White Washing

I went downhill skiing, for the first time ever. My father-in-law took me and he is a great instructor. He helped me learn the rule #1: don’t lean. I also learned how to turn, how to have fun, and most importantly, how gracelessly fall.

While traveling down the mountain for the first time my father-in-law was saying “turn” each time I needed to turn. Apparently I need to remember to “just keep turning” and I can travel downhill pretty well.

Just as I was getting the pacing, he stopped vocalizing the instructions. The hill was getting steeper. I was coming up to an orange rope delineating the un-groomed snow which had a bunch of bushes sticking out of the snow.

I could see that I needed to turn.

I wanted to turn.

But for some reason I couldn’t.

I slid straight into that orange rope and into the powdery snow.

Because of the power, my skis slowed down…Quickly. I fell head-long into a snowy middle and then flipped so that my ski-shod feet landed further than where my head landed.

Ouch! But no broken bones. I couldn’t get up because the snow was so loose. My hands just sunk deeper and the bushes were not providing enough resistance. Here I am after trying to turn and get back to the main thoroughfare:

I had to somehow pull my skis off so that I could crawl back to the packed snow.

In the process, the ski patrol came by to laugh at me and to re-right the warning cord.

Once I got back to where I could stand up, I had to sit for at least 10 minutes to recuperate. Then I finished the trek downhill, and finally took a 40-minute break while my father-in-law took 2 more trips down the hill.

Who knew that skiing could take so much out of you? Of course, I am a little out of shape, and my body was letting me know. My father-in-law offered some French Fries, which I love. But I just about lost my breakfast at the thought of that grease.

Although beaten and sore, I went down one more time, albeit with fewer spectacular spills. At least I am learning something.

I want to go again in the future, but I need to get back into shape before my next attempt at skiing.