Delving deeper into previous school trips
Long-time teacher, Head of Sixth Form and ski leader Mr John Matthews
A Rydal Penrhos education has always been about more than the learning that goes on inside the classroom.
While the school continues to maintain and build upon its excellent academic record, recently returning its best-ever A-Level examination results, its success cannot be distilled down to simply the repetition of certain learning rituals, such as times tables or spelling tests (or, for older pupils, algebraic functions and poetry readings). These routine practices have always been punctuated by novel, experiential events that captivate our pupils, creating memories and passions that last a lifetime.
Snow sports, and in particular skiing, offer a perfect example. While the act of racing downhill on long slabs of wood, carbon and fiberglass might not occupy the same central place in the Rydal Penrhos sporting calendar as our ball games or cross country, the various ski trips of the school to date have sparked incredibly fond memories and a sense of camaraderie for those involved that rivals any rugby tour, sailing competition or netball tournament. These ski trips not only allow technical skills on the slopes to be learnt and refined, they also provide an opportunity for pupils to learn more about themselves and the world as they travel to beautiful foreign locations and take on the associated responsibility.
As such, we are delighted to announce not one but two new Rydal Penrhos ski trips in the next academic year. On 18-25 February 2023, pupils in Years 3 to 8 will have the opportunity to travel to Madonna di Campiglio in Italy with experienced ski-leader Mr Jamie McLeod. On 2-9 April 2023, a trip for Years 9 to 13 will travel across the Atlantic to Loon Mountain in beautiful New Hampshire. These promise to be fantastic experiences for all involved. To mark this exciting news, we have complied a few snapshots of our skiing history, including several trips abroad and a few familiar names from the school’s recent past:
Piancavallo, Italy (1979)
Shahin Hazrati recalls a trip to Piancavallo, a ski resort in Northern Italy, in an article for The Rydalian (Summer 1979):
Anger and frustration grew as the loudspeakers announced yet another delay. Suitcases fell along the tired queue; we thought we’d never get there! Our destination was Piancavallo, a ski-ing resort in northern Italy. Finally, after a four-hour delay, we left snow-covered England for the sunny Alps!
This was my second ski-ing trip with the school. Previously I had been to a resort in Switzerland. On arrival at the Edelweiss Hotel we were greeted by a rather imposing group of Italian waiters who ushered us to our rooms – without any supper!
Our group, ten strong, was led by Mr. Smith - an able, experienced skier. We weren’t alone; there was a group from Malvern School and the Manchester High School for Girls. There were other English groups in Piancavallo as well. To add to the confusion, Italians poured in from the Po valley which resulted in massive queues at the ski-lifts.
Our first day on the slopes was a shambles! People dived into the snow; skis overtook skiers, and sticks were left behind. One of us even turned up with his boots on the wrong feet! Bruno, our instructor, was furious. Himself a marvellous skier, he never stopped telling us to “bendz the knees and the hankles.” But we still hadn’t got it right by the end of the day. Well, they say practice makes perfect, and over the next ten days we managed to “perfect” our technique. By the end of it, all of us were able to come down slopes and at least do snow-plough turns. Our instructor had done his job and this was due to his enthusiasm, interest, criticism and love of sport. Mr. Smith observed that they were the best instructors he had ever met on the Italian slopes.
During our stay we enjoyed some Italian dishes, especially pizza and spaghetti. We also managed to tour Venice, and I could have spent a year there and not grown tired of it. On the whole, the trip was a success and we all got our money’s worth. I recommend it to you all. Arrivederci!
Bardonecchia, Italy (1984)
Lower Sixth pupil Brian Yorke summarizes the school’s trip to Bardonecchia, which would later host events as part of the 2006 Winter Olympic Games. This extract originates from 1984’s The Rydalian:
This year's trip certainly had its bright and dull moments but it was thoroughly enjoyable and I could do it over and over again.
The trip started off at different points along the Bangor to Euston line, with us all eventually meeting up at Gatwick Airport for a 2.40 p.m. flight to Turin. Once in Italy we travelled by coach to our resort high up in the Southern Italian Alps. We stopped outside a lovely chalet hotel actually on the slopes, but this was only the restaurant! We were shoved into a barn down the road; the "Annexe". From the outside you couldn't distinguish between it and a cow-shed!! Inside wasn't too sparse but it certainly wasn't luxurious, and the wooden interior did nothing towards insulation, it was absolutely freezing! However a novelty was to be in store for us when we realised we could have a shower, go to the toilet and brush our teeth all at the same time!
The restaurant itself was a rather quaint little place, which served food thick in grease and as tasty as Kit-e-kat!! However, we did get the odd meal — they made chips better than school.
Now to the reason of our visit to Italy, (the cheap booze . . .?) the ski-ing! The resort itself stretched out over three or four villages and contained many lifts and pistes, which I think most of us explored. In the mornings we were given a two-hour lesson by an Australian-Italian instructress called Serena and then in the afternoons came the laughs, when we had time for free ski-ing. Imagine it, ten loonies let out from the Rydal Asylum and allowed to go wherever they wanted to on the pistes. I'm surprised anyone else dared to ski when we were around.
The first free afternoon's ski-ing nearly turned out to be a disaster. Of course being the cocky devils we are, we all tried to go down the hardest slope and of course havoc broke out. I tumbled down about 100 yards and ended up head first in a copse of trees. My immediate reaction was “why did they put the trees there?" It was amusing for the others but an experience I would like to forget. Despite accidents the ski-ing continued for the rest of the week and without any other hitches we had a lot of fun. Some snow fell during the latter part of the week, which made the ski-ing more enjoyable and easier; conditions had been so bad that the instructress taught us how to ski on ice as well as snow.
Unfortunately the apres-ski was a little limited with the hotel being so very isolated. But despite that the hotel supplied a good source of entertainment; a series of arcade games, a juke box and a cosy little bar, which served almost everything at the same price as in Britain, but double the amount!! A couple of discos were laid on for us, but the Italian disc-jockeys have as much music sense as Paul Weller and the Style Council!!
Inevitably the end had to come and of course the goodbyes and writing down the address of the group from Didcot.
It was a really enjoyable trip despite food and insulation. I’m sure all those who went would like to thank Mr. Smith who spent his time trying to control us!!
Party members: M. Robertson, J. Farrar, A. Bathgate, J. Breckon, K. Lockyer, C. Hilton, C. Edwards, B. Yorke, R. Craven, J. Cuthbert
Llandudno Snowsports Centre (1986)
While the Llandudno Ski Slope lacks the glamour or real powder of our continental or American destinations, it is indisputably the most important venue in terms of skiing’s development into a curriculum sport at Rydal Penrhos. The opening of the artificial slope in 1986, alongside Britain’s longest toboggan run, has allowed Rydal Penrhos pupils of all age groups to take part in both practice and competition at a venue within a fifteen-minute drive from school.
With the pandemic making it impractical to visit overseas ski resorts or indoor centres such as Manchester’s Chill Factore, the importance of the Llandudno venue has only increased. During periods of easing in the lockdown restrictions, the Llandudno Snowsports Centre hosted both the North Wales Schools Skiing Championships, in which Rydal Penrhos pupils took part, as well as a one-off, two-day training camp for a group of enthusiastic Prep skiers, led by Impulse Racing, a UK-based alpine training organisation.
Ski Pra Loup, France (1987)
Eventual Head of Sixth Form Mr John Matthews provides his take on the 1987 trip to Pra Loup in that year’s edition of The Rydalian:
On March 28th, 35 members of Rydal School flew out of Gatwick for the ski resort of Pra Loup, not knowing that what lay ahead of them was going to be a real adventure, particularly as Steve (Mr. Leeder) was sitting in the cock-pit giving advice to the pilot.
Despite various problems with French officials and a courier who proved to be inept, the group had enormous fun on the slopes. Steve, once again, managed to show his potential on the first day, having to be rescued from ‘on high’. The group overall was nicely balanced with a large group of older, advanced skiers and a small group of beginners, some of whom improved considerably in one week. The most improved skier was David Watkinson, who could not even stand up at the beginning of the week, and despite nearly killing myself and Steve (yet again) whilst using the video-camera, improved to advanced level by the end of the holiday.
The video-camera turned out to be quite successful, although Robert’s (Mr Smith) attempts at directing skiers proved to be quite colourful. However, despite various ‘ground’ and ‘sky’ shots it did give a good flavour of the expanse of the resort and the free-skiing that was available.
Accidents were few. Even when Andrew Moore landed on his head, the sixth-form reckoned that it would never hurt him. Anthony Jeory did a marvellous impression of a human catherine-wheel on skis. Only when Oliver Hunter made his impression on the piste did the ‘bloody wagon’ have to come out.
All in all, a most enjoyable holiday. Many thanks to Robert, Chris and Steve, who made the holiday a successful and happy one.