The best trip you’ll ever go on: LUSST hits Val d’sere

The annual LUSST ski trip (Lincoln University Skiing & Snowboarding Team) to Val d’sere promised three key things – snow, mountains and alcohol. We were not disappointed.

Some of the team

Believe it or not things got off to a quiet start – within three hours of the coaches leaving Lincoln it was silent. It’s hard to keep up the feeling of excitement for a full 24 hour journey! But things took a rowdy turn for the worse on the ferry thanks to the availability of alcohol. Not to mention the muppets walking around in onesies from other universities also on their way to the Alps.

Keeping it clean!

Instantly after our eventual arrival in Val d’sere, the drinks and pitchers were out in the local bar. Our first night began in true LUSST style, sparking what would be a progressively alcohol fuelled holiday. Broken up of course by occasional bouts of going down mountains with splitting headaches.

Having a quiet night in.

Each night of the trip had a different theme or event going on, from Cowboys and Indians to a mountain rave. The cowboys and Indians night coincided with another uni’s cross dressing night which made the dark, visibility lacking clubs slightly more risky after a couple of drinks, increasing the chances of a potentially embarrassing situation. We soon ended up in a club called Le Gral, where soon after we were thrown out.

One of the best things about Val is the number of cheap pizza places open until the early hours of the morning. While stuffing our faces with pizza we met an incredibly drunk Plymouth student dressed as some kind of Robin Hood, or something equally similar, who was insistent that we lived with him. And from then on we couldn’t shake him off – he continuously tried to come back to our flats.

Nursing some hangovers on the slopes

The first run of each day was always the dodgiest: a pounding head, crisp snow and a snowboard. On one of the black runs towards the end of the week, I took a tumble and ended up sliding down the slope backwards and upside down for 30 odd metres.

The final couple of days snowboarding was during a white-out blizzard, and people were dropping like flies. We saw more stretchers heading off down slopes than actual skiers. On our final couple of runs we could barely see 2 metres ahead of us, forcing us all to ski or board slowly in a line so as to not become lost and alone amongst the Alps.

We did actually do some snowboarding and skiing

The final night out of the trip before the horrendous coach journey home was a Christmas themed night out and my mate Olly’s birthday. After some heavy predrinks we headed off to a club. Just like back in Lincoln, the two of us became lost, and in a rush to not turn 20, we sprinted into a random club full of Bristol students. After turning 20 surrounded by drunk Bristolians we left to find the rest of LUSST, before annoyingly, returning to club DouDoune where we had just previously been. But we’re glad we did – upon returning, we realised that there was a huge bottom floor, complete with stages and dj booths.

The flat getting egged during boarders vs skiers predrinks

Nursing a heavy hangover we finished the trip the next day with some more boarding before our 27 hour coach journey home – made 7 hours longer than necessary due to a 7 hour delay at Calais!

The chronic coach