I probably had the most fun I’ve experienced at the three of these holidays that I and my family have attended; I thoroughly enjoy the skiing (I’m obsessed with it!), and the life of the hotel was just as fantastic. No matter the ages, the hearing impairments, or even the way we communicated (spoken or signing), we all had a great time with each other; with the mad snowball fights, epic foosball matches, and pool games. I very much enjoyed using everyone as my cushion on the sofa and demonstrating my awesome pool skills (I’m atrocious really!).

Ski-school was brilliant with tiny groups defined by our abilities. Every time I’ve been, my ski-instructor has been fantastic: communication was never a problem. They made sure that they were very visual with demonstrations, and were very understanding (e.g. having to change the batteries in my processor halfway down a black run!). Moreover, they even seemed interested, attempting to learn the sign language for themselves. This I found entertaining, not being able to sign myself.

Many activities were available after skiing too. My personal favourite was parascending (skiing off a mountain with a parachute – with an instructor in my case); it was an experience that I will never forget. Having my dad try to kill me on a Skidoo (snowmobile) was fun too.

Most of the girls seemed to prefer shopping. I didn’t.

However, it’s no good me telling you about it, you’ll have to come along yourself to find out the magic of the CICS skiing holidays. I certainly got a lot out of it: lifelong friendships, the ability to ski well (or so I think), and lots of cool bruises to show my mates.