18 September, 2005First TimerDay 1. Learnt how to put my skis on and stand over without tipping over sideways (on a flat slope). Had some serious problems learning how to do a basic snow plough turn so I thought I would try to talk my way into another Level 1 lesson in the afternoon- got the free lesson but it was into Level 2 instead and I spent 2 hours finding out that slamming your head on the snow is not as painful as it sounds! Day 2. After all the tumbling yesterday I hesitantly turned up to my proper Level 2 lesson today. Went surprising well. Did a snow plough all the way down the slope- greatest feeling! I stood beaming at the bottom of the slope asking my group mates if they agreed that this is the best feeling in the world! Then I quickly followed that up with incredibly slow snow plough turns down the slope- I was on my way! Went to "Jax" pub for a well deserved lunch at noon. I was settled at a table, with my muscles slowly stiffening when I received a call from James. He told me he would be a few minutes late and had a story to tell!!!??? - but I will let him tell you his tale............ Spent the afternoon practicing snow plough turns down the little Level 2 slope- I must have gone up the "carpet" (like an escalator) and down the tiny slope over 20 times. What a great sense of achievement, though I did use the barrier at the bottom as a brake twice. Day 3. Skied down my first real run today- Front Valley (green, beginners run). Spent the afternoon skiing down Happy Valley (also a green run) with James and discovering how it feels to slip on ice, go over bumps and avoid rocks and trees. Day 4. The week is going too quickly! Spent today working on parallel turns and going faster- my lack of speed is giving James a lot of spare time for taking photos- check them out in our photos section! Day 5. Lessons again this morning- I have made it to Level 4! In the afternoon James took me up to some blue (intermediate) runs- did Sun Valley pretty well first time but it took me three tries to do Eyre without tumbling. Special thanks to James for allowing me to take some of my frustration out on him during my first two attempts! We both meant to leave shortly after lunch to begin the long drive home to Sydney but neither of us could leave. We dragged ourselves away at 4pm. By the time we returned our gear, said goodbye to our new friends back at the Snow Bunny and had a game of pool (my first but James was a well known "pool shark" with the young boys at the lodge), it was 5.30pm when we set off for the snow tube back to Bullock Flats. Snow Bunny, the place where James and I stayed at Smiggins, deserves a special mention. The staff were great and the meals absolutely fabulous!! All the guests at the lodge and all the people that I met in my lessons and just generally on the snow were great- except that girl that I shared the t-bar with once on Happy Valley - she knows who she is. Our ski trip was an amazing experience, and I feel inspired to tackle more new activities now. James' concern, that I may not love skiing, has definitely been put to rest! I am already saving my pennies for the next trip!
Comments:
Post a Comment
|
