Since we’re getting somewhat of a more traditional life back together now, we thought we’d keep the spirit of adventure alive through our Bucket List. So we’ve challenged ourselves to continue to regularly cross things off. Because of the time of year and the fact that it was Danny’s Birthday, the first bucket list challenge taking a ski holiday.
Before we get too far into this let me defend myself. Yes, I’m from Pennsylvania, and yes there are ski resorts within 45 minutes of my house. The problem is my parents are from the Midwest, where people enjoy cross country skiing, not downhill. Then there is Danny, from Ft. Lauderdale, where the only skiing is done with a tow rope from a speed boat on water. Enough said. Sure we’ve skiied down a volcano and even a sand dune but snow…that was something new.
“Dude” and “You” take a lesson
We arrived at the hill just after opening and were thrilled to find out we were the only adults signed up for the morning lesson. The instructor, a typical ski bum, called Danny “dude” no less than half a dozen times in the first 20 minutes, leaving me to be named “you” for the lesson. “You,” she asked me, “Why can’t you pick up your feet? This isn’t the Olympics.” As I looked around at the other lessons, I saw four year olds advancing faster than us. Thirty minutes in, we had progressed to allowing gravity to pull us slowly down a 2% incline. Progress it seemed, would take time.
Figuring there was no way we’d be “hitting the slopes” that day, I was shocked when no more than three minutes later she ordered us to the ski lift. “Shit,” I thought, as I struggled to the lift, unable to propel myself through the snow with any sort of grace or speed. Sure enough, I ignored almost all the instructions our ski bum had given us and arrived at the chair freaking out. Fortunately the resort was practically empty (a benefit of going during the week) and chair lift guy stopped the lift to allow me on. Humiliating to say the least. Flopping back into the chair lift, with the safety bar down I reminded myself it was “just like the sky ride at Disney World.”
Thrilled to have escaped injury or death on the chair lift, we made our way to the slope where ski bum worked on our “wedge” and promptly took away our polls. Wedging down the slope, we made it in one piece, and headed back to the chairlift, where we passed the 4 year olds whose learning curve had slowed drastically. This time, without our polls again, we learned to turn, and a third time to go faster. By the time we were at the bottom for the third time I had built up enough confidence and our day began in earnest.
And then it got interesting…
Hitting the steeper run wasn’t so bad…until I hit the steep part. At that point, some rather unlady like words audibly escaped my lips and I pretty much freaked out until half way down when I realized I wasn’t going to die. Of course, I never admitted this to my husband, instead I agreed to do it a second and a third time, each time willing myself not to crash and burn before the bottom.
As we hit steeper slopes our mantra changed from repeating “I’m not in control, I’m not in control” to “Keep the wedge, I can do this, sharper turns, stop there.” Even though I had asked the ski bum if there was a proper way to fall – she advised just to ‘go with it’ and make it ‘spectacular’ – we really didn’t have but a couple of fairly minor missteps as we continued to larger slopes…even trying a couple of jumps at the end of the day. (We did however pass on the route labeled double back diamond.) It was a fun day and I look forward to working up to bigger hills and perhaps one day a real mountain, but now I’m content crossing one item off our Bucket List.
IF YOU GO: If you live in any kind of vicinity to some slopes, you can probably find a cheap place to do what we did by doing an Internet search for “inexpensive ski resorts near” and add in a zip code or a city name. We found an article by a local news station that featured at least 10 sites and we chose the closest one, which also happened to be the cheapest. The whole day (lessons, tickets, equipment) only cost us $70 total for both people, mostly thanks to the generous midweek specials. The hills though were not mountains which made them great places to learn on but not a place to spend a week by any means. If we go back, we’ll likely take snowboard lessons.
Great post. I remember my first few times skiing – I was terrible! After a couple of falls I was almost in tears of frustration. I’m a little better now and it’s lots of fun. Long way to go through!
Congrats on crossing something off your bucket list! I remember my first time skiing, back when I was in 6th grade. (Now I’m too afraid to go for fear of being run over by a crazy snowboarder!)
love the ski bum’s advice on falling, “make it spectacular”. classic. good idea on the bucket list as well!
Funny post. I know that will be me, if I ever ski; the four-year olds will put me to shame!
That ski instructor is a piece of work! “she advised just to ‘go with it’ and make it ‘spectacular’”?? Don’t know if that’s such a good idea! I totally relate to so much of this from my first ski experiences, especially about the little kids. I remember having a very tough go of if on what I thought was a very difficult run and having a 4 year old ski class zipping by me like pros. Skiing is great fun — glad you tried it!
My, that is an entertaining stroy. You certainly took to skiing faster than I did.
Skiing is literally my favourite holiday! Beats a beach holiday any day. Cheers for the post got me excited for skiing in NZ later in the year!
Thanks for the encouragement! I didn’t realize our readers were such a ski bunch! We’ll see how it goes next time. I’m thinking we should try a snowboard lesson to compare.
@Jamie & Cathy, the ski bum instructor was certainly a piece of work. I should have taken a photo, but alas I was too busy freaking out!
@Glen, if you ever try it, remember to fall “spectacularly!” 🙂
Haha, sounds like a rough start but you did it! I went skiing when I was about 5 and I never learned how to stop. The instructor got bored with me and sent me on anyway, so I just had to sit down when I wanted to stop moving.
Yay for bucket list progress! I learned to ski when I was a little kid and can’t imagine trying to learn as an adult so good job! Glad it turned out to be a good day.
I never tried skiing til I was in my late 20s. I went with a friend and we booked a three-hour group lesson. We were the only adults in the class and it was embarrassing to watch little kids zoom fearlessly past us.
But I suddenly got the knack and I was off. My friend, unfortunately, just could not get into the groove. I felt like an Olympic champion zigging and zagging down a green slope while she did the kids slope. Then she tried a green slope, so I tried a blue one. But you know what they say about pride. Oh boy, did I have a spectacular fall. I didn’t even know what happened. Suddenly I was looking at the sky and some bearded guy with a red cross on his beanie was leaning over me asking me if I was alright. He told me it was a spectacular cartwheeling crash and I hadn’t moved for a while afterwards.
I was out there again the next day, trying to work out what went wrong on that blue run.
I’m just going to come right out and say it – I am not skiing material. I did ski down an artificial slope once. It was like sliding (slowly) across a giant toothbrush.
That was it for me.
@Laura- I think learning as an adult is hard because you’re so terrified of having a spectacular fall that ends badly. As a kid breaking an arm or leg means some extra attention at school!
@the dropout- Well, I suppose it’s only a matter of time before we have a spectacular fall. Glad you survived and got back on the proverbial horse the next day!
@robin- Thanks for the image of the giant toothbrush! Now I’ll be thinking of that every time we go…. If I fall does that mean I’m flossing?
If you try snowboarding (you should add it to the list!), here’s a few tips:
1) Don’t think you can learn in 1 day. It will take 3 days.
2) Day 1 will be PAINFUL! Wear a helmet. Kneepads and wrist guards wouldn’t be such a bad idea either.
3) Try to learn somewhere with a little fresh snow. It helps your balance and slightly cushions your falls.
4) After day 3 – hit the powder and enjoy the most exhilarating ride of your life! Just try wiping the smile off your face…
NOTE: Tip 4 is best done somewhere with great snow, let me know if you ever head to Colorado and we’ll take you out!