GB Ski Team History

If you are a ski holiday enthusiast, please answer the following question;

 

Is your idea of perfect après ski….

 

a)     going home to shower and change, before snuggling up in a  dressing gown and a hot chocolate,

b)    skiing straight into the nearest bar, and finding that, by 7pm, you are balanced precariously on a bar stool in your ski boots, beer in hand, singing ‘Sweet Caroline’ or ‘Summer of 69’, whilst hugging a complete stranger, probably from a different country…

 

If your answer is b, welcome to the GB ski team!!!

 

The GB Ski team was formed in the Andorran resort of Pas de la Casa in December 2001 when, during an après-ski booze up very similar to that detailed above, The GB Ski Team was born. The whole philosophy of the team was that, regardless of ski ability, you had to do your utmost to burn the candle at both ends! (The GB came from ‘Get Bent’, a well used Bart Simpson catch phrase which was team member Butch’s response to anyone who tried to wake him up for skiing before nine o’clock in the morning.)

 

The second GB ski tour took place the following Christmas in Val Thorens with six of the founder members present. However, this barely registers on the team Richter scale as, due to extreme altitude, comfortable accommodation, lack of resort atmosphere or decent pubs/bars, the level of après-ski reached an embarrassing low.  

 

And so to Kitzbuhel, Austria, in February 2005 – the first full-scale GB Ski Team tour. And what a tour! Planned by Dougie as a joint stag do for Sticks and Bondy, founder member Bondy set the ball rolling by breaking his leg the week before we left. It was downhill from then on as the team, resplendent in the first ever GB Ski Team shirts, (football shirts organised by Butch and made by Umbro,) left a trail of destruction on piste and in resort alike. The snow piled down all week leaving tonnes of powder, if poor visibility, for the skiing. As for the après, the team were introduced for the first time to the hospitality of Paul, Stewie and Mikey, and football shirts could be seen from four o’clock in the evening until four o’clock in the morning in establishments such as Brass Monkeys, The Londoner, The Holtz Sports bar and Mango’s.

 

2005 remains the only universal GB Ski Team tour as, unfortunately, uneven half-term holidays has meant staggered visits to Kitzbuhel in the two years since. In 2006, ten members were in resort over the two weeks and in 2007 seventeen members made the trip, again spread over a fortnight. Half of the latter was another stag do, this time for member ‘TT’, a veteran of all three Kitzbuhel visits and one of the teams more prodigious après-skiers! This meant that new shirts were ordered, this time one-day cricket shirts from Surridge Sports, the company we have to thank for our excellent badge which so encapsulates the team ethos.

 

It is the staggered nature of the last two years which has led to the high excitement levels for the 2008 tour. At last the trip is available to the full membership and a record attendance is already guaranteed. Membership has risen from eight to thirty-five without trying and this will only increase as van Ginger and Dougie launch the Global Brand. With Kitzbuhel bars (and possibly a pub in Wakefield!) battling it out for sponsorship rights to next years rugby shirts, you know what you have to do to get your hands on one! Sign up now and book yourself into resort on the dates displayed elsewhere on this site!

 

Beer, do your stuff!!!

 

Sticks.

(No. 11)