Well, as the title says - we have managed to achieve our primary aim for the weekend, namely to complete the formal assessment for all eight skiers and our solitary snowboarder. I can't give you grades or exact marks here as they are still subject to moderation later this term. However I can say that both Miss Hookway and myself are extremely pleased with the progress everyone has made and the marks they have acheived.
The focus this morning was on completing the final core skill, namely 'linked carve turns' which they had some instruction on yesterday but I felt they could improve on with a little concentration. This was followed by their assessed 'free expression runs' which had to be a minimum of 150m in length and preferably done on a demanding slope. The instructors chose the final stretch of the 'Luc Alphond', which is one of the resort's black runs used regularly for competition and can be very tricky. Everyone managed to complete the run successfully, with Alicia, Taylor and Harrison also attempting to spray me as they stopped. Thanks to them I skied the rest of the morning with a very wet, cold bag!
Anyway I am now warming up in 'Le Bercail' eating my lasagne and chips having spent the last 10 minutes listening to Janneke insist she isn't hungry and then watch as she devoures the leftovers from everyone's plates! We have Ben and Sebastien as our instructors this afternoon and they have promised us something 'extra-special' that may include avalanches, which has sent Miss Hookway into meltdown after being taken out of her comfort zone yesterday just by skiing through some trees! In suspect that Miss H will choose to guide her mother down the mountain via some more agreeable blue runs this afternoon instead.
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Saturday, 28 January 2012
Day 1 - parallels, carving and app sharing!
Friday Evening
It turns out that sticky rice, white fish and onion sauce does not constitute the most popular evening meal for Felsted students! Following this pretty poor offering from the hotel last night we managed to find a take-away pizza place that catered to the group's nutritional needs and gave them the energy to get through a whole drink each before turning in for the night. The boys got excited when seeing 'Miss Serre Che' being advertised for Sunday evening, assuming it was a local beauty pageant. The revelation that it was in fact the region's 'premier drag queen competition' quickly cooled their desires!
Saturday
A pretty impressive showing from everybody today - we have managed to see and video almost all of the core skills being performed to a high standard. We spent most of the day on the slopes, although Julien & Sebastien (the instructors) took the group into the snowpark to see if our group could transfer their skills to a bit of freestyle. It turns out that Ben L & Harrison are fighting it out for the title of 'most unbalanced skier', with Ben just shading it at the moment.
Here are a few clips from the snowpark
Julien shows how it's done
Gavin's wipe out
Ollie gets some air!
Miss H gets some big air!
Taylor shows off
Harrison's hop
Miss Hookway and myself were able to take most of the morning to observe the group from remote positions and get them into some sort of rank order - the first stage in making a formal assessment. As I mentioned yesterday, the standard is high and there should be no problem completing either the core skills or the 'free expression' run element that constitute the two parts of their assessment. Alicia and George in particular looked excellent, with some good showings from Ben G, Ollie & Taylor.
They were all extremely interested in the 'Ski Tracks' app I have on my iPhone that allows you to track the number of runs you ski, the distance travelled and [more importantly?!] the maximum speed reached. Top speed today was achieved by Taylor with just over 58kmh and I clocked the slowest at a mere 56kmh - consequently I had to wear the 'hat of shame' for the evening; hopefully all photographic evidence has been destroyed! This was exacerbated by the fact that on the last run of the day, Ben - our instructor - decided to take us on a gentle off-piste run. Everything was going fine until I managed to catch an edge going through the woods and ended up facing backwards with a small tree stuck in my backside!
After last night's poor effort for dinner at the hotel, we had a much more enjoyable experience at Mojo's restaurant where the burger and chips was exactly what we were after. A couple of drinks and some pool at La Grotte rounded off a very successful day. It looks like the locals are about to engage me in conversation, so I will need to finish this post in order to be polite and accept Jean's offer of a beer!
It turns out that sticky rice, white fish and onion sauce does not constitute the most popular evening meal for Felsted students! Following this pretty poor offering from the hotel last night we managed to find a take-away pizza place that catered to the group's nutritional needs and gave them the energy to get through a whole drink each before turning in for the night. The boys got excited when seeing 'Miss Serre Che' being advertised for Sunday evening, assuming it was a local beauty pageant. The revelation that it was in fact the region's 'premier drag queen competition' quickly cooled their desires!
Saturday
A pretty impressive showing from everybody today - we have managed to see and video almost all of the core skills being performed to a high standard. We spent most of the day on the slopes, although Julien & Sebastien (the instructors) took the group into the snowpark to see if our group could transfer their skills to a bit of freestyle. It turns out that Ben L & Harrison are fighting it out for the title of 'most unbalanced skier', with Ben just shading it at the moment.
Here are a few clips from the snowpark
Julien shows how it's done
Gavin's wipe out
Ollie gets some air!
Miss H gets some big air!
Taylor shows off
Harrison's hop
Miss Hookway and myself were able to take most of the morning to observe the group from remote positions and get them into some sort of rank order - the first stage in making a formal assessment. As I mentioned yesterday, the standard is high and there should be no problem completing either the core skills or the 'free expression' run element that constitute the two parts of their assessment. Alicia and George in particular looked excellent, with some good showings from Ben G, Ollie & Taylor.
They were all extremely interested in the 'Ski Tracks' app I have on my iPhone that allows you to track the number of runs you ski, the distance travelled and [more importantly?!] the maximum speed reached. Top speed today was achieved by Taylor with just over 58kmh and I clocked the slowest at a mere 56kmh - consequently I had to wear the 'hat of shame' for the evening; hopefully all photographic evidence has been destroyed! This was exacerbated by the fact that on the last run of the day, Ben - our instructor - decided to take us on a gentle off-piste run. Everything was going fine until I managed to catch an edge going through the woods and ended up facing backwards with a small tree stuck in my backside!
After last night's poor effort for dinner at the hotel, we had a much more enjoyable experience at Mojo's restaurant where the burger and chips was exactly what we were after. A couple of drinks and some pool at La Grotte rounded off a very successful day. It looks like the locals are about to engage me in conversation, so I will need to finish this post in order to be polite and accept Jean's offer of a beer!
Friday, 27 January 2012
Nous sommes arrivees!
Fantastic! We managed to make the journey to Serre Chevalier quickly enough so that we were able to get our boots, skis and lift passes in time to have 3 hours on the slopes. For many of the group this was a return to familiar ground as they were on the GCSE PE ski trip last January. We already knew that these students were good skiers, but Miss Hookway and I have been pleased with the standard of the newcomers as well, including our one 'boarder' - Gavin. It all bodes well for the high grades they are aiming to achieve this weekend.
The transfer wasn't without hiccups though; on arrival at the AutoEuropa hire car desk we were shocked to be asked for a £3000.00 deposit per car! As you can imagine neither myself or Miss H were keen to bankrupt the trip before leaving the airport and we are extremely grateful to Mrs Hookway (yes, Follies' Matron!) who was able to charm the [male] representative at Avis car hire into giving us a very reasonable deal at a fraction of their competitor's cost.
Havnig piled into the cars, I realised that I had lucked out with my passengers as they all fell asleep within minutes, allowing me to listen to french radio and reacquaint myself with the language in preparation for the weekend when I am expecting to have to explain the requirements of A-Level PE to french ski instructors! Miss Hookway on the other hand had the 'party bus' where the students managed to talk non-stop for the entire journey.
I'm looking forward to a quiet night and early bed so I can catch up on this morning's sleep and be fresh for tomorrow.
The transfer wasn't without hiccups though; on arrival at the AutoEuropa hire car desk we were shocked to be asked for a £3000.00 deposit per car! As you can imagine neither myself or Miss H were keen to bankrupt the trip before leaving the airport and we are extremely grateful to Mrs Hookway (yes, Follies' Matron!) who was able to charm the [male] representative at Avis car hire into giving us a very reasonable deal at a fraction of their competitor's cost.
Havnig piled into the cars, I realised that I had lucked out with my passengers as they all fell asleep within minutes, allowing me to listen to french radio and reacquaint myself with the language in preparation for the weekend when I am expecting to have to explain the requirements of A-Level PE to french ski instructors! Miss Hookway on the other hand had the 'party bus' where the students managed to talk non-stop for the entire journey.
I'm looking forward to a quiet night and early bed so I can catch up on this morning's sleep and be fresh for tomorrow.
On our way
Well we're over the first hurdle and 'en route' to Serre Chevalier as we start the school's first A-Level PE ski trip. Having nine motivated, talented skiers convinced Miss Hookway & myself to forego our Exeat weekend for 2 1/2 days on the slopes. The snow has been good this season and the weather forecast is reasonable, so I woke up at 4.15am today ready and raring to go. Convincing my wife to get up at the same time in order to drive the minibus and drop us at Stansted was not easy, but I promised her it would only be half an hour and she could get back to bed. Unfortunately Ben G had other plans and didn't wake up until 4.55am! Cue a very disgruntled Mrs Bury and an impromptu early-morning raid into Deacon's from Taylor & Harrison.
However we were able to make the flight and as I write this we are somewhere over France heading for Turin and hopefully a quick transfer to Serre Chevalier and an afternoon warming up the legs in resort. As ever with RyanAir I am unable to sleep as they only have enough legroom for people up to hobbit height so I am trying to distract myself from the increasingly regular cramps in both legs.
Next update [hopefully] from the hotel.
However we were able to make the flight and as I write this we are somewhere over France heading for Turin and hopefully a quick transfer to Serre Chevalier and an afternoon warming up the legs in resort. As ever with RyanAir I am unable to sleep as they only have enough legroom for people up to hobbit height so I am trying to distract myself from the increasingly regular cramps in both legs.
Next update [hopefully] from the hotel.
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