Today the bulk of the crew went into the mountains to try their hand at sking. Tommy, Neil & Ruth were among them, here's what their day was like...

Smokie on the piste"Most of the crew went on a bus trip through awe-inspiring scenery to Stryn and to the summer ski resort up on the glacier 1500m up into the sky. We stopped at Videofossen waterfall on the way up and admired the postcards of gentlemen smoking pipes as the clouds began to break, giving us a glimpse of what was waiting for us. Some serious haggling was required at the ski equip hire shop as the Maloy committee had failed to negotiate the price we had been told aboard the SWAN. Needlesss to say an excellent deal was struck, and boots, jackets, etc,etc., were struggled into as the SWAN crew strutted around like seasoned veterans. From base camp we could see those already up on the slopes, as all that seperated us was the swinging chairs of the ski lift. What an amazing sight filled our field of vision from those precarious chairs. It was like a lunar landscape with colour dabbled with turquiose pools. As we wobbled onto the snow, our heroism we shew as we donned our clothes soon disappeared. Stuart moonwalkingWe didn't know what we were doing. However, it was not so hard after all once we were on the slope, travelling at 100mph at an angle of 45. In fact, as it turned out we were all natural geniuses at skiing and snowboarding. Special mention must be made of Stuart 'Clammer' Grains who despite not having the stylish of sking gear (white gloves and oooey ganzy) showed us all how its done. Sore and weet rear ends and a good sleep on the bus on the way home voted the day a success. An impromptu session with some mexican singing in the bar next door till the wee hours brought a tired and wery crew to bed in the early morning."

Neil was playing again in the bar tonight. Paul, who is Skipper on Rona 2 , and I went in to hear him. Paul was completely bowled over by Neil's amazing talent. His little girl is getting piano lessons eenoo and he saw a maestro at work tonight.