Black, Blue, and Green

Green= the only kind of ski run I attempted.
Black and Blue= my body.

I've only been skiing twice before this weekend, so I am not advanced by any means. Out of the 6 adults on the trip, I was definitely the least talented and most cautious. But I was handling the greens fairly well I think, even though I fell hard many times.

Day 1- I didn't know what to expect. I gathered my courage, tried to ignore my nerves, took the lift halfway up the mountain and headed down a green. It felt surprisingly okay. But shortly into it, I started going FAST...too fast. I was suddenly closing quickly on Chris who used to be far ahead of me. Not only did I catch him, I flew past him before crashing in a powdery cloud. Skis and poles went everywhere, and my hip was complaining about the hard hit it just took. After that fall I spent a little more time practicing the fundamentals of turning, speed control, keeping the skis parallel, etc. I felt great about my progress. I did a couple of greens and was about to head back to the condo when we met up with the rest of the group. They convinced me to join them for a few more runs and by the time I got back to the condo I was so exhausted I thought I would die. I could do little more than lie face down on the carpet. Every muscle in my body was aching. I did not want to go back out that afternoon but Cody basically forced me back out. It was a bad move that I think he regretted when I started crying as I got off the lift and cried on and off the entire way down. I was mentally and physically exhausted and had to force myself to continue only because there was no other choice.

Day 2- After such a great first morning and horrible first afternoon I really didn't know what to expect now. I skied for about an hour and a half in the morning and felt great. I was not too tired, so I also skied an hour and a half in the afternoon. I figured out that I am not an "all day skier." I would probably prefer half day skiing, or as I ended up doing, a short morning and short afternoon.

Day 3- I planned a nice long green route that covered a lot of the mountain. It only took about an hour and a half and it was relaxing and beautiful to ski. I loved this morning. Again, I headed to the condo for lunch feeling good and not too tired. After lunch, I considered not going back out. But after a few games of Wii Bowling, Karen and I headed out to do 1 or 2 greens. After one run, we headed back to the top and Karen decided to do some runs on the back side of the mountain. I decided to return to the condo on my own. I had never skied alone before, but I was not nervous about it. In fact, I enjoyed the leisurely pace toward home. However, the very last slope down into the base area, the only way to the base, is quite steep. It borders blue in my opinion, and since I am a bit of a wimp I always hated that very last part headed to the condo. I stopped for a few minutes before heading down that last slope and thought to myself, Well, it's my last time to ski this stupid steep part that I hate. I was feeling nostalgic as I started the decent. I had done this path many times (all of them involving wide slow turns...) but for some reason I lost control and fell on this slope on this last time down it.
I was laying there on my stomach looking up the mountain, struggling to get up...not able to do it...when I saw someone skiing straight for my face. My first thought was, Crap! This idiot is going to hit me. But then he swerved at the last minute spraying snow into my face. My second thought was, Crap! This idiot sprayed me in the face. But then he stopped next to me. My third thought was, Now this idiot is stopping to help me I guess. Then I looked up and saw that it was Chris! My fourth thought was, Yes! Now I have help to get up! It really was a fluke that he happened to be there right then and even more amazing that he saw me laying there and recognized me soon enough to stop. I even forgave him for spraying snow in my face.

I had so much fun skiing. And I loved hanging out at the condo in the evenings. It was a great get-away for a few days.