I never skied as a child. I hated the winter. Considering I grew up and went to college right in the snow belt of upstate New York, that’s surprising to many.
After college I moved to Vermont. Go figure. Another cold climate. Anyway, about 5+ years ago I applied for a job at a ski resort. I almost didn’t get the job, not because I wasn’t qualified, but because I wasn’t an “intermediate” skier. Psh. Give me a pair of skis, I WILL learn to ski. Translation: are you challenging me?
I remember my first group lesson, which must have been in the early winter of 04’ – renting skis, buying snowpants for the first time in 15+ years. I think back to that day and remember how intimidated I was. Learning to ski in my 30’s. Was I crazy?
Fast forward 5 seasons, three Women’s Alpine Adventure programs, and about 40-50 days on snow each winter and I am a newfound snow sports enthusiast. I find myself wishing for snow in July#$#?!. How is that for crazy?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still by no means an expert skier. I just love to ski! There is something about the cold crisp air, the inspiring mountain scenery, and good times with friends and family that can wipe the stress away in one short run. And fitness? Man, skiing keeps your legs in some pretty fantastic shape!
I’ll never forget the last day of the 08/09 season. It was a Sunday – I was here chaperoning a school trip with my son and his friends. A group of 9 & 10 year olds are tough to keep up with – especially by this point in the season when they are feeling pretty darn confident in themselves. Anyway, during that last week a tree had managed to accumulate some undergarments down near the base off the mountain. Well, you can imagine those made quite an impression on these young boys. Underwear? Nothing funnier.
The last few rides past that tree found ski poles “fishing” for a catch. We must have made three laps hoping something would bite. Well, they finally managed to jar one of the garments loose, falling to the ground right on the trail below. You can imagine how fast we skied down to see if it was still there.
One of the boys skied to the side of the trail, immediately clicked out of his skis and attempted to climb up the short lip of snow to retrieve the lost garment. As this was happening, people on the chair above us saw what was happening and began hootin’ and hollerin’ for him, urging him onto his goal. It became quite a show as he scooped it up, attached it to the back of his helmet in the google snap, and skied down the rest of the mountain pumping his arms as if he’d won the lottery.
We laughed for the next hour. It made for quite a good story to tell the girls on the bus ride home.
Do you have a favorite story from last season? Share your story by commenting below. If we get 40 comments with stories by Sept 1 I’ll pick two lucky winners for some free lift tickets.
3 comments:
My favorite time last season was skiing with a couple of my friends from college for the first time at Okemo during Spring Break (the first week of March). We stayed at Jackson Gore and it was freezing but really snowy the first day and we ventured into a lot of the glades including the non-trails at Solitude. After the day of skiing was over, an evening in the hot tub was fun for all, hitting each other with pieces of ice that had frozen on the cement.
Our spring break trip to Okemo was epic. My friends and i decided we needed to hit up Okemo. Every aspect of the mountain provided me with maximum fun. The parks were all in perfect condition and the lines were small. I was able to hit twice as many rails in a run as usual and the progression we all got was the fastest we had ever seen. This was slightly down played when we went to ski moguls (which were sick) and i eventually broke my pole while getting on the lift by the micro park, I grabbed my other poles an strapped on some bigger boards and hit up the trees. The best tree skiing i have ever had in my entire life. This was the most fun i have ever had in the park and the trees in my life and i have been skiing since age 3. The cool riders we met felt just like buddies we always ride with. NExt year we're definitely going back.
Okemo.
Good Friday.
It's dead. And a lot of trails are still open and very forgiving.
I venture over to Solitude, and what do I find, at 1 in the afternoon? What, NOBODY has gone down Heavens Gate and Screamin' Demon? Oh, it was worth the trek through the mud and slush at Solitude Village to get back to the Gore. One of the best ski days of my life.
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