Midnight: the first hour of Friday morning. We were all exhausted, as it was so late, yet buzzing with excitement for the fun-filled trip ahead of us! Once we had said our goodbyes to our families, we loaded the bus with our suitcases and set off. Four and a half hours later, we reached Gatwick at almost five in the morning! After getting through the stress and rigmarole of airport security, we had breakfast in the various airport cafes before boarding.
The flight was nice and easy; for me anyway! I slept the whole time as did most of us; the rest was definitely needed. After landing in Milan airport, we took the bus to Passo del Tonale, admiring the colossal, winding and beautifully lit mountains along the way, as the sun slowly went down. I remember when I first saw a speck of snow appear along the top of the mountains, everyone started shouting that they too had spied snow and the excitement spread through the bus like wildfire!
We were all thrilled to finally arrive at Hotel Savoia at our resort, which was full to the brim with plush snow, lit up by dim streetlights and busy trucks driving the fresh powder along the mountains. Eventually, we all settled down in our rooms and that night, we filed along in groups to the hire shop to pick up our ski gear and try our boots on, extremely keen to start skiing the next day!
In the early hours of the morning, we woke up and set off onto the slopes. I loved skiing through the mountains and discovering new parts to the resort, as the week went on. Building my confidence trying out different jumps was a highlight too! You can also imagine, with the amount of snow there, that many of us got into very competitive snowball fights! Every night we usually sat downstairs in the lounge and talked or played card games. Mr Hillier even set up a human version of Cluedo, which was really fun, but nerve-wracking at the same time!
We would sometimes go on little outings to the village we were staying in. One such evening we went to the ice cream shop, and I had a two-scoop dark and milk chocolate one that was memorably delicious! The shop also had a waterfall inside, but it wasn’t water, it was chocolate… It was a true Charlie and The Chocolate Factory moment!
I’d like to say a very big ‘Grazie!’ to all our teachers who organised such a great trip and went the extra mile to make it such a wonderful experience for everyone! Overall, it was a trip to remember and we all enjoyed every minute of it!
– Darcey Y9
After a full day of skiing, we did loads of activities too. We would ski from 9:30 to 11:00am, stop for lunch and then head back out from 1:00 to 4:00pm. One of the highlights of the week was tobogganing in giant rubber rings down a gentle slope and taking the gondola up to the top of the glacier to see the view in the sunset. To go tubing, we took a steep bus ride through the snowy mountains, and at times it felt like we were going to fall off! Finally, we got there and then Mr Hillier sent the first person flying down. It was great fun for a couple of hours, but we all got cold so went to the café where we all had hot chocolate that was as thick as pure melted chocolate! Then we made our way back to the hotel and had dinner, which was usually pasta! We were too late to reach the top of the glacier, but even halfway there, the view was amazing. We saw the sunset and then rushed back to get on the last gondola to take us down. Most of the days continued like this, except the the last one, when we wanted it to be a night to remember but were all so exhausted that we just fell into bed!
We woke up early the next morning, finished packing to get on the coach back to Milan. However, this was coincidentally also the only day that it snowed for the entire trip! The snow soon became a hindrance, as the bus was delayed. While waiting for it, we sat in the hotel foyer and tallied up who had won our human Cluedo game – Mr Hillier of course! Then the bus arrived, and we eventually got to Milan and its massive mall! We all went wild and spent loads of money but then regrouped, made our way to the airport, and finally boarded the plane. We slept all the way back, but as we flew out, I remember seeing the snowy peaks of the mountains and the little Italian towns disappear in the distance. Later, as we turned to land in Gatwick, it was magical to see all the lights of London spread out beneath us, and it felt like a fitting end to one of the best trips ever! Overall, I don’t think any of us could have anticipated how much fun this trip would be or how many memories and bonds we made with our friends. We would both like to say thank you to Mrs Munro, Mr Hillier, Mr Daugherty, Mr Northcott and Mrs Harvey for looking after us all and making Passo Del Tonale 2023 amazing!!!
– Anwen Y9