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Snow-Camp Esther Challenge

Last week Esther, Igluski's Commercial Executive, headed off to Morzine and the Portes du Soleil with Snow-Camp as part of the Everest Challenge. Back in January we organised a pub quiz with the help of Tim Warwood and so far Esther has raised £1500 for the charity.

Day One: Heathrow to Morzine

The day started with a hectic journey across London, dragging my snowboard and kit to Heathrow airport where I was met by the organisers of the event, Snow-Camp. After a few months of email and phone conversations it was great to finally put a few names to faces, I also met my room mate for the weekend, Becky, and the fun began. Everyone was excited about the challenge and we were not really sure what to expect. We arrived in Morzine with time for a walk around the village and a chance for some beanie shopping, always a must when in resort. It was then time for dinner, where a glass or two of wine helped get us into the mood for the first part of the challenge, the night ski. We made our way over to the floodlit Pleney and clocked up our first 7km over a couple of hours while we get our legs warmed up for the challenge ahead.

After the night ski we were spilt up into three groups for the rest of the weekend's riding. With another 143km to cover in the next two days and 34 people participating the groups were planned to hopefully cause a little less Snow-Camp carnage on the slopes.

  • Orange team: Jeff, Nick, Jo, Fergie, Steve, Michael, Rema, Rebecca, Esther, Sam, Staff, Marcel
  • Blue team: Ed, Tim, Matt, Jon, Andy, Stephan, Stuart, Roger, John, Mel, Nick, Guillaume, Alex
  • Red team: Miranda, Kendra, Alex, Lisa, Hannah, Dan, Chauntelle, Ture, Tracy, Jason, Eddie, Neil, Sebastian

 

The slope was icy and hard work but we survived. Luckily Elaine was there to give us a hot chocolate and rum to keep us going! We had some comedy adventures on that first night. Staff, Sam, Becky & I thought it would be a good idea to be strapped in before we got off the lift, that way we would cover more ground. However getting three snowboarders strapped in, turning in our seats, whilst not pushing anyone off the lift was more difficult than it first seemed, with Staff benefitting from a superman face plant. After a few hours the first part was complete and then it was off to the hotel bar for a much deserved glass of wine before the real challenge began.

Day Two: Morzine to Chatel

The day began with breakfast at 7am before being rounded up on to the shuttle bus ready to head to the slopes and start the challenge. All the teams were waiting for the lifts to start and then off we went. I was in the Orange team which from now on will be referred to as the 'Tangerine Dream Team', if you were lucky enough you may have heard us singing the A Team theme song to get us in the mood with Steve leading us in some 'Snow-Camp Baby' chants.

After a few hours we realised just how hard this was going to be. There were four snowboarders in the Tangerine Dream Team and our ski guide Marcel seemed to take it easy on us the first morning to see if we would be quick enough to keep up with the skiers. We arrived at lunch having only covered 37km and in need of picking up the pace. We had only been riding for three hours when realised the magnitude of the challenge ahead of us.

The afternoon began at 12:45 with Marcel picking up the pace considerably. The snow wasn't in bad a condition though it was icy in spots and there were a few games of avoid the rock. In the afternoon there was a slight accident when Nick thought it was about time he did an impression of superman. We had been going pretty quickly and he suddenly came across a big patch of grass that he couldn't avoid, he flew out of his bindings landing on his shoulder. It looked painful but he carried on like a trooper and Sam carried his bag for the rest of the afternoon to help him out. The afternoon followed the same story as the morning, with Marcel realising the snowboarders could keep up. We got to the bottom of the slope at 16:40 and saw the blue team get into the shuttle bus and head home. Not to be beaten we took the last lift up and it felt good that we could keep on going even if we were all pretty tired.

After a full day on the mountain we had a night hike to look forward too and the thought of another 5km after the days riding made me want to cry. After a couple more glasses of wine over dinner, and having our offer of a 5k bar crawl shot down, we went and got our snowshoes on. In the end as much as we really didn't want to do it we all had fun. It was stunningly beautiful, we walked and chatted and got to stop for a few drinks, so can't complain. When we got back to the hotel everyone seemed to crash and burn, the hard-core members of the group were determined to stay up all hours, but I headed to bed.

Day Three: Chatel to Morzine

The day again began with breakfast at 7:00 and getting out of bed was not easy! The Tangerine Dream Team skied all morning, with absolutely no stopping including taking on a huge mogul field, which on a snowboard is not fun, with Marcel (our lovely guide) having fun at the expense of the snowboarders (me, Steve, Sam & Staff). His favourite sentence seemed to be "skiers you will like this, snowboarders not so much. follow me". After a thigh burning journey through the moguls we were all in need of a break, but we had to carry on, at least until I gave the guys a bit of a break after having a special moment on the drag lift where I decided to drop my bank card. I was trying to get my lip balm out of my pocket and didn't realise my card was there too. I got to the top and the team had started heading off already, I told Fergie about my 'accident' and we skied back down to retrieve my card.

We made our way up the lift for a second time to find the Tangerine Dream Team were nowhere to be seen before realising that we hadn't exchanged numbers with anyone... oops! We decided we would get to the top and if we still couldn't see them then we would call Elaine, but luckily at the top of the lift we were greeted with cheers and shouts from The Tangerine Dream Team. During our absence Marcel had been filling them in on how many people die on the Wall (a famous black run on the way back to Switzerland). When we stopped for lunch at 12.30 having clocked up an impressive 50km. We had time for a slightly longer lunch and let's face it we deserved it. Nick & Jeff were kind enough to top us up with wine, which we are very much enjoyed.

In the afternoon we had another 50km to cover and by now the pain barrier had been and gone. Becky unfortunately had a fall and hurt her leg but she soldiered on and told us she was fine, though trust me when I say she wasn't. I soon managed to lose the team again, this time with Steve, through no fault of our own of course. We strapped in and looked up to discover there was no orange as far as the eye could see. The problem was we had two directions to choose from and obviously we picked the wrong route down. I had actually swapped numbers with Becky after the last incident and she text me and told me to meet her at the bottom of the women's downhill slope and I had no idea where that was. In the lift queue we pulled out a piste map to try and figure it out, then out of nowhere we saw a flash of orange and it was Sam.

We arrived back in Morzine and took ourselves for a much deserved drink and rest. We had never skied so fast and so hard and covered such a long distance in such a short time but we loved every minute.That evening we sampled a few Morzine's bars to celebrate our achievement.

Day Four: Morzine to Heathrow

Day four and the journey home, everyone slept on both the coach journey and flight and before long I was in Heathrow. I had a fantastic time, made some new friends, rode hard, partied a little bit and helped raise money for a great cause. I would definitely recommend the challenge to anyone who fancies taking part next year as I'm thinking of joining in again. A big thank you needs to go to Dan & Elaine from Snow-Camp and Fergie from Basecamp who put this event together.

If you would like to donate visit Esther's Just Giving page .