For over ten years, many Masters students have participated in an annual overnight ski trip to Okemo Mountain in southern Vermont. However, because of a high rate of injuries, including many emergency room visits, the trip has been called-off indefinitely.

Director of Student Activities and Transportation Coordinator Ed Gormley was the Director of the ski trip. He said, “For a trip that doesn’t really have any educational value, students were getting hurt too often, sometimes kind of seriously hurt. We decided we can’t keep offering this trip.”

“The cancelation of the trip has been discussed for a couple of years now – about three years ago it came up that we should probably stop offering this trip, but we saw kids really enjoying themselves and it would break my heart to see that end,” Gormley said.

Growing interest in attending the trip was a contributing factor to the cancelation of the ski trip. Last year, the school brought 71 students and five chaperones, the largest ski trip in Masters history. “The fact is, we do condone skiing, but we just don’t condone 71 kids skiing with five chaperones; it was too many and too big for the amount of supervision we had,” Gormley said.

In an email addressing the cancelation, the Interim Head of the Upper School, Peter Newcomb said, “After a thorough evaluation, we have decided to remove the ski trip from our student activities programming this year.”

Sophomore Nathan Meyer expressed his frustration about the cancelation. “I’m pretty upset that the trip was canceled. Last year I met a bunch of new friends and had a great time, and I’m sorry I won’t be able to do that again this year,” he said.

Sophomore Jackson Manfredi also appreciated the ski trip. “The trip allowed me to bond with my peers outside of school, and it also built relationships with friends who are some of my closest friends to this day,” he said.

Gormley said he sympathizes with the disappointed students. He said, “I know you’re disappointed, I am too, but it’s for the best interest of the students. I really do hope this decision makes sense to you all.”