Learning and liberties: Swiss SkiPD trip did not disappoint

Each January, an intrepid group of approximately 50 equine vets all descend on an unsuspecting ski resort in the hope of learning something and skiing as much terrain as they can.

This year it was the turn of Andermatt in Switzerland – a small, friendly town with a ski area consisting of a chain of villages, accessed via the ski lift system or the spectacular glacier express red train. It is amazing what can be packed into a five-day trip – lots of skiing, while simultaneously gaining intellect from fabulous course content and losing it again due to sleep deprivation and maybe one too many glasses of Whispering Angel.

Renewed and replenished

These group members are certainly not going to depart the planet without taking a few liberties regarding their knee cartilage and livers, yet somehow each year I recommence my normal life once it is over feeling renewed and replenished. Huge thanks goes to the organisers, Catherine Mayes and Henry Tremaine, for making it all possible.

The hotel was very smart and, overlapping with our rabble, was a conference of well-dressed bankers from Zurich. It wasn’t hard to tell the two groups apart, and the equine vets were definitely rowdier.

I recommend SkiPD to anyone who wants to combine inspirational CPD, ski adventure and offbeat humour. Some of the attendees are talented characters, extremely good skiers and eminent in the profession. This could be an intimidating combination, yet all are friendly and approachable.

The supportive camaraderie is life enhancing; once you have attended SkiPD you feel part of the family (albeit a slightly dysfunctional one) and you also have a wealth of people who can provide advice, clinical or otherwise. It also pays to be able to reminisce about Aperol spritzes and panoramic mountain views whenever you have had a tough day.

Each year, BOVA and IMV generously sponsor the event. More importantly, they send fantastic people who fit right in, and become friends to us all. They keep food and wine flowing in restaurants on the mountain and look after us all with skiwear gifts.

They sponsored team hoodies last year, which became infamous for having a wanderlust all of their own and, due to courier error, arrived in Italy late, just as we had all left. They then proceeded to do a worldwide trip, doggedly pursued by Lizzie from BOVA. The man (or in this case woman) hours involved made them very valuable indeed, and most of them got delivered just in time for this year, with just two hoodies in Lizzie’s ski bag to deliver to the European delegates personally as she didn’t want to risk postage catastrophe. You guessed it, the airline lost her ski bag, and the cursed hoodies went on one last disappearing act. Mentally, Lizzie may never recover but thanks go to BOVA and IMV – we love them.

Highest calibre

Henry organises the clinical programme and speakers, and the CPD is of the highest calibre. This year, we had an absolutely inspirational programme, with Fabrice Rossignol discussing airway and orthopaedic surgeries and some of his innovative and pioneering approaches to surgical problems.

Gunther van Loon discussed all things cardiac, amazingly walking the tightrope of boggling our minds with techniques of 3D mapping and ablation, yet also having plenty of content that was accessible to the general practitioner.

Jodie Daglish lectured about sport horse rehabilitation post-surgery and approaches to back pain. Her session included lots of pearls of wisdom and her enthusiasm for her speciality shone through. She also politely, yet vehemently, encouraged all of us to hold ourselves to account and simply to be better – no excuses.

Last, but not least, Alison Fairburn talked us through CT use in orthopaedic cases and ultrasound-guided injections, again with lots of very useful techniques and practical advice on finding the anatomy.

The content was varied, and all of the speakers were fascinating and inspiring in equal measure. I was lucky enough to sit next to Gunther at dinner and it was a unilaterally enriching experience for me that made me wonder what I have done with my time on Earth, and how clever some humans really are. I am sure he was deeply fascinated by my stories of wrestling fat hairy cobs in the Dudley area, too.

This article does also need mention of the skiing and social antics. Andermatt treated us well – the views were spectacular and, despite the terrain being maybe not as steep and challenging as some resorts, there were plenty of reds, blacks and off-piste to keep good skiers happy.

Skiing standards

The standard of skiing of delegates is high, but some have bravely started their ski career on SkiPD, including one new delegate this year. She took some lessons and was cruising around by the end of the week to the admiration of all, particularly Graham Duncanson, who showed her his skills. He is a vet-turned-author, stalwart of SkiPD, who turned 80 last year. Thankfully, he didn’t let skyrocketing insurance costs put him off as it wouldn’t be the same without him.

The weather was beautiful, apart from one morning of white out that had some delegates suffering from nausea, nystagmus and cartwheeling down hills. The less affected were very patient, with good shepherding skills, so we all ended up back in one piece. I’m sure it had nothing to do with the trip to the bar the previous evening…

Which neatly leads us to evening antics. Andermatt, at first glance, looked like a hard place to start a party, with a couple of empty bars on offer. However, an intrusion of equine vets resulted in everyone dancing on tables, a table football victory of vets over the resident Swiss army soldiers, and an inspired eventual opening of a previously very closed-looking nightclub.

In summary, the skiing, camaraderie and CPD were all wonderful and I am looking forward to next year, wherever it may take us. Booking enquiries can be made at [email protected]. You will not regret it.