I have been reading a lot of people's blogs about their recent or upcoming ski trips and particularly Milla's blog which totally encapsulates my feelings about skiing, the actual act is great, but the logistics are painful (truly). The before is like getting ready for an SAS mission, have we got tickets, cash, skis, poles, goggles, gloves, hats, sunglasses, extra gloves for when the others get wet, etc. etc. and transporting all this on the truck up to the hill and then the sheer agony afterwards.
The actual swooshing down the slopes is heaven. Gliding past more novice skiers is very satifying, we can all remember our first time on skis and remember how far we have come. I mean whole days, even holidays pass now, without a fall. Very gratifying. But when you do fall, god help you. Especially if, like me, you just dissolve into a giggling mush on the hill, with your fellow skiers trying to help you stand up. About as easy as making a piece of cooked spaghetti stand up straight.
I must admit we now only ski until a latish lunch (maybe even as late as 1pm because we have been on the slopes since 8am (to get the fresh powder!)) because there is no way my body works after lunch.
Last year we skied at Banff in Alberta where my eldest son works at Sunshine Village and we made the big mistake of skiing with (or rather trying to keep up with) our children aged 26, 24 and 14, all been on skis since they were small. The days got shorter and shorter and by the third day (we were only there for the weekend) we did not even attempt to ski after lunch or rather just skied from the lodge back to the carpark after one or two or... glasses of wine. Rigor sets in quickly after a hearty chilli and a couple of glasses of wine. In Milla's blog she talks of hanging on the walls to get downstairs and the free falling into chairs and it is so true.
What I need is a transporter from Star Trek that beams me to the top of the slopes and then back to the chalet once the thighs start burning (unfortunately usually half way down). Let me know when one is available and I will be ready to ski again.
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7 comments:
You were in Banff and you didn't stop in?
The ski-out at Sunshine is so much fun isn't it?
This was last March b efore I started blogging, but if I get there again, I will definitely look you up. How near to Banff are you? I just remember the spectacular scenery once you are up top.
that must be the thing about Canada, SITH, in Yurp, the lifts don't start til about 9, forcing a later start (thank God - breakfast to stuff in - have paid for it, will eat it, whether want it or not! Plus of course all those hours getting dressed...)
I never learned to ski properly. Worse yet, I learned to ski improperly.
So now I'm a vicarious skier. It looks wonderful, though.
As well as a transporter, and an old person's rail-lift-chair-thingy, we also need COMFY ski boots, or at least boots that are easy to get on. It also makes me want to take up snow-boarding, but a friend in his 40's who recently did that (on account of being such a good skier that he got bored) ended up tearing both rotator cuffs and having surgery on both shoulders when he fell forward - which is the only way you can stop on a snowboard.
I think I must be the only blogger who has never attempted to ski. Not living in a country before that had snow much, nor mountains, coming from England, not much chance. I think that now I am living in France close to the Pyrenees, I am too old to start, I will keep with a snowball fight with the grandchildren.
Skiing is something I never tried. Guess I left it too late!
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