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It was so good after 8 weeks of learning how to instruct snowboarding or skiing, depending on the sport we picked at the very start of our journey, we got to head off to the mountains in Italy for a week with 3 other regions including Manchester, London, and Scotland.
I woke up on Saturday 9th April packed last minute things like hairbrush, toothbrush etc. It was mad because it hadn’t really hit me yet that I was leaving the country without any of my family for a week. I was excited but also nervous as I knew I had a big journey ahead. And then it was time, it was like an hour before the coach left Coventry, so we packed up the car and left to get to the pick-up location. When we got there the coach was being loaded, we put our stuff on the coach and everyone was just so happy and excited to go. When everyone was on the coach, we got told the coach rules, made sure everyone was there and then set off. We put my speaker on, watched movies and kept each other entertained. On the way there it took a long time around 28hours but trust me it was worth it when we pulled up outside the hotel we were in the mountains, and it was real snow.
When we arrived, got told who we were in rooms with then we unloaded the coach and headed straight over to rentals to grab our boards and skis etc. as we arrived a bit behind schedule once we had all our gear, we put it in the locker room. After that madness we got our room keys went to our rooms to unpack, get changed etc. Then it was dinner time we had food then went straight down for the welcome from the Snow Camp team. Everyone was exhausted and felt dead from travelling all that way, but the Snow Camp Youth Forum and staff managed to pick up the vibes. Then after a bit of entertainment from the Youth Forum we went to bed, the view from my room was unreal. We slept knowing we had a busy day ahead of us.
We woke up on our first full day there we went for breakfast grabbed our gear and headed out to the mountains where we met our Italian instructors, I had an instructor called Beatrice. She was so nice, she saw I was struggling and helped me out I had improved so much just in the morning session, and it was so amazing being out there. We then went in for lunch, after lunch headed back out for the afternoon sessions, we were already on red runs everyone was enjoying it and we were out there living our best lives.
Towards the end of day 1, my legs were very sore and tired. I decided that was going to do 1 more run then have a rest but then my legs gave up and my board flicked up and I hit the ground. As a precaution, I couldn’t go back on to the slopes for the rest of the week, which was frustrating but all the support from the Snow Camp staff and my Snow Camp friends was kept me going. I got to go up to 3000 meters in the gondola everyday though, which was amazing. It was good supporting everyone and seeing everyone improve.
On the last day, everyone was on the snow in the morning, then all the equipment was given back to rentals, and we went and had lunch. Everyone was sad to be leaving the mountains, but the journey back felt a lot quicker. It was nice to be back, but I am really missing being out in the mountains not having to worry about anything.
I had a good trip even though I was injured. There were highs and lows, but I made lots of friends and memories and pictures that are gonna last a lifetime and now I hope to help others out with enjoying snowsports. My main advice is to be careful, don’t give up and if you get the opportunity to go to the mountains don’t even think about it go because otherwise you will regret it.
