For many years, it has been a tradition that the International Ski Camp is held at the start of term three. It is an opportunity for Columba College international students and school friends to enjoy three days of skiing and snowboarding at Coronet Peak.

This year, the ski camp was held from Friday July 29 until Monday August 1. There was a total of 22 students and they were accompanied by Ms Riethmaier, Miss Wilson, Ms Chen and Kana Aoshima.

Jeen Boonsampankit: My first time going on International Ski Camp far exceeded my expectations. The view from the mountain was so stunning that I couldn’t believe it was real. About two years ago I went to Coronet Peak once for my first ski lesson, which was only two hours long, and I barely remember a thing. This time I challenged myself and joined the intermediate lessons. They were a lot harder than I thought they would be, but I really appreciated all the teachers who gave me advice on how to ski and how to ‘fall’ properly. I even got brave enough to ski down the steeper hill. After my lessons each day, I would continue skiing a little more with my friends, have lunch and ski again until the ski field was about to close for the day. My favourite day was the second day of skiing. It snowed for a little bit during our morning lessons, which really surprised me - it was so pretty. In the afternoon, when we got back to our hut, the weather was so nice that we wanted to play with the snow. We all enjoyed tobogganing down the small slopes near the hut and having snowball fights. Overall, it was such a fun time and I wished it could have lasted a little longer. I have made so many wonderful memories of ski camp and I can’t wait to go again next year.

Amber Zhang: This was my fourth ski camp and each of them have been unique experiences for me. Thankfully the snow conditions were so much better than last year when there was barely enough snow covering the slopes. I am a snowboarder and so are the majority of people who came to the ski camp this year. This time we all wanted to challenge ourselves and signed up for advanced lessons, so on day two we went on the Coronet Express lift that takes you up to an elevation of 1650m above sea level. I love the thrill and the excitement of snowboarding; however, this was the first time I tried to snowboard from this height. It was challenging for me to overcome the fear towards heights because even standing there made me feel quite dizzy. After a few runs I felt less stressed to be on the Express run and even had a go on the Greengate run.

It is not only the experience of skiing and snowboarding but also the time I get to spend with a group of amazing people that makes ski camp so special to me. Like last year, we had the opportunity to invite some kiwi girls who love skiing and snowboarding to join us. In my opinion, the highlight of International Ski Camp this time was the dumpling dinner where everyone helped make the dumplings. In Chinese culture, dumplings are essential elements for festival celebrations or big family gatherings where a big group of people get together and make the dumplings. This year, my mother came along as a parent helper and she prepared the three different dumpling fillings and helped us make over 400 dumplings – it was literally a mountain of dumplings!

Lastly, on behalf of all of the girls who went on the International Ski Camp, I would like to thank Ms Reithmaier, who helped with organisaing the camp and taking great care of everyone in the ski camp every year; Miss Wilson, who took lots of pictures and videos of us throughout the camp; My mum who taught us to make delicious dumplings and Kana who helped everyone and got us organised all the time. I had a great time this year and look forward to the International Ski Camp 2023!