Tangled Up In Blog

Ski Weekend

After talking about it for the past two winters Andy and I finally went skiing this past weekend. This was the first time I had ever been skiing so it was quite and experience. Andy had been once before in Montana, and like every other athletic pursuit, he picked it up really quickly. I was expecting the worst when got there on Saturday morning. I am not very coordinated or very strong so I thought I was going to be a skiing failure. To start off, the worst part of skiing is the gear. The boots are the most uncomfortable things I've ever had on my feet, and they weigh about five pounds each. In addition, if your skis aren't on your feet you have to carry them everywhere and they aren't light either. Both were just a big pain in my ass.

We went with Chuck, Christina, and Cassie who are all experienced skiers and Martin who was snowboarding so I was the only beginner. It would have been more fun to have someone else learning with me so I didn't feel like such a loser, but oh well... So I got out on the bunny slope and after falling on the dismount from the ski lift, I got the hang of things really quickly. The bunny slope is obviously not steep at all so I was just gliding along, doing long turns really easily and stopping myself just by skidding sideways. Everyone was congratulating me on how quickly I picked it up and I was starting to think maybe I had been underestimating myself. Of course, a big BUT is coming....So we walk over to the first slope..a green, or easy run. I start heading down and very quickly I am FLYING down the hill and I realize I have no clue how to slow down or stop myself. About 1/4 of the way down the hill, I'm going 10 times as fast as I was on the bunny slope. So I skid to the side to stop myself which doesn't work when you're going that fast. I start falling and then as I hit the ground my ski catches in the snow and my ski doesn't come off, twisting my knee to a horrible angle so that when I stopped and looked at my leg I though for sure it was broken. My eyes welled up and I fought back tears. Andy came over and helped me up and after a few minutes I tried again....same thing. I had no business being up there since I couldn't stop myself. By the time I got to the bottom of the hill I was scared to death and was swearing that I was done with skiing. Never again. Going that fast really freaked me out.

I didn't want to hold Andy back from skiing so I told him to go ahead without me and I would go back to the bunny slope to practice. I got back on the bunny hill but even that was terrifying. I had scared myself so badly my knees were shaking on the bunny hill and I was practically paralyzed with fear. Andy met up with me again and we took a break in the lodge. He promised to teach me the beginner skiing method..the snow plough..which is basically just skiing with your skis in a V, tips together, to slow yourself down. We went back out to the bunny slope and practiced that about 50 times before I would get back on the green slope. I was still scared but more confident in my ability to slow myself down and stop. After that I was fine, but it look a lot of convincing on Andy's part to get me back out there. So in the end I was right, I am pretty uncoordinated but I was happy with myself for a first time skiier. Andy of course was swooshing around, making it look pretty effortless.

The other problem with being an adult beginner is that there are tons of kids out on the slopes who are much, much better than you which can being pretty demeaning. As I'm going down the green slopes with my beginner style, every ounce of concentration on not killing myself, there are five year old kids in pink snowsuits zooming past me while they talk to their friends about Dora the Explorer. Not exactly confidence building.

I would give myself a C+ on my overall first day performance. The main problem is that I really want to go skiing again....right now. It's near the end of the season so we probably won't make it back until next winter but I'm already looking forward to it.

Labels: travel

posted by carolyn @ 1:37 PM