72 students and 8 lecturers from PXL College of Higher Education in the Limburg city of Hasselt have been snowed in for two days in the village of Gressoney in northern Italy. The students, who are training to be physical education teachers, travelled to Italy with their lecturers as part of their course. When they arrived in Gressoney on Sunday, almost 1.5 metres of snow fell in a very short time.
Ski lifts in the area remain closed due to danger from avalanches and an avalanche has blocked the only road in and out of the village. Nevertheless, the students and their lecturers are making the best of it.
Lecturer Sigi Celis told VRT News that "Normally the drive here takes 13 to 14 hours. It took us almost 18 hours. We arrived on Sunday afternoon. In a short time, 1.5 metres of snow fell. Suddenly a wall of snow formed at the side of the road and cars are completely snowed in. If you walk through it, you are up to your belly in snow”.
"Although spectacular, it has rather thrown a spanner in the works. Normally, we have breakfast early on a Sunday and hit the slopes straight away, but this wasn’t an option this time as all the lifts were closed. On Monday we were told that they will remain closed due to the danger of avalanches”.
However, being unable to get on to the piste is not the only issue as the snow has cut off the village from the outside world.
End in sight
The end of the Limburgers’ ordeal seems to be in sight though. "Hopefully the worst is behind us and some ski lifts will open very soon. The whole of the skiing area won’t open until tomorrow though”, Mr Celis told VRT News.
The lecturer went on to say that the students have made the best of it, taking the opportunity of the ample supply of snow to build and après-ski bar, an igloo and a 4-metre-high snowman.
Despite only being able to ski for 4 days instead of 6 the student will still be able to be assessed on their skiing and snowboarding skills.