by myself.
On the third day the conditions were beautiful. Will and Lewis, (who had recently joined the snowboarding group), Mr George and I attempted to do a run near the top of the resort, only to find ourselves buried in 4 feet of powder!
 The fourth day went like lightning, but by 4 o'clock we were ready to sleep. I managed to keep myself awake at the prospect of bum boarding that evening, which was great fun. One of our younger skiers tried doing this and sadly he managed to break his thumb in the process.
On the sixth day Mr George was ill. A ski group kindly accepted me and we whizzed off down the other side of the mountain to Italy where we enjoyed a lovely meal at a mountain restaurant. On the last day we thought it would be a good idea to have a picnic on the hill, but the conditions took a turn for the worse and we ended up in a small refuge hut. A small snowball fight developed outside and my snowboard was knocked out the snow and sent flying off down the wrong side of the mountain! I got a wild ride on a snowmobile that took me back the bottom of the slopes. I found my way back to the hotel and prepared myself for the return trip. By the time everyone had returned from the slopes, soggy and cold, I was clean and ready to get on the bus, for the return trip to Edinburgh.
Everybody was sad that the ski trip had come to a close, but good memories had been lodged in everyone’s brain. I would like to thank Miss Blakeman and Mr Hall for organising the trip and Mr Badie, Mr Bisset, Mr George, Miss Walker for accompanying us.
Joe (II)
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