Included in tuition for all boarding students, we will be taking a chartered bus to the Austrian Alps for a full day of skiing on Saturday.
In previous school years, the winter excursion was split into two groups, with non-skiers going on an excursion to Vienna while skiers and snowboarders spent the entire time on the slopes of the Austrian Alps. This year, for COVID-19 safety reasons, we decided to spend the excursion together as one larger group, taking all students and 8 staff for three nights at the wonderful Club Kitzsteinhorn, a youth sports hotel located in Zell am See and at the foot of the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier.
Photo: AIS-Salzburg skiers at the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier on Thursday, February 24th. The mountain reaches a height of 3,203 meters.
For skiers and snowboarders, this region is the ultimate playground featuring the aforementioned Kitzsteinhorn glacier, which reaches over 3,200 meters (10,500 ft) and overlooks beautiful Lake Zell. The monster ski hill boasts multiple modern Gondolas and chairlifts, including a chairlift with heated seats! The final two ski and snowboard days were spent on the other side of the valley from Kitzsteinhorn at Schmittenhöhe (1965 m/ 6,446 ft), a ski hill within a 10-minute walk of the hotel. The Schmittenhöhe is a more family-friendly resort and provided for more suitable runs for our beginning skiers and snowboarders.
Photo: Students and staff spent two days at Schmittenhöhe, a ski hill located a short walk from the hotel.
“Overall, we were blessed with excellent ski conditions,” said resident assistant Matt Dekryger. “Sunshine, warm weather, and breathtaking views compensated for less-than-ideal piste conditions on the Kitzsteinhorn glacier. Fresh snow, with good visibility, kept our 2 days on Schmittenhöhe lively and entertaining.”
Although many students learned to ski or snowboard during numerous ski days this winter, there were still a handful of students on the trip who do not ski or snowboard. For those students, the days were spent high roping, bathing at the hot springs, snowshoeing, hiking, ice skating, and on a trip to the local national park museum.
Photo: AIS-Salzburg non-skiers on a guided snowshoe tour and winter hike.
The fun continued in the evenings directly at the hotel, a state-of-the-art facility including indoor beach volleyball courts, rock climbing & bouldering rooms, a trampoline room, high ropes course, basketball/soccer court, games room, cinema and even a “chill out” lounge with hammocks and bean bags.
“The facilities were amazing!” said senior student Saskia. “The sports facilities were always clean and ready to be used. We spent a lot of time at the air hockey machine as well as the trampoline park which was a place where we had a lot of fun and taught people new tricks.”
Every morning students were provided with breakfast and made their own lunch sacks for the day. In the evening, students enjoyed restaurant-quality meals that were a big hit amongst everyone.
“The food was amazing!” said Adele, a grade 12 student at AIS-Salzburg. “The hotel was so spacious and there was something to do for everyone.”
Photo: Students enjoyed multiple activities at Club Kitzsteinhorn and hanging out with their friends.
Dean of Students and excursion coordinator Laura Fox was pleased with how the trip went.
“It was very important to me that this experience be fulfilling for those who don’t ski as well as exciting for those who have been skiing their entire lives,” said Fox. “In the end, all of us had the opportunity to try out so many different things; some kids took ski lessons and learned to ski for the first time, others pushed the boundaries of their comfort on a high ropes course. It is wonderful when we get to take full advantage of this amazing area we live in. We are very fortunate.”
“Overall, the kids were a pleasure to work with and the care staff were top notch. I continue to be amazed at how fun, funny, empathetic and clever our students are, and also at how devoted our care staff is to their well-being,” added Fox. “It was a special trip with a special group, that’s for sure.”
Given all of the positive feedback from both students and staff, it goes without saying, that this just might become our annual winter excursion plan moving forward.
We invite you to watch the highlight video below of the 2022 Winter Excursion to Zell am See.
Once again, we benefited from good snowfall during the days previous to our second ski trip this winter, providing our students and staff with a nice layer of fresh snow to start our day.
On this second trip, a number of beginning skiers and snowboarders were invited to take part in the fun at Werfenweng, our new destination after high wind warnings at the originally-planned ski area of Steinplatte were reported. Ms. Long, our AP English teacher, volunteered her time to instruct novice snowboarders while local instructors worked with our new skiers.
Included in this video is drone footage of the Hohenwerfen Castle, a medieval fortress situated on a high rock bluff high over the Salzach River valley, surrounded by the Berchtesgadener Alps.
We invite you to watch the highlight video below from Werfenweng.
Since returning from break, AIS-Salzburg boarding students have had very limited off-campus free time due to the ongoing threat of the current Omicron wave. Therefore, it goes without saying that the first ski trip this past weekend was welcomed with open arms and was a chance for students to get some much-needed fresh air, exercise, and spend time together with their friends.
We invite you to watch the video below of the highlights from this first ski day at the family-friendly resort of Almenwelt Lofer this past Sunday. There was some fresh snow and visibility was good for the majority of the day, making for a wonderful first day on the Alpine slopes.
It goes without question, that this has been a challenging year for everyone and as we begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel, many of us have skiing to thank for helping us through it!
Today, March 7th, was the fourth ski trip since students returned to campus from online schooling. It was another exceptional day on the alpine slopes of Austria and our fourth sunny ski day in a row!
“So far I’ve been pleased with the turn out this year. We have had about 30 students sign up each week, which is roughly half our boarding population. We have even had a few day students join,” said Mr. Young, our ski day organizer and lead instructor who also acts as a dorm parent during the week.
During the winter break, Mr. Young did some research to find out what safety measures the ski areas had introduced and discovered that Zauchensee Altenmarkt had by far the best setup. Single file channels were built to ensure social distancing while queuing and staff members are posted at the lift area entrance to remind more forgetful guests to put on their ffp2 face masks. They also blocked some entrance gates to guarantee the lifts run at 50% capacity.
“For these reasons, we have chosen to run all of our ski trips in Zauchensee this year instead of visiting somewhere new every week as we do in a typical ski season. It is always a popular location with the students and staff alike, and everyone seems keen to revisit,” said Young of his decision to remain at the popular ski destination.
This year we also had a number of new students take advantage of the free lesson as part of the tuition. Beginner skiers receive lessons from a native English-speaking instructor from Ski School Balla while beginner snowboarders receive instruction from Mr. Young himself, who has over a decade worth of experience as a snowboard instructor.
Mr. Young beamed with pride when asked about the progress made this year with beginners. “Both Emil and Richard had never put on skis before our first trip. They had moved on from the beginner area by trip number three and went up the mountain with their instructor to link turns on the blue slopes. Cloe joined for her first day on skis for trip number three and linked snowplough turns within two hours. She should be joining Emil and Richard on the blue slopes for trip number four. This is a fantastic achievement, congratulations to all of our beginners!”
We hope that next year will be the year we will return to providing instructors to all groups in the mornings, so our intermediates can perfect their parallel turns. More advanced groups can learn techniques such as carving, freestyle, freeriding, and avalanche safety basics.
The students will still have free time in the afternoons to ski with their friends and practice what they have learned in the morning.
With three of five ski trips complete, we have managed to have had somewhat of a normal winter portion of this 2020-2021 school year. Blessed with good weather, nearly half of our student body has regularly signed up for the weekly ski trips to Zauchensee, our go-to ski resort during the pandemic.
Below are videos from the first three trips, including drone footage from the February 21st trip. Enjoy!