Skiing!

Saturday, December 4th, 2010 was bound to be an epic day. Matt's favorite hobby, after flying, of course, is skiing and he has been trying to get me up to the slopes for awhile. Since I had the weekend off because I couldn't travel to Moscow, this was the perfect opportunity. So after a quick trip to Next Adventure on Friday night to get me some used ski/snow pants and some goggles, we were on our way to the slopes for some night skiing on Saturday, along with our friend Kyle (whom he like to call Yak).

First off, I must add that if you have never had to walk around in ski boots, it is an interesting experience, since the way they are designed makes you bend your knees. This immediately made me nervous because I have a knee condition that can be aggravated by added stress. I hoped beyond hope that my knees wouldn't give out on me. Then I got my skis. I mentioned to the employee that it was my first time, so he gave short skis (135) and made the screws on bindings really really loose (so if I crashed, my boots would detach from my skis easily, how smart of him!). I would also like to mention that the ski brand was Atomic, so I just told myself that I had nuclear powered skis, thus making them powerful and nearly indestructible (however, if something goes wrong, it really, really goes wrong). I was finally all ready for the bunny slope!

This is were I almost had a crying breakdown. Pointing my skis downhill absolutely terrified me and it didn't help that 1. I was the only person older than 6 who was learning, and 2. There was a snowboarding instructor that kept whizzing in and out of people. Matt skied backwards as he verbally led me down the hill, and guess what! I didn't fall at all! Granted, I was pretty much going perpendicular down the hill and snow plowed the entire way, but hey! I made it! I again freaked out, but this time at the rope pull, I didn't want to fall off in front of everybody or get run over by other people coming up the pull. But I got the hang of it, and got all the way back to the top without incident.

I mastered the bunny slope after a few more rounds (without falling, ever!) and my only nervousness become running over children or getting run over by snowboards. I attribute my fast learning skills to my childhood unicycling. I know that sounds weird, but unicycling is all about balance and I think because I already knew how to lean correctly in turns (yes, you have to do that on the unicycle)and keep a center of balance really helped me. I didn't need to learn how to balance, I just needed to learn that going down the hill really isn't all that scary and which foot to put weight on when turning.

Matt then decided that I could graduate to the easiest green slope. I then had to get over one of my other fears- the chair lift. I am afraid of heights, especially when I am not secured in the seat, it's windy, and I'm thirty feet above my death. Anyways, with an arm around the center pole and a death grip on my arm rest, I mastered the chairlift and it got less scary as we went up. However, my non-falling streak would come to an end, as I didn't stand up soon enough as we unloaded and I fell coming off the chairlift. But according to Matt, everyone does that, and not bad for that being my first fall.

Ok, so the top of the green slope is a lot higher up than it looks. Really. And again, I'm afraid of heights, but I started down the hill, zigzagging perpendicular as to control my speed. My first actual fall skiing happened about 50 feet later, I think I got going to fast and didn't know how to respond, but fortunately, I knew it was coming, so I purposely fell so I would come to rest next to the tree instead of running straight into the tree. The term "tree hugger" has a whole new meaning to me now. I got back up and continued down and made it most of the way down again until I fell again, I think this time because it was way steeper than I wanted to deal with, and the wind was blowing furiously, thus exposing the ice underneath the nice powder that was present at the top. But I made to to the bottom! My two crashes weren't big enough that I was hurt or cause my skis to come off!

My second run was nearly perfect, I didn't fall at all, even off the chairlift, and went down most of the way without stopping. Granted, I was still snow plowing the entire way, but considering it was really icy and only my second time, I think that's good! I also got a little more adventuresome this round and pointed my skis more downhill than perpendicular.

My third run I got going even faster, still snowplowing, though. I nearly made it down the slope without crashing, I fell about three quarters of the way down because I got going too fast over an icy section that scared me. But I also fall before I actually fall (if that makes sense, that way I'm the one controlling the fall instead of the fall controlling me). I wasn't hurt at all, but it took me about 15 minutes to recover because the way and place I fell, I had to take my skis off, and I couldn't get my second ski back on! I had Yak and Matt nervous, waiting at the bottom of the hill for me, but I managed to get down. We then took a break, but then decided we should head out since we were hungry, I was getting pretty tired, and the slope was getting icier and icier as the wind kept blowing.

The only part I still don't like is when I'm on the chair lift, the extra weight of the skis hanging off my feet puts a lot of stress on my knees and my knees hurt the entire way up. My right knee seems to be strong enough to handle it, now I know I need to do some stretching and strength exercises on my left knee before I go up again! And I want to go up again! I had a lot of fun! I don't know if I'll ever be brave enough to try black diamond runs (man, they look steep!), but it's amazing how even the second time you run a slope, it doesn't look nearly as steep! I look forward to the rest of the skiing season and hopefully we can get my dad, and even my mom, to come down to ski with us! My dad LOVES skiing, and apparently, that gene was passed on to me! Now that I've gotten a taste for, realize I'm actually kind of a natural at it, and I didn't run over any small children, I am kind of addicted to it!