Event

 

Date: 6th February 2010

Place: Villars, Switzerland

Grade: Ms/Hs

Event Information

 

A contingent of 3 staff and 17 Middle school boys from ABS departed from Kuwait on Saturday 6th February to take part in a Ski trip to Villars, Switzerland. All students met at Kuwait International Airport at 10pm on Friday the 5th prior to boarding the Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt in the early hours on Saturday morning then onto Geneva where they were to be collected by Les Elfes, the ski company that would be orchestrating proceedings in Switzerland. The group were collected by bus and transported to Villars which is a small resort high in the mountains of Switzerland; the scenery enroute from Geneva was breathtaking, taking in the spectacular sight of Lake Geneva and other magnificent mountain views before reaching our final destination of Villars.

 

On arrival the suitcases were deposited in the bedrooms and the boys proceeded to go out and have their first official snowball fight. We were then issued our ski equipment and as a group taken around the resort so we could see where everything was.

All activities were run by the ski company Les Elfes, the daily routine consisted of breakfast at 8am followed by skiing from 9-12, lunch, Skiing from 1-4pm, tea/snack, Study, Dinner, evening activity (Quiz, Torchlight walk, Team Games, Swimming/Shopping, Bowling & Disco). The boys wholeheartedly participated in all of the evening activities that were organised and thoroughly enjoyed themselves in the process ending each day on a high.

 

In order to ensure the boys were put into group that met their skiing abilities they were assessed. After the assessment the group was split into 4 sections, two snowboarders Abrahem Al-Ragan & Othman Al-Ghannam, the following students were put into ski groups: Khaled Al-Awadhi, Basel Al-Mutsaheb, Ahmed Al-Hajeri, Khaled Al-Yahya, Jassem Al-Shehab Ali Al-Ghanim, Fahad Al-Saeed Ahmed Al-Hendi, Abdulaziz Al-Melhem, Zafer Al-Falah, Jasem Al-Gharabally Mohammed Al-Sumaie, Abdullah Al-Omar, Zaid Al-Omar & Mansour Al-Rukaibi.

 

The first ski lesson of the day was designed to work on specific skills; this was followed by an afternoon session which sought to consolidate the skills learned. Ski conditions were fantastic with the exception of one day of poor visibility; otherwise conditions although cold were perfect. At the end of the week the boys took part in a downhill slalom race. Each of the boys had a practice run which was followed by the official race. The results of the race were kept secret until the prize giving on the Friday night. The following were awarded medals: Fastest Snowboarder: Abrahem Al-Ragan. A gold medal for the fastest ski run was awarded to Basel Mutsaheb, a silver and bronze medal was awarded to Khaled Al-Awadhi and Khaled Al-Yahya respectively. All students were awarded a certificate of achievement which recognised their level of skiing ability attained during the week.

After the Disco/Prize giving the boys packed and returned their ski equipment. On Saturday morning the boys were woken at 7am in preparation for their journey back to Kuwait. Apart from a slight delay at Geneva the group landed safely at 11.45pm on Saturday 13th to be met by their families.

 

The trip was a fantastic success, each student made good improvements in their skiing ability while being able to ski in the beautiful surroundings that Switzerland has in abundance. Well done to all those who took part.