Between a mistake by a travel agent that sent the trip to Dallas instead of Denver from Dulles, lots of great snow and an alcohol-related room search on the last night, the 51 students and eight chaperones had plenty of excitement on the annual ski trip to Breckenridge.

The original plan was to take a three-and-a-half-hour direct flight to Denver, followed by a two-hour bus ride to the resort. What happened was much more of a logistical nightmare.

Because of a scheduling mix-up, the flight booked was scheduled to take off from Dallas to Denver instead of from Dulles, causing students to endure more travel and wait time than expected.

“The scheduling mix up just made the trip excruciatingly long but it made for some hilarious memories,” sophomore Sophia Knappertz said.

Students took two separate three-hour flights to Dallas with a two-hour layover in Texas. After an additional two-hour delay, students boarded a two-hour flight to Denver, Colorado.

After a two-hour bus ride from the airport to the resort, students arrived around 2 a.m. Jan. 16.

Students woke up early almost every day to ski until the lifts closed around 4 p.m. After a full day of skiing, they played card games, hung out with friends, took short walks in the town or hit the hot tubs.

The trip was a nice break after a stressful first semester, junior Carli Riibner said.

“It’s the best time to go because you don’t have any homework and you have nothing to worry about,” she said.

The moderate temperatures and mountain conditions were perfect and students said they improved their skiing while in Colorado.

“My favorite part of the trip was definitely hiking up the Imperial Bowl,” senior Carolyn McGill said. “The view was absolutely breathtaking, metaphorically and literally seeing as the mountain top was about 13,000 ft. tall.”

Students and staff alike said the powdery conditions of the Rockies provided a sharp contrast to the East Coast snow to which they are accustomed.

“It’s a million times better out there,” math teacher Tyler Wilkinson said. “The runs are a lot longer, the snow is a lot softer, and there’s just a lot more available.”

Despite the enjoyable skiing and card games, drugs and alcohol became an issue at the trip’s conclusion.

The last night of the trip, chaperones gathered upperclassmen for a meeting. Chaperones informed students that they were searching their rooms after overhearing students discuss drinking alcohol during the trip.

The chaperones found both alcohol and marijuana in some of the students’ rooms. Some students were asked to call their parents and others had meetings with chaperones to talk about the incident.

Students had a 7:00 p.m. curfew that night and woke up early the next morning for a long day of travel home.

Administrators are handling the incident and are meeting with students during seventh period Friday.