Over the summer holidays several students, accompanied by the Headmaster and Mr Dann, travelled to Switzerland to climb and enjoy a range of alpine activities
Thank you to Bloxham student Tobi Ng for his detailed report below:
On Friday 4th July 2014, we set off to Switzerland with the Headmaster and Mr Dann, with our bags strapped to the roof and our new climbing equipment in the back. The aim for our trip was to summit as many alpine peaks as possible whilst enjoying various alpine activities.
The first night we stayed in Fontainebleau – Fontainebleau being an international climbing hotspot – where we climbed various boulders in the night and camped nearby. We arrived in Evolene in high spirits due to the stunning mountainous vicinity. We started off strong by summiting the first of the two summits, the Pina D’Arolla, a peak of around 4000m. Between summits, we endured many alpine activities: the first being Via Ferrata, which means “iron road” in Italian. We also visited the biggest indoor climbing wall in Western Switzerland, Vertic Halle. This was, for many of us, our first time lead climbing. En route to the summits we stayed in a couple of mountain refuge huts, where we prepared for our summits, fuelling up and rising early to summit the peaks. In order to get to the hut, we crossed many crevasses and went ice climbing with a couple of ice screws and technical axes.
This trip will be a lasting memory of Bloxham School and Mr Dann’s unwitty banter and the Headmaster’s determination to succeed in our summits and for every activity to involve a harness. We recommend this trip up for an action-packed, adrenaline-fuelled and life-changing experience.