MARMIE!

Yes, it's confirmed..."Marmie" the Marmotte is having his own official blogging post! His iconic status has become second to none and this week he has skied virtually every slope whilst under the nurturing care of a student.

Marmie joined the SJ Ski Trip some years ago and has become an important feature ever since. He is awarded to a student each day as a reward for showing a particularly positive approach and often very kind and caring behaviour towards others. Each award winner then looks after the loved, cuddly fellow for the next 24 hours!

THURSDAY 29TH

A fantastic time was had by all at outdoor ice skating last night with SJ students racing for the fastest lap time, attempts at backwards skating and best tricks on the ice! Overnight the snow just flurried down leaving us with a minimum of 10cm+ of fresh snow. At the moment (lunchtime) this is continuing making perfect conditions for skiing as well as the odd snowball fight. Tonight sees the return of the long awaited, internationally-recognised music quiz and karaoke! Young and old will battle it out over a wide selection of music clips and categories before exercising the vocal chords...hopefully there will be no repeat of a staff Spice Girls attempt this year!

 

 

 

 

FRIDAY 30TH

With the snow building considerably in resort we will now be departing 3 hours earlier. This will facilitate the journey giving the drivers greater time to make the descent out of resort.

It is predicted that we we return to school earlier than planned although it is difficult to predict this exactly until we are on route. We will be asking students to contact home when we have a better idea of the estimated time of arrival.

To add to this previous message, these photos of the last two days show the level of snow that arrived in one huge storm. However, they fail to really portray the combination of the very cold temperatures accompanied by very strong and biting winds. The whole party did exceptionally well to cope with this. In fact, it is worth comparing this first shot taken on day 3 with those taken on Thursday and Friday...in the final photo the shapes behind are several cars!

(Another couple of posts will be added tomorrow with extra photos...keep looking.)

 

WEDNESDAY 28TH

A brilliant time was had by all who attended our highly anticipated 'Vertigo' evening activity last night. High ropes, indoor climbing apparatus, extreme monkey bars and even a tightrope scooter(with a safety net!!). This was followed by a fantastic day of skiing by all SJ students today. Brilliant views and sunshine across the mountains made great conditions for lessons, some freestyle and even a few ski jumps! As we write this, the SJ students are enjoying Alpe D'Huez by moonlight at the outdoor ice rink- more photos to follow!

 

 

 

TUESDAY 27TH

Another amazing day, and as we add this about one third of the party are enjoying swimming in the outdoor pool. Undoubtedly, they will be challenging each other to see who can lie in the snow the longest before jumping back into the pool!

The bumboarding last night was a great success with around 50 students enjoying the various challenges, followed by an "epic" snowball fight where the adult staff certainly came off worse! At the evening meal we gave our first round of awards, including the "Marmie Award" which has gained rather legendary status. Marmie is essentially a cuddly marmotte toy, but he has escorted the SJ ski trip for many years and is awarded to a student who has shown a caring nature. Once awarded, that student takes care of the delicate character for the following 24 hours...