On the last Wednesday before we broke up for Easter, Mr Jones and his team took a group of 58 pupils to Mont Tremblant in Quebec, Canada. The flight from Heathrow went smoothly and soon enough we were on the coaches heading to our hotel. I can only assume it was a pleasant journey as I, along with others, fell asleep shortly after leaving.
Upon arriving at the hotel at 19:30 Canadian time, we sorted out into the rooms we would be staying and had a small walk to a quaint, local restaurant for a late dinner. We had a very early start the next day in order to eat breakfast, sort out kit and find our ski groups.
The next few days began with an early morning ski down to breakfast, often spotting deer on the way, and were then filled with lots of skiing with our instructors and teachers. We were kept very busy in the evenings with activities such as a water park, doing a treasure hunt, laser tag and escape rooms. The skiing here was amazing as we covered many routes and had a chance to learn 360 degree turns, ski jumps and navigating our way through thick glades on double black diamond runs. Throughout our time on the mountain, we definitely experienced almost every weather condition possible. One day we had to be kitted out with ‘trendy’ waterproof ponchos to battle the rain and there was a blizzard where we couldn’t see 5 metres in front of us! We were also hit with extremely cold temperatures where our coats and hair were frozen solid!
On Sunday the weather was glorious and we took a scenic stroll to Mass in the town of Tremblant. The church was situated by the lake which looked stunning as it was frozen solid with a fresh covering of snow. The Canadian priest kindly gave three pupils the opportunity to do a reading in English and the rest of the service was delivered in French. It was nice to see Mass being done differently and the community were really welcoming.
For our last night, we had a pizza party arranged by our reps which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. This was followed by a quiz set up by Mr Adams which had questions about the teachers in the trip and facts about the area alongside a music round. The winners were the ‘Dino Nuggies’ of which I was a team member and we won a big bag of sweets.
On the final day we visited an outlet shopping mall for some retail therapy before continuing on to the airport to catch our overnight flight back to the UK.
Overall, I can say that we have had a fantastic trip and an amazing time skiing on the mountain. We are very grateful to the teachers who have come with us and have looked after us wonderfully.
By Cornelia S
