When my dad and I flew into Johannesburg on July 20th, I
wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew that Africa wasn’t meant to be snowy, so
reaching an area that had enough snow for skiing would be quite
difficult.
My dad and I were in the city for a few days before the rest
of the group arrived and were able to look around. We saw the downtown areas of
Johannesburg and parts of Soweto, which contained some very poor
residences.
The next day, we met the rest of the BSA group back at the
airport of Jo-burg and then we all flew to Bloemfontein, in a tiny propeller
plane. Our group of 15 took up the majority of the plane. Luckily, our whole
group had been in England or other parts of Europe, so none of us had to deal with
jetlag.
From Bloemfontein, we hired a taxi service to take us up to
Tiffindell resort. We drove for five hours on open roads, surrounded by
completely desolate grasslands until we reached the nearest town to Tiffindell,
Barkly East. At this point the skies were darkening and we began to drive on
bumpy dirt roads.
The last segment was quite steep, windy and narrow, and I
wondered how anyone ever found this specific mountain and decided to create a
ski area. It was another two hours until we reached the resort and, until we
saw snow. Tiffindell is undoubtedly the most remote place I have ever skied- or
been.
The next morning we were finally able to take in our
surroundings. All the houses and buildings of Tiffindell were within a quarter
mile area, with the ski area above it all. The insides of the houses were also
very spacious and cozy.
We spent two days training at the resort before the races.
There was a single run with two surface lifts. The top lift led to a steep
pitch the length of 12 slalom gates and then the hill began to flatten towards
the finish. The snow was man-made, and pretty firm, but a week or two after we
left Tiffindell actually got several Inches of natural snow. After each morning
of training or racing we ate the inclusive lunch provided to us; surprisingly,
the meals were quite similar to British food.
There were a total of ten races in South Africa, but we only
spent five days racing because every day, we did two races- a total of four
slalom runs. It was a little tiring, but at the same time, there was less
pressure on each run. Generally, there were two courses that we alternated
between. This made it easier to improve from run to run, because we already had
a strategy for the set. There were only 22 girls competing which meant there
was usually less of a break in between each run.
The weather was quite sunny for most days of racing.
However, there were strong winds and therefore built-in weather days in case it
ever became too windy for the surface lift to function. We only had to use one
weather day. For the FIS entry league races (four in total) we only raced on
the flat, shorter half of the slope. Inevitably it was more of a sprint slalom.
For the FIS citizen races, standard FIS races and National Junior Championships
we skied the entire hill, including the steep top section.
On the “bad-weather” day, our coaches convinced us to hike
Ben MacDhui, the tallest mountain in this area of the Drakensberg range, at
3001 meters. The hike up was pretty standard at the beginning, although we had
to cross the ski run. As we approached the peak and increased our exposure, the
wind speeds rapidly increased. By the time we reached the top of the mountain,
it felt as if we were in a wind tunnel. It was hard to hear one another speak,
and when I leaned forward the gusts supported me. The hike was about 90 minutes
in total.
After ten days, we said goodbye to Tiffindell and started on
the long drive down the mountain. I was very grateful to have this experience,
during which we met a lot of interesting people. There were racers from
Austria, Belgium, Britain, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Kosovo, Portugal,
South Africa, Turkey, and the USA.
There was a South African ski Academy on the mountain, and
we later learned that some of those athletes normally lived in quite poor
areas, and had to rely purely on donations of ski equipment - but nevertheless
were pursuing a ski career. A lot of the visiting athletes had donated their
old ski equipment to the kids in South Africa, so the whole race had a very positive
atmosphere. Being in such a small area for an extended amount of time can
really bring people together.
The next stop on the list is our Australia and New Zealand
trip. I’m very much looking forward to this one!! Until next time…
