Longstanding member of Henley dragons, Mark Hipgrave suggested that it was high time the club went skiing. 20 of the best looking club members duly signed up for a week long trip to the Austrian resort of Mayhofen.
For many the trip started at a drizzly bus stop on the outskirts of Reading, with the warm glow that our carbon footprints would be significantly better off, not to mention the beer fund, should we take the coach. The remainder of the dragons decided of preserve their will to live, if not the planet, and fly. It’s fair to say the highlight of the coach journey for most was getting off after 22 hours be greeted by idyllic mountain scenery, and only marginally disappointing chalet staff totty. The eco dragons were swiftly equipped with necessary coffee, cake, skis and lift passes. Those who thought they could ski headed for the slopes, those who knew they certainly couldn’t spent the day psyching themselves up to what was to be a week of hard core lessons.
The skiing was found to be OK, but, like skiers after 22 hours on a coach, in need of a good dump. For the first evening, most folk let the fatigue of the coach journey overtake the euphoria of young vibrant dragons embedded in an alpine party capital and retired for the evening. Half the group managed to stay awake just long enough to greet the flyers who arrived around 11pm the evening.
Day one proper saw a frenzy of more ski hire, lift passes, coffee and running. Yes running. Louise spearheaded this folly for fear of not getting enough exercise on the slopes. The Author being one of the fool hardy dragged out of bed for said activity, accompanied Steve Sid (former reading half marathon winner). Not a problem we thought - two can play this game; If we lead Louise on a long, fast, hilly run, she’ll wish she never suggested it - further mornings were to show is couldn’t be further from the truth. The runners rocked into breakfast sweaty but feeling fresh and up for a day on the slopes. Though it appeared to take a lot more than tight lycra on a cold alpine morning to impress our chalet girls. We ordered chipolata and eggs then sat down with some coffee.
Various tails of daring ado came off the slopes each day it seemed most people were getting on well, and more importantly having lots of fun. Worthy of note was glamour puss Emma, who looked great in a different outfit each day. Steve Sid (of Reading half marathon fame) appeared to be having trouble getting the instructor to appreciate his style; perhaps the new instructor tomorrow would know a bit more about skiing we mused over a beer in the Cellar bar. After 8 more beers, mainly to be recorded on Mike and Mark’s balance sheets for FY 06/07 (Thanks chaps…I think) conversation had moved on; We were discussing the similarities between Nina the barmaid, and our own Debs Mendes. Yes, we concluded, Mayhofens answer to Debs had been found, and so too had our local for the week. No one was quite sure if it was the excitement of Nina which triggered Nick’s nose bleed or the altitude. We did know that it seemed to last forever. Periodic trips outside found that Nick was losing a lot of blood; but we were no help to him out there, the best thing was for us to stay warm and make sure Nick could be swiftly re-hydrated when he did eventually arrived back in the bar - 4 G’N Ts ensured that Nick’s fluid levels were kept topped up. It got late, the beer and G n’ Ts kept flowing, and the hardcore eventually rolled into bed at 4am after putting the dragon boating world to rights.
The next morning running was off. I’d personally had around half the requisite 7 hours - day three on skis was going to be tricky. Fortunately, the pain was likely to be tempered by the fact many of us were almost certainly still drunk. Hangovers were placed on one side to digest the scandalous gossip which had occurred overnight…... A midnight visitor. Essentially, Don had taken advantage to the fact Mike was down the pub and pretended to wonder into Michelle’s room while still asleep. As we probed the story further unfolded; It transpired that Don was looking for loo. For Michelle, it seems things could have been a whole lot worse.
Skiing was now gathering pace for most, and tales of speedy descents, tumbles, snowball fights and much merriment came off the slopes each evening. Worthy of note are the bowling night, which saw as many shots drunk as balls down the lane, and some new techniques conceived. Young Ned, going tobogganing, with all the cool style of his farther. Team 8th wonder winning the quiz night, with what was possibly the highest score ever recorded, ‘cus we dragons are brainy types. By the end of the week most of the lads were popping Ibuprofen like smarties, the girls preferred to either not fall over, or just not moan as much. The running madness continued, as did the drinking (though numbers dwindled). Importantly everyone had a great time, and the Dragons had mastered skiing. Would we be back? You bet ya.
Report courtesy of Steve W, with apologies from for not getting around to finishing this off until now (required a long train journey!)
