Wondrous Winterlude

7 February 2022Sebastian M, Privett ‘23

January 31st marked Brentwood’s fifth annual Winterlude trip. The journey north to Mount Washington for the day is an awesome opportunity for students and staff to see more of the beautiful island they live on, and for us all to enjoy a day skiing, tubing or avalanche training.

Although some students must remain on campus for musical rehearsal or sports practice, the majority headed out for the day. The earliest buses left campus at 6:00 am, allowing us to enjoy the very first runs of a day on fresh snow.

Organizing the whole thing is a great deal of work, however Mr Lee has been running it for five years now and seems to have the procedure all figured out. Mr Lee also organizes the annual ski trip to Whistler over midterm break, and he has been the leading force behind the Sunday ski buses too. He says “This will be my last year doing it, but I have enjoyed skiing with the students for these past years now. My favorite part was getting to see all the students enjoying the great conditions.”

Mt Washington, located just outside the Comox Valley, is a two hour drive from Mill Bay and is the only ski mountain on the Island. It has five chair lifts and over eighty runs from very basic to quite challenging. For a group of skiers with all different levels of experience, Mt Washington is the perfect place for Brentwood’s Winterlude. Beginners are able to sign up for lessons on the ‘bunny hill’, while the experts are able to hit jumps in the terrain park or search for the best paths through the trees.

With sunshine and shiny blue skies for the entire day, and a fresh snowfall from the night before, we couldn’t have asked for much better conditions. Often the lower part of the mountain’s runs become icy in the later part of the ski season, but the fresh snowfall made for some good powder to push around. Lucy B, Mackenzie ‘22 claims “I am a bit of a regular here and today was one of the nicest days I’ve seen on the mountain in a while”.

When the shutdown of the Sunrise chairlift required skiers stuck at the bottom to hike the ski hill back up to the main lodge, there were certainly some moans and groans. Gavyn K, Privett ‘22 even goes as far as to say “I’d rather have fallen off the broken chairlift” – but I believe it was good character building if nothing else.

I think it safe to say Winterlude is one of our favorite days of the year and the school looks forward to next year!

Sebastian M, Privett ‘23

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