Duke of Edinburgh Award takes to Alps
Over the Easter break eight Sixth Formers successfully completed the expedition section of their 
Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award – however, this was not achieved on foot but on skis! The pupils, together with Mr Marlot and Mr Weatherly and two experienced mountain guides had prepared well for this most demanding and enervating of trips by training intensively in the French Alps during February half term. Based in the village of Argentière near Chamonix they carried out several day trips to get themselves acclimatised to the exciting but potentially dangerous alpine environment.
On the expedition itself, day one was spent warming up by going down the Vallée Blanche (3,842 amsl), before tackling the Haute Route which involved skiing down, across and up numerous crevasse-ridden glaciers from Verbier to Zermatt. Staying in mountain huts for four nights at an altitude of more than 3,000m with no running water and skiing and walking by day proved this was no easy option and all eight can be very proud of their achievements. As if that wasn’t enough, on the last day, they climbed the Breithorn (4,164m), arguably the highest peak ever climbed in the Alps by Eltham College pupils!
