Snow Camp 2023

It was a long 4 years waiting for our chance to carve up the snow again but we had some luck on our side this year! 

On Wednesday 16th August, a combination of Year 7-12 students, 38 to be precise, woke up at 3:30am to jump on the bus to make the trip up to Mt Buller for 3 days.  We were a bit worried that there wasn’t much snow, however, when we got up the mountain, there were some great beginner runs available and the beautiful BLUE SKY made the first day a perfect day to introduce our students to skiing/snowboarding. 

We arrived at the Alpine Retreat Hotel on Mt Buller, unpacked our luggage then we all got geared up ready to hit the slopes. We had 10 skiers and 28 snowboarders, of which 30 were FIRST TIMERS! 

The students did a great job getting themselves equipped and organised for the first lesson. Each day students participated in a 90min lesson in the morning, then they were free to practice what they learnt for the rest of the day and adventure around the mountain if they wished. 

The snow was nice and soft on the first day, ideal for first timers and together with great visibility, it made for perfect conditions. 

It always takes a lot of persistence on the first day and our first timers were amazing.  They kept getting back up when they fell and showed outstanding determination to continue to practice, make mistakes and learn. At the end of the day, we were all absolutely stuffed, but we were all keen to watch the mighty Matilda’s play in the World Cup at 8pm. The entire group sat in the recreation room and cheered on the Matilda’s. 

Day 2 is usually the day that the first timers start to feel like they are making some progress and we were super lucky to have some incredible instructors on Day 2 who helped our students develop faster than we thought they would.  For the rest of the day, students enjoyed clear sky and nice soft snow and were able to continue to practice and progress their skiing/snowboarding. 

After a really successful day, we enjoyed Pizza for dinner then relaxed in the rec room again, playing table tennis, watching movie, eating snacks and chatting. It was wonderful to see how well our students were connecting with one another, especially seeing our senior students ensure that the junior students were involved and a part of conversations and activities. What an impressive bunch of students we have! 

I had been monitoring the weather closely and I could see that we had some snow coming overnight on Thursday, but I was not expecting to wake up to a fresh 10-15cm all over the mountain!  The scene in the morning was incredible. Fresh snow on all the buildings, paths, roads and most importantly, fresh snow on the mountain. 

Everyone ate breakfast quickly on the Friday as they were very keen to get out in the fresh snow and make the most of it. The fresh snow was AMAZING! Our students progressed their abilities again in the 90min lessons and it was so great to see how much better they all were compared to day 1.  Their confidence had grown, they were trying more difficult skills, and challenging themselves on more difficult runs. 

Because of all the snow overnight (and it continued to snow all day), some extra runs over the back of the mountain opened up, including Wombat & Standard and Family run was in better condition too. We were able to take a lot of the students over the back of the mountain to complete some of the more challenging and longer runs. This was a LOT of FUN! 

There’s nothing better than seeing the excitement in our students’ faces when they realise that they are actually skiing/snowboarding correctly and are able to complete more difficult runs. Their excitement was evident as they chatted together (some even sang)  on the lifts about all the things they did on the way down their last run. They were all so proud of themselves and we were all LOVING it! 

We thoroughly enjoyed the fresh snow all day until it was time to pack up, return our gear and head back home on the bus. 

Throughout the 3 days, students did a fantastic job of staying organised. There is a lot of equipment to manage and a lot of logistics and organisational requirements to follow and our students learnt a lot about being a member of a group, being responsible for themselves, looking after their equipment and their friends. 

Camps like this are never without challenges. The staff encouraged students to embrace these challenges, show initiative and to figure out solutions to the problems they faced. Our students did an excellent job of this. 

Students developed new friendships and solidified existing ones, connected with staff, developed independence, communication skills, organisational skills among many other skills.  We had an incredible group of students attend snow camp this year, all of which I am glad to have spent some quality time with. 

To all the students who attended Snow Camp 2023, you did it…you can now Snowboard/Ski anywhere in the world for the rest of your lives. It was awesome to carve up the snow with so many of you throughout the camp and it was so great to see how capable you all were after 3 days of persistence and resilience! Well done Snow Crew!

A big thank you to the staff who attended the camp, Ms Simmons, Ms Triance, Mr O’Neil and Mr Willach. We couldn’t have enjoyed the camp as much as we all did without all of your effort, patience, problem solving abilities, organisation and commitment above all expectations.  

The plan is to run another Snow Camp in 2024. Expression of interest will be requested in Term 4. 

I look forward to helping more students learn to ski/snowboard for many years to come! 

Mr Hay