My name is Dean and I’m visually impaired. I’m twelve years old and I live in Waterford. I would like to tell you about a great week’s skiing holiday that I went on in St. Johann, Austria.
The holiday was organised be Féach and Topflight and this was the second year I have gone on this trip. There was myself and eleven other visually impaired people and their families on the holiday, my two aunts came with me.
We went a few times to Kilternan Ski Club in Co. Wicklow for some lessons so that we all had practice on the slope before we went to Austria.
At 6.00am on the 15th January, we flew out of Dublin to Salzberg, Austria. I know it sounds early but we arrived at lunch time in St. Johann which mean’t we had the rest of the day to hang out and relax with each other. We all stayed in the Fischer Hotel, which was nice and it had a kids room to chill out in.
It was another early start the next day as we all had to meet our ski instructors for the week. My instructor’s name was Peter.He was a champion kick boxer from Austria, you wouldn’t want to mess with him!! He was pretty cool and I had a laugh with him. If I go again next year, I hope I get him again.
Everyday we hit the slopes at 10am until 3pm. We had an hours lunch break, which was good because you get a big appetite from skiing. There are four different types of slopes to ski on – green, blue, red and black. The green slope was called the nursery slope and the black was the advanced slope. I got to ski on the red slope and it was hard. The slope was very steep and fast and I had to learn to put on the brakes!!
Each evening, we would hang out with each other. On two of the nights we went swimming. The pool was half indoor and half outdoor. It was pretty cool swimming outside at night and the water was warmer outside then inside. On other nights we would watch dvd’s and play games like hide and seek or catch!!
We had dinner together at 7pm each night in the hotel which was cool as I got to try out new food, I tried shrimps. I sat with my friend John most nights.
On the second last day, we had our prize giving. I got a medal and a certificate for coming 1st in the speed race, which was a big improvement on last year, where I came 2nd last!!!
Overall, it was a brilliant holiday. I had loads of fun and made great friends. St. Johann was a lovely town even if you didin’t ski. I’m hoping to go again next year with Féach, if my mum lets me!!!
