MS Trust Monster Ski Home

What an absolutely fantastic day!  Brilliant blue skies greeted us as we awoke and, without a breath of wind, the day was simply perfect for skiing.  The snow conditions were absolutely perfect throughout the day with powder lasting on some slopes until into the afternoon.  We again divided into 3 groups to allow each to set their own pace and went up Titlis mountain to start day 3, our final day of Monster Ski 2009.  We were able to ski fast and long with some of the Monster Skiers achieving some unbelievable totals.  Comparing totals at the end of the day in a bar for a little apres ski showed that all participants had managed to achieved their total distances over the 3 days – a stunning success for all.

Special mention, however, must go to all those participants with MS who, in taking part, have shown to themselves and to others that MS need not prevent you doing anything you set your mind to.

A better day today in terms of weather and light levels, which made it easier to crack on to bag some miles!  We split up into 3 groups (one fast, one medium and one gentle) and set off at our own individual team paces.   Snow conditions were reasonably good throughout the day, with some light flurries of snow but thankfully no rain.  We all at least stayed dry.

Some of the Monster skiers had a couple of moments where they had to be dug out of the snow after somewhat dramatic faceplants (but no injuries!) and all came back to the Hotel at the end of the day tired but pleased they had managed to do so many miles.

The weather and conditions tomorrow are predicted to be good (certainly better than they have been yesterday and today) so the Monsters’ morale is high for the final day of the challenge.

We had a bit of a slow start this morning as we were waiting to find out whether the lifts on Titlis (the main skiing area) would be open. The weather was pretty bad, with lots of rain and wind. However, once we’d heard the lifts were opening (and after we’d posed for a group photo) everyone set off. The weather didn’t improve and by lunchtime everyone was thoroughly soaked through. Over lunch we heard that the resort was closing a lot of the lifts on the mountain, so the amount of runs we could use in the afternoon would be limited.  At one stage, some of the group were given a lift in the front cage of a piste basher due to a connecting lift having closed! Bizarre perhaps but it worked and allowed them to access other pistes to gain another 10 miles.

The rain kept coming and visibility was bad, but the group battled on to get in as many runs as they could. We’re waiting for the distances to be downloaded from the Satski devices, but early indications look good and most of our group have achieved the 26.2 miles.

Monster Ski group in Engelberg

We have 16 people taking part in Monster Ski this year, each aiming to ski a marathon (or half marathon) a day for three days. The whole group have arrived safely in Engelberg. The sun was out to greet us on our arrival, however predictions for the first day of the challenge are looking a bit gloomy, with rain forecast.

The group got to know each other at our welcome reception in the evening. We were also joined by Alan and Sally from Satski, who are providing each of our skiers with a mobile phone (kindly donated by HTC) equipped with Satski’s GPS tracking technology. This will enable each person’s daily distance to be recorded. We were also introduced to our guides, Josh and Ralph from Prime Ski School in Engelberg.

After dinner most of the group had an early night in preparation for the first day of the challenge tomorrow.

On behalf of the MS Trust, I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who took part in our first Monster Ski. I was so impressed by everyone’s hard work and could not have asked for a better group of people to spend 10 days with.

The trip has been a huge success for the MS Trust. When we set out we didn’t imagine that it would raise so much (we’re expecting the total to reach £100,000) and we could certainly never have imagined the group would achieve so many vertical feet (over 3.5 million in total)!!

So well done and thank you again to our Monster Ski team: snowboarders Adrian, Brad, Ian, Libi & Tony; and skiers Alex, Chris, David CC, David T, Elspeth, Jill, John N, Jon P, Mike, Nick, Rich, Stacy, Stuart & Valerie.

Hope to see you all out on the slopes again for Monster Ski 2009!

Laura (MS Trust Fundraising Officer)