Article
CLAPA Ski Camp 2008
The Ski Camp took place from Wednesday 2nd January till Sunday 6th January. We set off from Carlisle about 11am on a coach. We stopped at a service station in Glasgow to pick some others up and for a quick break. The journey was uneventful and we watched War of the Worlds, which was all about an alien invasion on earth. We arrived at the Ski centre about an hour earlier than planned. We had time to unpack and have a look around and explore the centre. After tea we just hung around in the games room which had pool, air hockey, table tennis and table football. Bedtime was 10pm every night. The first night we got sorted out with skis, ski boots and helmets. The ski boots were really heavy on my feet.
Thursday morning we all got woken up at 7.45am so we had 30 minutes to get ready before breakfast at 8.15am. After breakfast we made packed lunches for dinner. Afterwards we got layered up in our clothing and got our skis, boots and helmets and walked to the dry ski slope, which was a few minutes walk. It had already began to snow. All morning we learned how to ski and stop ourselves if we went too fast. After lunch, back at the centre, we had some free time so we had a snow ball fight. All the boys were ganging up on Abbey so we fought back. It was so good fun. Afterwards we all had a go on the zip wire that went across a pond and it was very high up. As I was walking towards the tree house where we swung from, I was whispering to myself “I can do this”. I was there for about 5 minutes when I decided to be brave and just lift my feet up and swing. It was scary at first but I soon enjoyed it and even had another go!
After the zip wire, we did the assault course, which was both fun and challenging. Afterwards we went swimming, then went to the games room. After tea we did a challenge in pairs. We had to go find answers to questions. I was with a lad called Sam Mills and we got most of the questions right and we won!
On Friday we went on the dry slope again. It had snowed a lot during the night so we were skiing on real snow. We were nearly at the end of our session on the dry slope when I decided to go to the top of the slope. It was very steep and at the bottom was a cabin with a rail around it. I started to ski down and I tried to go slower because I was going so fast but I crashed into the railing. I hurt myself a little bit but I did find it sort of funny later on. In the afternoon we did climbing and abseiling, which I found difficult because of my wrist. Later on we went swimming again, played in the games room, had tea and played follow the leader in the Walker Lounge. It was Gareth’s birthday (one of the junior helpers) so we sang happy birthday and had a bit of birthday cake.
Saturday was the best. We went up to the real ski slopes. We stayed up there all day and it was brilliant because we could ski without worrying about crashing into anything. All I had to worry about was crashing into other people.
We went back to the mini buses for breaks, which was good because I kept running low on energy. We also played follow my leader on skis. When we set off to go back to the centre, the minibus I was in wouldn’t start, so we all had to get out and push. Eventually it did start. When we got back we took our skis, boots and helmet back to the ski store. Then we went swimming. After tea we watched a DVD called Cool Runnings. It was about four Jamaicans trying to get to the Olympics as the first Jamaican Bobsleigh team. After supper we played a few card games and went to bed.
The following morning we ate our breakfast then brought our suitcases down to the front lounge. We had to wait for our coach to arrive, then we got on it and came home. I learned loads about skiing and I got to meet up with Abbey again. I also got to meet Joanna, who shared a room with me and Abbey. There was a total of three girls out of 8 of us.
If you didn’t go the first time then it was completely cool and everyone enjoyed themselves. It doesn’t matter if you can’t ski, the instructors will teach you to. You’ll also get to meet new friends. Go on the next one which will be from 14th-17th Feburary 2009. You can download an application form today from http://www.clapa.com