Many schools no longer send students to ski in the mountains – Bavaria

With skis in my luggage for a week in the Alps with an expensive ski pass. That no longer exists at the Christian-Ernestinum high school in Bayreuth. The ski camp will be replaced by less expensive school trips, says headmaster Franz Eisentraut. “From an educational point of view, such a community experience outside of school with overnight stays is very important,” says the director of studies. “But you can have that just as well in the Fichtelgebirge or Franconian Switzerland.”

That’s why many schools now say: low mountain ranges instead of groomed slopes in the Alps. Especially at Bavarian schools, the ski camp – i.e. trips lasting several days with intensive skiing – has so far been part of the fixed program in the 7th and 8th grade, says Jürgen Böhm, federal chairman of the Association of German Realschule teachers. Many students often went to Austria. But skiing holidays in the Alps or low mountain ranges have also been popular in other federal states. However, Böhm has observed a trend towards replacing ski courses with sports weeks. “The financial aspect plays a particularly important role here, as do ecological considerations to some extent.”

The ski camp has become very expensive, explains Eisentraut from Bayreuth. In 2022, parents would have had to transfer almost 500 euros to the school for a school week on the slopes – including for transport, ski pass, board and lodging. If you add winter equipment, pocket money and rental fees for skis, you quickly get to around 700 euros per student, the school director calculates. “Instead of five or six days of ski camps, we can offer two school trips,” says Eisentraut.

The high school is planning a summer sports week in the vicinity with hikes to river springs or to the Ochsenkopf, the second highest mountain in the Fichtelgebirge. Research trips are also planned, for example to the Mathematicon in Heidelberg or the Deutsches Museum in Munich. The headmaster thinks that the ski camp is a unique natural experience and also valuable from a sporting point of view. But: “We are an Upper Franconian high school. Skiing is not part of our students’ daily experience.”

Despite many discussions about high costs and ecology, many school classes from northern Germany are now making the long journey to the Alps again, as reported by Thomas Braun, Head of Sports Development and Education at the German Ski Association. “Decades later, many still like to think back to their skiing time with school,” he says. “When do you come into contact with cold, snow and winter so intensely?”

“Money isn’t that loose anymore.”

However, schools near the Alps do not want to do without sports in the snow entirely: the state secondary school in Memmingen in the Allgäu has converted the ski camp into a winter sports week. There is currently a seventh class in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, reports headmaster Jörg Link. “We not only offer skiing there, but also, for example, snowshoe hikes or ice skating.” A hike to the Zugspitze is also on the agenda.

About 300 euros were incurred for the winter sports week in Upper Bavaria, says headmaster Link: “Of course it is also a question of costs. We are currently in a finding phase and want to make the trip as ecological as possible.” For example, there is a “Veggie Day” at the hostel. Excursions are not forgone elsewhere either.

The German Youth Hostel Association has not noticed any decrease in overnight stays by school classes in ski areas. Spokesman Justin Blum even reports a slight increase in the low mountain ranges. The reasons for this include the shorter journey and lower prices. According to this, more and more skiing classes have recently come to Winterberg in North Rhine-Westphalia. The number of overnight stays is also stable in Torfhaus im Harz (Lower Saxony) and the Bavarian ski regions. According to their own statements, the youth hostels in Bavaria benefited from the fact that fewer classes went to Austria and South Tyrol.

Simone Fleischmann, President of the Bavarian Teachers’ Association (BLLV), reports that many schools in Bavaria are doing without ski camps. The increased costs were often the decisive factor: “In times of strong inflation, money is no longer so easy.” In addition, it is snowing less and less in the Alps. Therefore, slope operators are increasingly using artificial snow. “That doesn’t fit with the principle of sustainability that many schools have committed to,” says Fleischmann.

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