Camp Journal
A Day of Adventure Activity
22nd June 2012
After practicing our climbing yesterday on the Gold Test Centre’s Indoor Wall, Geneva English School accompanied by Camp Suisse Activity and Group Leaders ventured out to an outdoor climbing wall at the bottom of the valley. All campers were full of enthusiasm for everyone, and some of the girls overcame their vertigo and reached the top! Then we hopped on the Camp Suisse minibuses, with JD and Mike, to Adventure Labyrinth.Once our packed lunches had been digested, we ran around playing games on all the inflatables and getting lost in the massive maze. Dinner was delicious; lasagna with garlic bread and salad. An upside down peach cake with cream for dessert topped off dinner. Our day finished with a super music quiz followed by an interschool talent show!
Disco, Disco, Disco… a day early!
20th June 2012
GES
Orienteering, Climbing Wall and Archery
After breakfast, GES were involved in a mind stimulating orienteering session using the very best standard of team building skills, followed by the exciting challenge of the indoor climbing wall and finishing the day on the beautifully scenic field where our archery lessons take place. Archery is always an enjoyable activity for all involved and was a great experience for those who had not yet tried this sport.
Strothoff
Aqua Parc and Parc Adventure
Strothoff began their day’s activities with a splash at the amazing Aqua Parc in Le Bouveret, the fun continued later in the day at Parc Adventure where they had the chance to take part in a high ropes course…a very exciting day to say the least!
EIG
Rock Climbing and Team Building Games
EIG started the day getting kitted out with all the necessary safety equipment for a spot of extreme adventure on an outdoor rock climbing experience! They continued the day with afternoon team building games here at the centre, creating a great atmosphere and getting everyone involved in team work. A pity we have to say goodbye to you tomorrow but still one more morning of activities remaining!
All had a fun filled, adventure packed day and were treated to a much anticipated disco in the evening; giving them the opportunity to showcase their best dance moves to some favourites and personal requests.
Day 2 – GES, EIG, Stroth
19th June 2012
GES
Glacier and Thermal Spa
Today started early as we needed to get to Glacier 3000 in time to get the cable car to the summit. We travelled comfortably in the two Camp Suisse Minibuses with our friendly drivers Mike and J, so comfortably so that some campers were soon counting sheet as well as cows as we descended down the winding road from Torgon. There were a couple of picture perfect clouds in the sky as we ascended in the two cable cars to the top of the glacier. We were greeted by some very excited husky dogs, which we took us on a super sledge ride in the snow. In the picnic area with a panoramic view of the glacier, Rosie, the activity leader delivered an interactive talk on the formation of glaciers and some interesting facts about the surrounding mountains.
Next we had some tasty packed lunches then hopped back on the buses to go to the thermal spas at Saillon! A slide, a lazy river, a hot tub, and several pools kept us happily busy for a couple of hours before a quick nap on the journey back to Camp Suisse. After a scrummy dinner of soup, salad, chicken pie and potatoes finished off by waffles and ice-cream, we were well fed before we headed to our evening activity choice of 5-a-side football or karaoke. After an action packed day, we all gladly fell into our beds ready for another great day tomorrow.
Strothoff
Archery, Climbing Wall and Camp Olympic Games!
This morning we headed to the Camp Suisse archery range to try our hand at being modern day Robin Hoods! We all worked hard to improve our skills; one of us even got a bull’s eye! The sun was beating down and with the beautiful mountain backdrop to the archery range it was impressive that anybody managed to hit the targets at all.
We then headed back to Camp Suisse and tackled the indoor climbing wall. With overhangs and rock faces to scale everybody took up the challenge and all involved in the climb managed to hit the summit.
If that wasn’t enough excitement and energy for one day next on the agenda was the famous Camp Suisse Olympics!
We split into 3 teams and competed fiercely to win the prestigious Camp Suisse Olympic Champions title and, of course, Camp Suisse medals! First up we put our new climbing skills to the test in a series of challenges on the wall including blindfolded climbing! This gruelling session was followed by head to head tasks including three-legged races and a strenuous tug of war! Our sports skills were also tested with basketball, football and hockey challenges. Last on the agenda was a chant battle where our teachers voted USA the winners! Overall winners were South Africa. Their enthusiasm and great teamwork carried them through in the lead all day and straight across the finish line!
Bienvenue!
18th June 2012
After a week, ‘sans enfants’, dedicated to staff training camp is once more filled with the screams, shouts, cheers and laughter of our new set of guests. This week we welcome yet again two schools from Geneva – the Geneva English School (GES) and the ‘Ecole Internationale de Genève’ (EIG) – and all the way from Germany, a little delayed but never dismayed, we welcome the Strothoff International School.
Being rather a little closer the two schools from Geneva arrived almost simultaneously at 11.30am. After an introductory meeting and tour around the site it was straight into lunch, yummy hot dog baguettes with homemade coleslaw and potato salad. Once refuelled campers were sent straight out to make the most of the beautiful weather and the first activities of what is set to be an action packed week.
GES were fortunate enough to be the first group to experience one of our newest activities. Getting back to nature they headed off for a hike in the surrounding mountains, partaking in a bush craft session – picking up skills essential for survival in the outdoors.
EIG, on the other hand, stayed a little closer to home, splitting into two groups they divided between archery and the indoor climbing wall. A great time was had by all with some very noteworthy personal achievements.
In the meantime, whilst the other schools were out on activity, Strothoff arrived ready and raring to go despite the 8 hour long bus journey. After a quick snack it was straight out to the team building assault course. Students were tasked to work together to help each other succeed in a variety of different puzzles and physically challenging tasks. With some encouragement and advice from our expert team of Activity Leaders, even the teachers were impressed with the resulting team work.
If that wasn’t enough action packed fun for one day, after the evening meal all groups took part in the Torgona Hunt – a treasure hunt-style quiz that sees campers running around the site and the local village in search of the answers to cryptic clues, all with a view to becoming more familiar with the site and local area. By the time heads hit the pillow there was not a sound to be heard from the chalets. A good sign that energy had been spent and a good first day had by all!
Our ‘Top Secret’ Good Egg outing
17th June 2012
As the winner of a Mini Egg award, my fellow (Mini and Good) Eggs and I were highly anticipating our secret outing on Friday night. Due to a change in our schedule, we were left in suspense for an extra 24 hours, as all of the staff went on a team building camping trip to France on Friday afternoon. After a very tiring 2 days hiking to France and back we were more than ready for our surprise on Saturday night.
Ready at 6pm, we were driven down the mountain to our mystery location. Making guesses en route, we eventually arrived at a perfect picnic spot in Villeneuve. The weather could not have been better to complete the setting for a perfect picnic on the shore of Lake Geneva surrounded by the towering, snow-capped mountains of the Swiss Alps. Joined by our chauffer, JD, we were treated to a picnic dinner of cheeses, cured meats, fresh bread, olives and wine. After a good few hours of relaxation, delicious food, and having watched the sun set over the lake and behind the mountains, we headed back up the mountain feeling extremely well-rewarded for our hard work.
Good Eggs & Mini Eggs
12th June 2012
The Good Egg award scheme was set up to recognise and reward individual staff members on their outstanding work and contribution to the Camp Suisse. This summer, however, we are changing things up a little. As we continue to grow and take on more staff the need to recognise more of those Good Eggs is increasingly important. For this reason, the Good Egg scheme has seen the addition of the ‘Mini Egg’ – a smaller award recognising an outstanding member of staff from each department (Activity Leaders, Group Leaders, Kitchen staff, Ancillary staff and Language teachers).
All of our Eggs (both Mini and Good) receive a beautiful certificate to remember their grand achievement. On top of that the Good Egg receives a sum of money. As one final treat, this year we’ve introduced an apprentice-style group outing for the Good Egg and all the Minis. The activity is kept under wraps until the moment they arrive – our coach driver being the only person privy to the top-secret details. The prize changes each week; to give you an idea, however, it may be something along the lines of a champagne picnic along the shore of Lake Geneva, or a wine tasting evening in one of the many wine cellars the region has to offer. In any case we have no doubt they will be very sought after reward!
Yesterday, the Good Eggs and Mini Eggs were awarded for this week and last. Rosie from the Activities team and Stef from the Group Leaders, were both awarded Good Egg for “Being great… at everything!” and “Having boundless energy and fantastic disco moves,” respectively. Both Rosie and Stef have worked incredibly hard for the past couple of weeks and are therefore very deserving winners. The Mini Eggs for the past couple of weeks were: Kirsty and Tom from the Activities team, both for using their creative initiative; Lucy and Abiy, the catering supervisors who are all round stars from the kitchen; Jodie, one of the office staff and Sue, our sanitation and tuck shop manager, both received awards for their excellent work in their respective areas. On Friday 15th June, all the Eggs from the past two weeks will be escorted in the Camp Suisse limousine to a top secret destination where they will have lots of fun courtesy to Camp Suisse!
WELL DONE EGGS!
P.S. Check out the blog this weekend to find out more about their Friday adventure!
The Camp Suisse Olympics
8th June 2012
Living in the Suisse Alps means one must always be prepared for adverse and changeable weather conditions. That’s why when we awoke this morning to the sound of rain outside our windows plan B was already being put into action – the (indoor) Camp Suisse Olympics!
Shortly after breakfast all the classes of year 6 were divided into 10 Olympic teams. A quick bonding session was necessary to bind the newly formed teams into winning machines. Students were asked to create a team song/chant accompanied by a dance – at the same time faces, arms and even some legs were being painted in the team colours.
The competition consisted of a decathlon of events, ranging from 3 legged and egg and spoon races to a treasure hunt and ‘nightline’ – an obstacle course made difficult by the fact that all competitors are blind-folded.
After many long fought battles over a stretch of 3 hours the teams appeared well and truly spent. They had to dig into the energy reserves to complete the final event – the ‘over and under’ relay race! With extra points up for grabs teams dug in hard and at times the tension was palatable.
After all the hard work and effort put into achieving the coveted title of Camp Suisse Olympics Champions when it came to the announcement of the final scores the expression ‘hear a pin drop’ doesn’t even come close in describing the absolute silence observed in the sports hall. It was Team 10 who, with just a two point difference, managed to pip past the post to take the title of Champions!
After lunch it was time to say goodbye. It seems like only yesterday that the school arrived, but in fact it was 4 days ago; as the old saying goes – ‘time flies when you’re having fun’- and boy did we have some fun! The students and the CS staff shared a fantastic week together making the goodbyes all that bit more painful.
We wish you all a very safe and prosperous future and we’ll always be here should you want to come visit again!
BON VOYAGE!
Roman Ruins and Party Night
7th June 2012
An exciting tour around the Roman ruins of Martingy kicked off the day. We learned all about the Romans’ lives and a re-enactment of a Gladiator battle, performed for us in the ancient amphitheatre, demonstrated in real life how brutal the Romans really were. You can watch the battle too on our YouTube channel! After lunch in the sun, we headed back to camp for another action packed afternoon, where half of us went orienteering (and we didn’t get lost!) The other half fearlessly tore up the mountain biking tracks, reconvening at the bottom in one piece and high spirits. After sprucing ourselves up for the eagerly awaited disco, we hit the dance floor where we showed up the teachers with an exposé of our spectacular dance moves.
The end of day 3… already?!
6th June 2012
Coach 1
Wednesday’s activities began with half the Camp Suisse employees donning racoon-like tans (which from first-hand experience also looked immensely painful!) following a suntan lotion-free day at the glacier. Pity the campers chose the mature approach, applying sun cream, and were able to direct the bulk of their early exchanges at taunting the distressed, burnt staff!
The day began with archery and rock climbing. Ignoring the rain, the campers trudged up to the football pitch and would have put Robin Hood himself to shame with some sharp-shooting archery. After building himself up beforehand declaring how he carved his own bow out of wood at home, Cameron lived up to expectations outdoing his teacher Mr.James (Comfortably!).
The afternoon consisted of team-building games on site. After an afternoon of plank walking, egg dropping, remote control photo taking, and spider-web crawling, the session culminated with a certain welsh activity leader cheating his way to victory in the bottle rocket competition- drenching everyone in the process! some sharp-shooting archery. After building himself up beforehand declaring how he carved his own bow out of wood at home, Cameron lived up to expectations, outdoing his teacher Mr. James (comfortably!).
With a packed day tomorrow including trips to Martigny, mountain biking, orienteering, and of course the pinnacle of the week the Camp Suisse disco disco disco! the campers’ last full day at camp is shaping up to be one of their best!
Coach 2
When the 6.15am breakfast was announced yesterday evening the sighs of shock and disbelief were audible. However, despite a few back-to-front t-shirts and a lot of scruffed up hair, classes 6b and c deserved a great deal of credit for getting to breakfast on time.
After a long, sleepy and at times stomach churning coach journey we arrived at the bottom of Glacier 3000. A quick toilet stop and we filed onto the ski lift which took us quite a considerable distance up to the top of Glacier 3000 – so named because it lies at 3000m above sea level. Once there the already questionable weather conditions worsened as we became enveloped in a snow cloud. Conditions were adverse but, with the green light from the Glacier security team, our intrepid arctic explorers descended the ski lift in search of the huskies, whose position could only be located by the sound of their howls against the strong mountain wind.
Once at the bottom we began our trek through the snow to attain our prize of a husky dog sled ride. It was at this point that the conditions worsened and even our most valiant of explorers began to feel the chill. We took shelter in a nearby cabin and awaited the snow truck for a lift back to the top. A couple of minutes later and we were in the warm of the ‘snow cat’ and heading back to the warmth of the indoor picnic area. Our mission to see the huskies dogs will have to wait for lighter conditions, but we remain resilient in the face of defeat and will return to affront the glacier afresh and we will pet those huskies!
Our mood was soon changed with a quick hop over to Fun Planet and the indoor go-kart racing track. We went from James Cook inspired exploration to Schumacher inspired F1 skills. Campers donned the compulsory hair net and helmet with style and proceeded to their vehicles. A few minor collisions and a number of head-to-head races later and the winners had been decided. All that was left was the race of races – the teachers’ head-to-head; a hard fought contest that saw staff pushing their skills to the limit. Maybe due to modesty, maybe due to a lack of a photo finish but the winner still remains undecided… we’ll leave you to argue amongst yourselves.Back in Torgon and the rest of the afternoon saw the two classes practicing their newly found skills on the climbing wall and battling it out in a 5-a-side football tournament.
Alpine Adventure Day
5th June 2012
After a hearty breakfast this morning, class 6C, the teachers and I headed up to the 8m high indoor climbing wall located in the Gold Test Centre. To warm up our muscles we had lots of fun playing the shark attack game, then traversing across the bottom of the wall after our safety briefing. Next we were fitted with harnesses and we lined up in front of the 7 different lines ready to be clipped in by an instructor. Most of us managed to reach the top of numerous routes and ring the cow bell placed at the highest point!
After a water break, we grabbed our bags and made our way up to the football field – a fantastic and unique full-size pitch with stunning views of the mountains on each side. No football for us though, a different kind of shooting went on here. Archery was great fun, especially when the kids beat the teachers in the competition held at the end of the session.
A yummy packed lunch was waiting for us when we returned to the centre to refuel before our next adventure on the mountain biking. We hiked up to Plan De Croix where we met Tom, Jim and Toria – our enthusiastic activity instructors – who measured us up for bikes before we practised a few exercises to warm up our biking muscles. We followed a few different trails then cycled all the way back down to Torgon!
An evening meal of delicious cheesy garlic bread, salad, chilli con carne with rice, and fruit salad was then followed by the Torgona Hunt! An action packed, energetic treasure hunt and quiz combined, we found answers in the main square of Torgon and all around the camp itself.
Now, though, it is definitely bedtime after such an action packed day – thoroughly looking forward to the glacier trip tomorrow!
Nicky – Group Leader
