Coming Down the Mountain

Innsbruck isn’t known for its primal rejuvenation workshops. At least not until the Right Path Party and DUFFF trundled into town last week.

The aim was to bring a group of underprivileged youngsters from inner city Birmingham – many of whom have special needs and learning difficulties – on a three-day excursion aiming to facilitate trust and re-engineer confidence through para-nodal counterintuitive communication strategies. The trip was organised in conjunction with the Birmingham Youth Service. And the youngsters were in for a special treat on the final day when my favourite rock band and close personal friends Coldplay just happened to turn up for an improvised jam session. Wonders never cease!

DAY 1 
We arrive at the Hotel Sporthotel Penz to a double surprise. Not only is it snowing – some of our youngsters have never seen the white stuff – but it turns out there’s a discount on the rooms. The parents will be delighted when they learn that their kids’ pocket money is being spent wisely this month, and we waste no time in getting everybody kitted out in their mountain apparel.

The aim of this three-day exercise was simple: primal para-nodal FLOPP reinvigoration. Of the 17 girls and 20 boys signed up for the trip, all have some kind of learning disability. Most have spent time in foster care homes or juvenile detention centres. Many, like “Nigel” (not his real name), suffer from mild psychological disorders. For Hunt Freaker, DUFFF’s Executive Coordination Strategy Chairman, it’s all about trying to rebuild confidence from day one, even before the kids hit the slopes.

“The first thing that happens,” says Hunt, “is we get them running naked through the hotel corridors. It’s just an icebreaker. But it’s also crucial because before you can rebuild confidence you first need to earn the kids’ trust.”

DAY 2

Today is the first rung on the confidence building ladder. Literally. None of these kids have skied before and some of them suffer from vertigo. However, that doesn’t dissuade Hunt from organising a “motivation workshop” at the top of the 50-metre high Bergisel Ski Jump. Not all of them come down in the elevator. “Most kids who have grown up in traumatic environments,” says Hunt, “are just waiting to break out of their shell. It’s so important that they learn to accept unusual challenges.”

For Nigel, who suffers mild concussion after a near fatal crash landing, this was certainly unusual. However, Hunt, who always advocates a “shock therapy” approach, remains philosophical, insisting that “some kids have got it and others don’t.”

DAY 3 
This is more like it as we relax in the hotel sauna. It’s hot in here, so I ask if I can leave the door ajar. This is great for ironing out yesterday’s bruises. The kids get talking to a German man named “Hans” (not his real name) while Hunt and I meet up with Chris Martin, who arrives fresh from putting the finishing touches to Coldplay’s new album.

Immediately Chris orders fondue – “I can’t stop eating the stuff” – and reveals how this delicacy was in fact the inspiration for the song Yellow, Coldplay’s most acclaimed stadium anthem: “Our guitarist had been drinking all day, and was trying to recharge his batteries, so we suggested fondue. Halfway through eating his face just collapses in the fondue. So I quickly grabbed him and pulled him up by the hair to stop him drowning. His face was covered in this fondue. And I said, ‘Jonny, you’re all yellow’.”

It’s good to see Chris again, and later on he signs autographs for the kids and sings songs, including one from the new album, on what looks like a harp made from a goat’s horn. What an Alpine star!

For me this is more than ample motivation for these disadvantaged youngsters to take home with them. Although Hunt, ever the lateral thinker, is not finished yet: “We’ll get them out on a cross country hike before the coach leaves for the airport at 5am.” Thanks to Hunt, for the first time in their lives these kids are ready for everything Handsworth, Digbeth and Balsall Heath throws at them.

(Originally published 15 February 2008)