Ski Sundays

These are optional ski days open to all (including snowboarders) with instruction available for beginners and intermediates. There are up to three Sundays in the Lent Term when this can take place, depending on weather conditions.

Racing

Glenalmond has an excellent reputation for ski racing. We enter both boys and girls teams annually for the Scottish Schools Ski Championship and regularly achieve the top three places in the individual and team events. Our proximity to the slopes allows ski race training at the weekends when conditions allow. In recent years the College has had a number of representatives in the Scottish Squad and has sent teams to races abroad. The College race teams take part in the Scottish Schools Championships held at the Lecht during the Lent term.

Freestyle

The opportunity is there for those who wish to enter the Scottish Mogul Skiing Championships, held in March at the Lecht. Training is available at Glenshee, snow permitting.

The College Cadet Force also enters two teams of 4 for the annual CCF/ATC/TA Ski Championships, held at Aviemore in February. There is the opportunity for individuals in the CCF to enter the snowboard section as individuals rather than a team

News

BRITISH SCHOOLS SKI RACING by Ed Reynolds

This year we had an interesting lead-up to the trip with the team hoodies arriving the day before we left and lots of last minute changes such as Alex Barker's father driving from Milan to collect Fergus Izat. This aside once we got out there it was fantastic. On Saturday we did some training under Max's trained eye, and also my father's. This set us up well for Sunday which was the day of the dual slalom. This is a relay race on a short course so when one person finished the next started. We were given a bye into the 2nd round where we were to meet St Paul's 2nd team. This was done so we were equally matched but unfortunately St Paul's 1st team wanted to meet Millfield in the final and so swapped with St Paul's 2 to meet us in the 2nd round. This was a very close competition and after Fergus raced down and Max set off we were only a meter behind. Max gained another 10 meters for us. I set off and franticly tried to stay ahead so that Alex had a chance against one of the fastest guys in the whole competition but our luck was not with us and in the end we lost by less than a second.

On Monday Max and I were struck down with a flu bug that meant we weren't feeling up to scratch. This was the day of the giant slalom and Alex and Fergus performed outstandingly, with Alex securing 4th in his age group and Fergus 8th (although the official results haven't gone up yet) they both skied fantastically well. Max and I had later start numbers which meant we had lots of ruts. This proved to be our undoing as Max's ski came off and he fell, this meant he had to abandon his run. This meant I had to get down in order to get the team a result. Unfortunately my ski also came off at the same point I had to walk up and put it back on again to finish with a time. A slow time but still a time. By this time Max had been sick and was back in the hotel.

The next day was the slalom and although I had recovered a lot Max was still feeling a little under the weather. The race was good and pretty straightforward although the weather really closed in during the afternoon runs. This was reflected in Max's time after missing a gate and having to step up around it on both runs. Fergus skied well on his first run and also had to step around a gate on his second descent. Alex the succumbed to the bad luck and lost his ski and fell, he walked back up to put it back on only to find the binding was broken leading him to abandon his run. Once more I had to get down to get a team time. I got down without falling and got a decent time. It was only before my second run I discovered I had been disqualified with what turned out to be a straddle of a gate. This was an interesting referee's call and despite appealing it, it stood and unfortunately we lost our team time.

I'd like to thank Christopher Reynolds for stepping in and organising it and Hugo Barker and Hans Keubler for supporting it.