Varsity Trip, the organisers of an annual ski trip for Oxford and Cambridge students, have taken the decision to cancel their planned March 2021 trip to France.

The decision comes in light of “ongoing French Ski Resort closures, travel restrictions and the new variants of Covid-19”. The self-proclaimed “world’s largest ski trip”, which can trace its lineage back to as early as 1922, had already made the call to delay the booking of the trip in early January due to uncertainty around the coronavirus.

The trip – which usually has upwards of 3,000 participants – had been expected to take place in the Easter vacation, between 19 and 27 March. On 1 January, three days before the introduction of the third UK lockdown, Varsity said that it hoped that the trip would still go ahead despite concern about rising coronavirus cases in Britain and France.

Past Varsity Trips have hosted Calvin Harris and Tinie Tempah as performers.

Despite the inevitable disappointment that will flow from the decision to cancel an excursion popular among many Oxford students, Varsity Trip looked to reassure students that it would return as soon as possible. They said that they hoped to see students back in the Alps as soon as possible, and that the next successful trip will be “our biggest” to date.

Varsity Trip have been contacted for comment.

Image credits: Karl Kohler on Unsplash