We kicked off our trip with a Saturday night sail on the Spirit of Tasmania and levels were high after free feed courtesy of Mr Pursell’s organisation.

After a six hour bus journey on Sunday we had arrived on Mount Hotham and ready to check in for our first boarding/skiing lesson. With blue skies, good snow conditions and some new snowboarding lingo we were having a ‘fully sick’ and ‘radical’ time.

Our Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday routine was wake up early, tuck into breakfast and click into our boards for a few early runs before a 9am lesson with instructors – Jack, Jimmy, Kevin, Laura and Jessie. Post lunch we’d launch back into every part of the mountain we could access. Some of our favourite trails were The Summit, Heavenly Valley, The Orchard and Blue Ribbon.

After a few days settling in a couple nightly ceremonies started to kick off. Three awards – Steez (most style), Shred (most improved) and Send It (longest sessions) – were hotly contested and an ‘Under The Microscope’ segment was created to question a few unusual moments.

A few new nicknames had been created, with Mr Milk (Campbell) and The Doctor (Chris) keeping us entertained. Dorpy (Alex) was also keeping the banter levels up with a daily mishap including losing his lift pass, dropping his phone off a lift, busting his binding, and his suspect passing techniques.

Later in the week the ‘Park’ was starting to get a run and the Hotham App was providing us with an insight into a range of statistics including amount of lifts caught and top speed. This led to one of the greatest snowboarding battles ever seen on Mt Hotham with the Alex’s (W & W) going head to head for the most lifts caught in a day. What eventuated ranged between shivering, sliding, and complete exhaustion much to others amusement.

As we checked out on Friday morning we were hit with a nice little snow flurry and the mission home began. In the words of the students…

 “It was gnarly dude”

“It was warmer on the slopes than the grade 9 room at school”

“Best trip I’ve been on”

“Can’t wait to go back next time!”