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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)

SUCCESS!

We all exceeded the challenge target and came home in good shape & high spirits.

We expected the challenge to be tough, and it was! We encountered everthing from blue skies to blizzards, crisp beautiful days to brass monkey cold ones (-35C with the wind chill factor - and that’s cold!).

The Challenge target overall was to ski 150,000 vertical feet over the 6 days & we actually managed the following:

Jill -158,000 Stuart - 183,000 Alex - 225,000 Richard - 250,000.

Despite the jet-lag, effects of altitude and the physical exertions we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and made some great friends along the way. We would encourage anyone who considered doing “The Challenge” this year, but didn’t get around to it, to pitch in for the next one. YOU WILL LOVE IT! There is a great feeling of personal achievement and the satisfying knowledge that the money raised really will make a difference to people with MS.

Jill, Stuart, Alex & Rich

What a great day to end the challenge on. The sun was out once again and most of the group were out in time for the first lifts. It was bitterly cold and windy today though. Temperatures at the top of the mountain were showing -30ºC and we even had reports of frostbite!

Stacy was determined to achieve her 150,000 vertical feet, despite her knee injury. She was already very close, just a few thousand feet away, so spent the day riding up and down on the gondola (complete with crutches) to bank the remaining feet! Tony managed to get back out on his board today to clock up a few thousand more as well.

By the end of the day all our Monster Skiers had managed to achieve at least the 150,000 vertical feet - everyone had worked really hard to do so. Of course the speedy stars of the show were John Nicoll and David Thornhill who ended on over 320,000 each! Rich, Alex, Mike, Nick, Jon, Chris, Brad and Ian all beat 200,000.

We met for champagne in the bar at the end of the day to celebrate everyone’s amazing achievements, then headed into Breckenridge early evening for our gala dinner. We’ll sleep well tonight!

Today we visited Winter Park - a two hour drive in the snow from Breckenridge, where we were staying. Our journey was delayed by half an hour as our bus got stuck just outside the hotel - Mike and Nick helped dig it free and we got on our way.

It was really snowing a lot during the morning and if it wasn’t for the challenge, I’m not sure that anyone would have chosen to ski today! Laura spent the morning with Ski Instructor and MS Trust supporter James Winfield, who helped her with her own mini sponsored challenge of learning to ski. They made it down some green runs without falling over!

The weather cleared a bit in the afternoon, which we were thankful for, but the difficult conditions meant totals were on average about half of yesterdays. Despite this, Mike, Nick, Jon, Stuart and Chris all passed the 150,000 point today. Yeah!

Tony was back with the group today in the role of official photographer.

When I signed up for Monsterski 2008, I knew it would be great fun and some hard work, in some great skiing locations. It has been all that, but I have learned a lot more about these type of challenges! I love skiing, and have done ski weeks in the past, but never have I thought of skiing in terms of vertical feet! That concept has put a whole new slant on skiing for me!

Skiing from the time the lifts open until they close with only a half hour (average for our group!) for lunch, means your skis (and legs and lungs!!) are working really hard! There haven’t been the chats at the side of the slope, nor the long hot chocolate breaks… all skiing time was very important! Calculating how fast a lift gets up a mountain was a new concept, but it makes a difference if you need to maximize time doing the vertical runs!

To non-skiers, this challenge may have sounded as a great “holiday in the ski resort state of Colorado”. Well, some of that is true, it has been a great experience of many of Colorado’s ski resorts, but actually, other than the ski runs that gave us most vertical feet per descent, we didn’t really see much of the resorts. We found our “best slopes” and skied or boarded them! It will have to be another personal trip to explore these resorts further!

To skiers, again this could have seemed a great holiday, however, there is the knowledge of some of the dangers and risks that go with this hazardous pursuits sport! Throw in altitude, cold and wind, and whereas on a holiday you would just take longer hot chocolate breaks, that wasn’t an option! Just get your ski legs set, and go!

So Monster Ski has been a great experience, and one that I hope to repeat in some form. I will need to have that happen in about a year so my knee injury (Tuesday - Keystone) can heal! I have had great fortunes in that this is the first ski injury in my 35 years of skiing, and I was doing it for a worthy cause! So once physio is completed, I will definitely pursue this again, but with the increased awareness of what a charity challenge is all about. My fellow skiers and boarders are a great team, and I’ve really been privileged to get to know all of them!

Official totals are constantly being added up, I’m hoping that one of the team gets just one more run for me…I may be at my total, but it may be close!

This has been a great experience, not a holiday, but I feel refreshed and enthused about what people can achieve, so maybe that’s the Holiday Spirit!

Thank you Monster Ski 2008!!

Stacy

Mike Laver said that today was his best day’s skiing ever! The sun was out and everyone was in really good spirits, working hard to achieve as many vertical feet as they could. The clear sky meant really low temperatures of -23˚C, but the conditions were great.

John Nicoll and team were pushing themselves harder than ever today. His motto of the day: “Turning is for tourists, lunch is for lightweights!” The group didn’t stop for lunch, choosing to spend their $15 lunch vouchers on chocolate bars, which they ate in the gondola between runs!

Today was the best day overall in terms of vertical feet achieved - the group skied an average of 39,247 per person, with John and David achieving the almost impossible by skiing 73,660 vertical feet each! Alex, Rich, Brad and Ian all managed to smash their 150,000 targets today.

Tony and Laura (MS Trust Fundraising Officer) spent the afternoon snowshoeing to try and clock up some feet to add to Tony’s total: 9,843 horizontal feet achieved!

Today was pretty hard going. We had a lot of snow fall overnight and there was lots of powder on the slopes. The weather had closed in and was colder and windy, visibility wasn’t so good. We were also at a higher altitude than in previous days and everyone found it that little bit harder work.

Despite the difficult conditions, everyone still managed to rack up a decent amount of vertical feet, with the A-team, John Nicoll and David Thornhill, skiing a whopping 53,000 and reaching their 150,000 vertical feet target after just three days!

Another great day with the weather, despite storms being predicted. The sun was out and the snow was good. Things were beginning to get slightly competitive after yesterday’s achievements and everyone was working hard to get in as many vertical feet as possible.

Mid morning we had a casualty - Tony had a fall from his board and injured his shoulder. He was rushed down the mountain on a sled and taken to the medical centre where he was put back together again.

He’s now strapped up and is in pretty good spirits, despite not being able to get back on the slopes. The rest of the team have decided to make up his vertical feet by skiing extra themselves over the next few days.

With regards to today’s vertical feet, incredibly the team have done better than yesterday! Every group beat the 25,000 target, with John Nicoll and team just edging past yesterday’s record result with 49,000 vertical feet in the bank!

An interesting fact about our Monster Skiers - ages range from 20s to 70s, with each of the six decades represented by at least one person.

Tomorrow: Copper Mountain

What a day! The sun shone from first lift to last. The team split up into three groups in the morning and set off with the aim of achieving at least 25,000 vertical feet per person.

The actual distances covered surpassed anyone’s expectations. The average distance skied/boarded was 35,900 v. ft. with one group (led by the unstoppable John Nicoll) actually achieving a phenomenal 48,000 vertical feet!

Everyone was elated and exhausted by the evening - a great start to Monster Ski.

We have just come to the end of our first day in Vail, a chance for everyone to find their feet and have a practice before the challenge begins tomorrow. We had a long day of travelling yesterday but got a pretty early night, so all were up bright and early this morning and itching to get out on the slopes.

The snow here is fantastic, with lots of fresh powder. Today started out with bright sunshine but after lunch got pretty windy with freezing cold snow blowing around. Brrr! The group had a good day’s skiing, despite two members of the party getting separated the minute they stepped off the lifts - we’re hoping to see them in the bar shortly!

Tomorrow: the 150,000 vertical feet challenge begins in Beaver Creek…