Go Skiing

Mission level: Success, mostly.

Whiteface Olympic Mountain

My first attempt at skiing was a sort of fail due to weather conditions when my super-hot boyfriend and I went to Lake Placid, New York. I might add, my super-hot boyfriend is not just a pretty face, he is an accomplished skier.

However, due to rain, we never made it to the slopes.

We did go ice skating, though. You can read about that in my Ice Skate post.

Context
I know zero-zip-ziletch about skiing. In fact, I have never been on a mountain, really. Not one with snow on it that is used for skiing. I never participated in winter sports, except the ever popular "I don't care if you have a snow day, get out of bed and shovel the driveway so Dad can go to work" marathon at the Estate.

Inaccurate representation of
Chickies Rock

I did once almost fall off a large hill - it was Chickies Rock in Marietta, PA. My boyfriend at the time did not seemed concerned as I slid careened down the rocky side toward the road certain death.

However, as I mentioned, MacGyver is an accomplished skier and I was pretty sure he wasn't going to let me go careening down some icey slope to certain doom.



The Build Up
MacGyver picked out where we we went, which was Blue Mountain in PA. I was able to borrow a snow-suit from my boyfriend's Mom. That's right, I'm the same size as my boyfriend's mom. While they also had skis and whatnot, I just rented the skis, ski boots and. . .those pole things that you stab the ground with.

I wasn't super keen on skiing. I was curious about it, I enjoyed seeing how happy my guy was about it, but, I can't say I was excited. I can't pin-point why there are certain times I am happy to blow past my comfort zone and why other times I just lack the motivation. I knew I was going to be uncomfortable and I did have a week full of discomfort. I'll say it's that.

The day of, my stomach was also not happy. I don't know why but I thought  was gong to hurl at least twice. That really had nothing to do with the story other than I wasn't feeling great. It passed, however. Thankfully. Being a disaster on a ski slope and hurling is not cool.

I am for cool.

On the Snow

I'm a pro

I did make it out onto the slopes. It was a balmy 20 degrees. Sven (that's what MacGyver calls himself when he is skiing) helped me get into the skis.

And then I started moving backwards. It's ok, I got myself down-ish the hill. I ended up in a rut and then almost went down another slope.

Sven taught me the following:

• Big pizza slice: Putting your ski tips together to form a triangle or large pizza slice to slow down or stop.
• Snake the mountain: Going back and forth across the hill is best. 
• If all else fails, hit the deck.

I hit the deck a lot. I'm familiar with this concept from my horse-back riding days. If your horse ever got out of control that you couldn't get it back, you needed to get off. I took a couple falls practicing this. I never had to use it.

Here are a couple things I learned:

• Snow is slippery.
• Snow boats are funny to walk in.
• Seat warmers are da bomb.
• Falling when skiing is not as bad as falling when biking (at least, at my ski speeds).
• Sven is really hot.
• My cousin works at Blue Mountain.
• Falling repeatedly hurts.
• You use muscles in skiing you might not realize.
• You can never dress warmly enough.
• Know the end of the slope.
• Snowboarders are silly and slightly annoying.

It was fun, the whole thing. I need some practice, I am sure, and I can't say I will have a hard and fast love of skiing, but, I would be willing to try it again. It was pretty cold and I felt my neuropathy flare up a bit. I decided I am not as tough as I thought I was. It's ok, they had a bar. 

I did spend some time at the bar while Sven was out skiing. First, it is obviously his element. Watching him skiing around and him teaching me was really awesome. It's never a bad time to watch someone doing what they are passionate about. I told him to go off and enjoy and warmed up.

I made friends with the bartender (key to life) and I think he gave me a drink free. 

Future Plans

MacGyver, er, Sven and I decided I would take off a Monday at some point and give it another try for me. I did get nervous with everyone around even though there were no close calls. I think I am going to work my core a little more because you do work your obliques. 

By the way, all the buttons on my snow-suit had "HEAD" written on them and I thought it was some cool way for rescuers to figure out where my head was should  be rescued from an avalanch or something. I pointed this out when I saw one of the snaps not anywhere near my head still had "HEAD" on it. MacGyver pointed out it was the brand name, not a clever identification thing. I'm awesome.

Image Credit
Slope from alistairrobinson.co.uk
Whteface from whiteface.com