While Erie residents braved the arctic air over President’s Day weekend, 60 students from Prep and Villa made their way over 9 hours to the north to ski and snowboard in Stowe, Vermont. The two buses, one made up of Prep students and the other students from Villa, departed from Prep on Friday the 13th at about 11 a.m.  The ride to the hotel was pretty uneventful, and the buses pulled into the Hampton Inn around 10 p.m. While at the hotel, students enjoyed two continental breakfasts, got to splash around the hotel pool, and hung out in the lobby until they had to be in their rooms.
The first day at the resort, Valentine’s Day, was fantastic.  The buses left the hotel and skiers were on the trails by 9. The temperature may have been in the single digits, but because of the hills being so long, the cold was no issue. The snow was amazing, as were the terrain parks and trails through the woods. The views from almost anywhere on the hill were breathtaking, and kids risked the cold in order to grab pictures of the mountain. After hours of great skiing and riding, the buses picked students up at 3:30 to make it to Blessed Sacrament Church for mass. They then got treated to dinner at another hotel because the one they were staying at was renovating the area the kids usually eat.
Day two was brutally cold, with the temperatures falling under 0 degrees, getting down to around -10 degrees. That didn’t stop the Prep and Villa students from enjoying their last day in Vermont, however. While many more breaks were taken today, the conditions were just as good, despite the cold. The day was not perfect, though, as Davis Nies suffered a broken tibia, Mr. Ladouceur needed stitches in his head, and Emily Weibel had an allergic reaction. Frost bite was also a major concern, so students made sure to cover every bit of skin to protect themselves from the cold. The cold also made it more difficult to take pictures, and made the batteries drain quickly in some students’ GoPros.
The ride home was much longer than originally planned due to having to swing by the hospital to get Davis, then going to dinner next to our hotel for some reason. The itinerary planned for the buses to get back at Prep at 2 a.m., but it was much later than that, as they rolled into Prep at almost 6 a.m. Regardless of the arrival time and the frigid temperatures, the trip was no doubt worth it for all the skiers and snowboarders that were on it.
Check out the photo gallery below for photos taken by students on the trip: