Wednesday 13th April
Morning Report
Breakfast was the same as usual. I think some of us are starting to yearn for a bacon cob with brown sauce. Maybe just me!
All three groups took the chair lift up to 1400m. The weather is now officially cold. It was 0c at the top but with the wind chill it felt more like -20c. It was fine when we were skiing but sitting on a chair lift being ripped to shreds by the wind was no fun. It is, however, still very sunny without a cloud in the sky - Sun cream is still being applied liberally.
Mrs Majors’ group took a big step, in terms of difficulty today. A long challenging run was attacked with a variety of styles along with a few wobbles. Some children had to conquer their fears on slopes steeper than what they have been used to.
Mr Britten’s group and Mr Martindale’s group took very similar routes to Chantermerle. The runs today were harder, in terms of ice, with a small covering of snow. It was great fun. Remy, Oliver P and Oliver S lead one group whilst Alex P, Sarah and Jessica lead the other. The children are getting so good at skiing it’s much harder for the old men at the back to keep up. If we were here for another week, I’d seriously struggle to keep up!
Salterford Guide to Ski Lifts
At the resort, there are two main type of ski lift.
Type 1 - The button lift. These involve placing a plastic button shape between your legs which is attached to a cable that drags you up the slope. They should be a relatively trouble free way of getting to the top of a slope. However, over the week the Salterford children have found a variety of different ways to mess this up.
Method One - The James S Release - This involves waiting until you are in the worst possible place to let go and then allow you skis to slowly slide backwards down the slope.
Method Two - The Lewis M Ski Cross - This involves standing waiting for the lift with skis in a perfect X. As soon as the lift drags you forward, you are guaranteed to have your first taste of snow as you are dragged face down up the slope - Not recommended!
Method Three - The Rohan - See previous day
Method Four - The Cameron Shuffle - Once you have mastered the button lift, the journey up can be a little bit boring. Why not let go of the pole and have a little boogie on your ways up. V. Bad Idea. A little boogie goes a long way to perform a combination of the Lewis M and the James S and leaves the performer with a mouthful of snow and a chorus of “FAIL” from any children watching.
Type 2 - The chair lift. These involve standing between red lines waiting for a chair to arrive from behind which is sat upon and a safety bar is pulled over. A far more comfortable way of travelling but still fraught with potential hazards.
Method 1 - The Isobel - Make sure you always put your hand directly in the space where the safety bar comes down. This will guarantee at the very least crushed fingers.
Method 2 - The Oliver P - Instead of skiing to the chair lift, try crawling. Guaranteed to annoy any French chair lift operator. There are always positives to this move.
Method 3 - The Remy - Why get on the ski lift with two skis? That's far too obvious. Best to leave one behind and carry on up the mountain with just the one!
Method 4 - The Random Guy - Puts the fear of God into any Salterford pupil., having to share a chair lift with “Some Random Guy!”. Solutions put forward by some include - the James S (Don’t speak), the Faith (Pretend to be asleep!), The Remy(Pretend to be French) and the Britten(Try to make polite conversation in French for 30 seconds followed by 8 minutes of hand gestures, facial ticks and dignified silence)
More to follow tonight included a report from the after eight eating competition
