Words & Photos - Kate L. & Emma C.
Our third experiential day was by far the longest and the most rewarding. Our group, along with the other outdoors cohorts, traveled up to Mount Washington for the day to ski and snowboard. We were told to meet at the school at 5:15 AM, bright and early on Tuesday morning. Many groggy faces greeted the bus driver as we filed onto the school bus to get ready to depart. The ride over was uneventful, as most people were asleep or at least trying to! We got to the mountain around three hours after leaving school, and the change in scenery was drastic. Everything was covered in a thick layer of snow, and comparing it to the lush green of Victoria was shocking.
We were briefed on rules for the day, and we were all separated into groups of skill and given ski lift passes. The groups were divided by skiing and snowboarding, and beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Our cohort had a ride range of skills. Three of our members were skiing for the first or second time and were placed in the beginner group. We also had two group members in the intermediate group, and two in the advanced group. As our group was split up for the first half of the day, I can only recount a part of the experience. Still, I believe that on the whole, everyone in our cohort had an excellent first half of the day.
After the lessons finished, everyone met in the upstairs cafe at Mount Washington. We ate lunch, and then our cohort had the pleasure of meeting someone who works at Mount Washington. We all came prepared with questions to ask on a variety of topics, such as sustainability efforts taken on the mountain, and the relationship with the local indigenous people. He answered all of our questions, and we went out of the meeting knowing a lot more about Mount Washington then we did before we came in.
The last half of the day was spent in groups of three because we had free time to ski and to roam around the mountain. My experience with afternoon skiing was very positive. The morning was very foggy and it was hard to see, but at lunch, the sun had come out and turned the sky a lovely shade of blue. The beautiful scenery was certainly a takeaway from the day. We were back on the bus around 3:30, and it was not long before we began the descent down the mountain and returned to school.
In reflection, going to Mount Washington for the day was a great experience, as we were outdoors, and there were picturesque surroundings. Not only was it an enjoyable day full of laughter, but it was also an educational day as well.