Friday dawned, cooler again (I never thought I'd be so happy to see clouds) and with even a hint of snow. The snow never came to anything more than a few rather feeble flankes, but the thought was there, and at least I didn't sweat enough to fill a small swimming pool. We headed up the mountain and went for our first few runs. They went ok (I only forgot how to ski for 20 mins or so, so didn't have too many tumbles) and then, at 11am, came The Ski Off!
All the Aith Ski Groups gathered at the top of the Grimod Bowl, and our instructors briefed us for battle.This was the Ski Off. This was our opportunity to show off our hard-earned skills in front of everyone else. This was a matter of Pride. Personal Pride. Group Pride. But most important of all...Instructor Pride - woe betide the person who let down their intructor in front of the other groups. Actually, scratch that...the most important thing was Teacher Pride...JD had dropped out early in the week, ostensibly to supervise the walking wounded and the conscientious objectors who didn't want the skiing to ruin their holiday, and John was in the intermediate group, so that left Kirsty and I to go head to head as beginners.
The Ski Off consisted of each person, in turn, skiing down most of the Grimod with all four intructors watching, showing off the very best of the skills we'd learned in the week. The instructors would confer and that night there was to be a presentation at the hotel where we would get our certificates and discover how many stars we'd won.
This was stressful enough, but before that came a 'practise run' - which basically consisted of the entire group (40-odd including teachers) in a giant free for all down the Grimod, all vying to show off as much as humanly possible. Carnage. Needless to say, showing off was indeed done, and I must admit that I was horribly pleased to be able to swoop gracefully past Kirsty, at some speed, as she lay in a heap in the snow half way down the run. I did suprisingly well - impressing Beth who was behind me, until I got to the very bottom of the run. I had right of way, but some dozy bint from another school didn't seem to think so - I swerved, she ran into the back of my skis, we both ended up in the snow, but I think she came off worse! Beth helped me up, I did apologize but all I got was a very filthy look so I left her to the mercies of her friends who arrived quickly. Whatever!
We returned up the lift, posed for photos, and then...the Ski Off Commenced. And it went ok...there were a few fallers, but most people did themselves proud. I was a bit annoyed with myself...I was concentrating so hard on not falling and on keeping myself in the right position that I think I went a bit too slow - I certainly could have gone faster, but I did it, and it went ok, so I was happy.
After the Ski Off there was a palpable sense of relief and everyone headed off in their seperate groups again. And it was incredible...I totally relaxed, and everything came much easier. It was great, I finally started going faster (although still not fast enough according to Gorgeous George!), I had so much fun, and even managed some more flirting with GG. Happy days.
And then we went down the mountain. And discovered that John Jackson, the Maths teacher, had had a fairly horrific fall and was currently in the hospital (having been sent there from the med centre on the mountain) for MORE x-rays because he may or may not have done something horrific to his neck. However, the show had to go on and off we toddled for a trip to the Nike factory in town - discount Nike gear plus an extra interski discount - happy days! We shopped, and then returned to the hotel for a shower, dinner, and the presentations. Oh yes, and on the way from the bus to the hotel I had to visit the shop and look like a total alkie to buy booze for the kids to give to the instructors. Most got some sort of wine-present combo, but on consultation with Joe and Allan we decided that GG really didn't seem the red wine type, so GG got:
1. A fairly poncy headband from the nike factory (because he had a VERY poncy headband that he regularly wore on the slopes)
2. A tube of hair gel - to ensure a poncy hair style to go with the poncy headband
3. A bottle of Jack Daniels!
Over dinner the call came: John was being kept in overnight to see the neurologist in the morning, and we needed to pack an overnight bag. We got a list, and Michael headed off to pack it - and then needed help because he was totally thrown by the task of finding John's "sleep wear" - which Beth immediately found under the pillow. Duh. We packed up the bag and incuded a quickly made get well soon card, and a matching set of bra and knickers - thoughtfully donated by Kirsty!
After dinner...the presentation. Everyone got a certificate, and got stars, 1 was the lowest, and 4 was the highest anyone in the group got. Most people got 2 stars, and there was then the added bonus of stars, With Merit, or With Distinction. I got 2 Stars With Merit, and I'm very proud of myself! We gave the instructors their presents, and much hilarity was had by all.
We also heard from Rich, the intermediate group, who geve his version of John's fall. And it suddenly sounded a LOT worse than the kids had made out - possibly becasue John had been moving too quickly for them to make out much more than a blur! According to Rich, John went past him at a truely frightening speed, tried to turn and went over, performed roughly 8 cartwheels and landed in a motionless heap. Rich skied like hell to get down to him, apparently thinking that there was a good chance he'd killed his first client, and arrived in time to see that John was actually moving. Just. Rich assured us that it was genuinely the worst crash he'd seen, and we all suddenly became very aware that John had been an INCREDIBLY lucky man to have walked away from it.
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