Why not join other like-minded teens and meet new friends in an action-packed ski week in one of Italy's top ski resorts?
Winter Camp 2024
9th - 16th February 2024
Folgaria - Hotel Garden - Alpe Cimbra
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The Camp
The 2024 Winter Camp organised by The Ski Company is a supervised residential winter sports programme for unaccompanied individuals aged 8 to 20 years. The camp is a multicultural, coeducational and non-denominational event that brings together teenagers from the UK.
The focus of the Winter Camp is on safety, enjoyment, learning, achievement and above all, after such a difficult year, simply being young and having fun again.
It is also about teamwork. We provide alpine winter sports coaching from the Italian Ski School and a range of other activities, supervised by friendly and experienced staff, so that campers can make the most of the wonderful opportunities on offer.
The Setting
You will get many WOW experiences. Words like “spectacular & breathtaking view”, “amazing & unforgettable landscape” will be used a lot during your holiday. The Dolomites are the perfect setting for a ski holiday. Here, UNESCO-protected landscapes combine with a sunny climate and immaculate pistes to create one of the world’s most beautiful and enjoyable ski regions. Meanwhile, state-of-the-art snowmaking systems ensure the slopes are fast and fun, whatever the weather.
The Skiing
Only 95km or about 90 minutes from Verona airport, Folgaria is a mid-sized resort in the Trentino region of northern Italy that has a reputation for being in a snow pocket. It also has impeccable ski history credentials, as the first ski lift in Italy was built here, in the 1930s, and a full ski resort created shortly after the war.
Since then the pistes, accessed by chairlifts, have grown to cover 104km. About two-thirds of that is local to Folgaria itself; the other 30km is above the neighbouring villages of Lavarone and Luserna, a short bus ride away.
Folgaria is a gem, with an excellent variety of slopes it is ideal for a mixed-ability groups and perfect for beginners with 37 flattering easy-to-intermediate red and blue runs carving down through the trees plus a handful of testing blacks.
Mountains of the Champions
It is official, Alpe Cimbra ski area is the new training centre of the US SKI TEAM for the next 4 years.
The decision of the US Ski team is no coincidence.
In the last couple of years, many World Cup teams trained here.
The technical features of these slopes coupled with the optimal conditions of the terrain resulting from the professional grooming techniques of the ski lift company led to spread the popularity of the ski area as one the best destination for training purposes.
Men’s Alpine Team Finds New European Home Base in Italy
Every year national teams from all over Europe come to Alpe Cimbra to train: the Italian, Austrian and Swedish national teams to name but a few.
The Accommodation
Hotel Garden is a traditional family-run 3-star hotel steeped in charming hospitality and they specialise in making guests feel at home during their stay.
The hotel is perfectly located on the outskirts of the small Italian village of Costa, a short walk from the the ski slopes and the rental equipment shop. You are also just a few minutes away by bus from the partly pedestrianised village of Folgaria which houses beautiful Italian shopes - perfect for those souveniers, outstanding pizzerias and the Olympic size Ice Skating rink.
The hotel has small but cosy communal areas, that offer a lovely place to relax after a busy day skiing up a storm. These are tastefully decorated in keeping with beautiful surroundings of the mountains. The guest rooms are all furnished with a parquet floor and are comfortable, impeccably maintained and have a variety of bed configurations.
The hotel restaurant caters for a variety of tastebuds with the plentiful breakfast buffet full of locally sourced meats, cheeses, and breads, this continues at dinner with a buffet of salad, vegetables, and delicious main courses. The kitchen specialises in combining Trentino delicacies and unique regional flavours to create exquisite homemade dishes.
A typical day at the Winter Camp
As much as we would like campers to wake up bright and alert and on time each morning we appreciate that the chances of that happening each morning are close to zero so you will be delighted to know that each morning a small army of Ski Company staff will be knocking on doors bright and early. For breakfast a broad selection of foods, reflecting various dietary requirements, is available and campers are encouraged to fuel up for the energetic day ahead.
Leaders help their group to prepare for skiing, gathering together items such as gloves, goggles, sun cream etc, and making sure that each camper has taken a picnic lunch. The campers will then assemble in their ski groups for the short trip with their leaders to the slopes to meet their ski instructors.
Ski groups are determined more by ability than age – though there will, undoubtedly, be opportunities to meet up with friends during the day, as arrangements are often made to rendezvous for lunch or a quick drink.
Coaching is structured for each group’s needs and the instructor decides how the day will be spent, according to the conditions of the snow, the weather and the campers’ abilities. The aim is to challenge each group, helping the campers to develop their skills, to learn respect for the mountains and, of course, to have fun.
For those who have skied before there will be more “learning on the move” than some may be accustomed to, with the instructor acting much as a coach and guide, particularly with the higher ability groups. This gives campers more responsibility for their own progress but at The Ski Company, we firmly believe that you can’t improve your skiing by standing still!
The campers are accompanied back to the hotel once skiing is over by their leaders at the end of each day. Campers then have time to relax before their evening meal, leaders are on hand to answer any questions or resolve any equipment issues.
After supper, evening activities are organised by the leaders and all the campers are encouraged to take part. These activities energise campers to have a go at different things and, perhaps, to find new strengths or hidden talents.
Although children often find it difficult to wake up in the morning they do seem to have the opposite issue at night, however after a fun-packed and energetic day on and off the slopes campers tend to have no trouble getting to sleep once they have been corralled into their rooms. Bed times are always sensible and age dependent though, as with all youngsters, there is sometimes a little room for negotiation !
Leaders and Ski Company staff all live in the same building and are in effect available 24/7 in case anyone has any questions or concerns that need addressing. Our night watch staff are also on call throughout the night if any assistance is needed.
