The poster for the 2012 ski trip.
Deputy News Editor
The University Times has learned that this year’s Dublin University Snow Sports Club trip to Les Arcs in France resulted in damage to accommodation described by the club as “leagues beyond anything caused by any other university.”Following a number of high-profile incidents on the 2011 trip, it was understood that the 2012 visit to the same resort had passed without major incident after a concerted effort by the club committee to discourage reckless behaviour. However, in an email sent to all participants on the 2012 trip, the club told that the damage caused to the group’s accommodation was “considerably worse than last year”.The situation has led to difficulties in returning deposits to skiers as the club attempt to resolve a number of issues with the residence and the resort. DUSSC used the email to issue a plea to those with outstanding damage costs to make the necessary payments, requesting that all trip-goers who “have been asked to pay for damages that exceed your deposit [to] do this as soon as possible so that everyone else on the trip can get their money back”.
The national media reaction to the reckless behavior of a separate group of UCD and Trinity students during the 2011 trip played heavily on the minds of the 2011/12 DUSSC committee, with the Junior Dean addressing all those who signed up to attend. Club correspondence throughout the year has stressed that misdemeanours may result in a prohibition on any future trips.
In the same email, the club expressed its disappointment at the destructive conduct of a number of attendees:
From our perspective, it is an incredible shame that after everything that happened last year, and the year of hard work put in by committee, the building was still treated with such little respect. [The club knows] that many of you feel you have been charged unfairly. However, Trinity were the only residents in the building so the damage was caused by someone.
