SAS Val Thorens ’12 review

 The SAS 2012 ski trip was a great success. Some 250 students came along, showing a wide demographic of the St Andrews student body. Trip organizers said coordinating take-off was “a bit more hectic than previous years,” but once at the resort, “everything went well!”

Leaving on the last Friday of winter exams, January 20, 2012, there was a jubilant spirit in the crowd gathered outside New Hall, most in the ‘Noah’s Ark’ theme, dressed in full-body animal costumes, waiting for the 14:00 bus departures. Medical students sat their exams and took buses later that afternoon. Others chose to fly rather than make the 31 hour drive.

The back of Bus Number Two was comfortable as expected, but the trip ahead was too long to prepare for. What started with chat and excitement turned to watching movies and reading, then fell to uncomfortable sleep until awakening for road-station stops every few hours.

The buses stopped in London to pick up new students, then crossed the Channel, under the the White Cliffs of Dover, and into France off the ferry. From there the ride was a blur, dark and into day again, stiff and sleepy until the buses climbed sharp cut-backs towards Val Thorens in Savoie, France.

Val Thorens is one of three valleys, the others being Méribel and Courchevel, which together form Les Trios Vallées, the world’s largest ski resort.

It took a while to pass through each town before reaching Val Thorens; the road is narrow with busy traffic and very steep off one edge. Finally, we wound up and then down under a bridge and at the front of our hotel — I never learned its name.

The building was hard to figure out and the hallways were cold, so cold there were snow drifts in the stairwells. But the rooms were nice, not fancy but warm and comfortable with a cooking area and small porch.

The first day had the best snow. There was a wait for everyone to get equipment and what-else sorted, but getting on the slopes was good. It was warm and sunny, almost hot, and the snow was light and fresh.

Skiing with a large group was too hard to manage, so eventually smaller factions went out together. Most days skiers grouped with their own ability, occasionally or accidently meeting in larger groups and skiing together, usually in the afternoon. With the multi-valley pass skiers had access to more terrain than could be covered in a year, not even close in our short week. There was good powder skiing just slightly off-piste, and the Méribel valley became a frequent destination.

Sometimes the night stuck through the morning and there wouldn’t be any movement until mid-day, but for a good number of days we were out on the slopes in the opening hours.

Malaysia was the first and most common stop for going out, acclaimed largest club in the Alps, all underground. There was a live band each night and flaming shots but getting evacuated by a fire-alarm and a particularly poor band one night left a hot-and-cold impression.

The trip-sensation was La Folie Duce. This en-slope party house has a daily 14:00 to 16:00 act, with inevitable encore. Hundreds of ski clothed “party people” (as the MC called them) came to mid-mountain and fistpumped below the wooden balcony. A saxophonist DJ, grim scanning bouncers, occasional attractive guests, and the MC pump music to the booze sprayed crowd were highlights

As a whole, the trip was sometimes cold and sometimes tiring going out so much while trying to get the most skiing in… there could be few real complaints. The bus ride back to St Andrews was a gap, just leaving the Alps, crunched sleeping on a ferry couch, and weird twentyone-questions after most people got off in London; then St Andrews on Saturday night.

“I think this has been great for friendship,” one tripper said about one chairlift ride in particular, and I would agree that the whole trip was.