Whitehaven School Pupils
Take To The Slopes
Ski Trip Galleries
Photo Gallery 1.
Photo Gallery 2.
Nine Whitehaven School pupils tackled the world famous Hahnenkamm World cup
downhill ski slope on a recent school ski trip to Kitzbuhel in Austria. On their
first attempt they experienced white out conditions which made skiing very
difficult, but when they returned two days later they had perfect powder snow
and sunshine. The nine only took about eight minutes longer to complete the
run than the usual ski legends that race down this run.
Whilst the above was happening twenty two beginners from the school were
progressing nicely from the short nursery runs to tackling red runs. Some found
mastering turning and stopping very frustrating but their determination and
practice paid off when they pulled on the bibs and raced against the rest of the
trip in the slalom race; post 16 student Robert Stalker was the overall winner.
The intermediate ski group spent their week enjoying the very quiet slopes of
Kitzbuheler Horn, developing their ski techniques as they skied all the red runs
on the Horn, frequently skiing from the top of the mountain to the very bottom.
Experienced skier and head of year ten Sue West said these were the nicest
snow conditions that she had ever experienced which meant just about all
pupils were able to dabble very safely off piste and for pupils such as Sam
Noctor, Tom Brown and Ellis Bennet it meant that their first ski jumps had
very soft landings!
PE teacher Clive Burkinshaw was delighted to be able to assess and grade GCSE
and A level PE students in skiing with the mark going towards their final exam
grade. He said that some of the pupils are very talented skiers and it is brilliant
to be able to offer pupils the opportunity to be assessed in their favourite sport
especially in the awesome surroundings of the Austrian alps.
In the evenings pupils enjoyed swimming, Austrian bowling, pool, quizzes and
air hockey competitions. June Hardisty progress manager of year 7 who was
also taking to the slopes for the very first time felt that all the pupils were a
delight to be with and were good ambassadors for the school.
