Yesterday up at Bogus I skied in the trees. This was my first real off-piste adventure in the alpine setting, and I have to thank David and Derek and Tim for their patience and their instruction.
There are many many people in the world of alpine skiing who refuse unabashedly to ever wait for or ski with anyone slower than they are. Understandable, sort of, and fine for them. But these are not the people to ski with in the same way that they would not be the people to bike with, or hike with, or boat with. I tend to think of them as the ones who'd hike right past a dying man on the way to a summit because it's the guy's own fault for not being strong enough or whatever. Understandable, but pretty shitty.
Lucky for me, at least so far, this does not apply to my ski partners of yesterday. They took me around a hill I'd become familiar with--on the groomers anyway--and showed me places I'd never seen while taking my skiing (in scope if not in skill) to the next level.
All along the backside, between the Pine Creek and Superior chairs, we dropped off path and into open slopes and treed slopes and gullies and groves and all the other parts of the mountain I'd not been brave or skilled enough to enter. And while I started out with no small amount of anxiety about it, by the end of the day I'd made a transformation. I moved from understanding why people love skiing to understanding why people can become addicted to skiing.
It's a whole new world in the trees, especially when there's a good 5" of new powder on the slopes and turning is easier and falling doesn't hurt so much. And fall I did, at least a dozen times. But every time I got right back up and attacked the same line I'd been on when I dumped.
I'm sure my moves were not so graceful, but I think by the end of the day I'd made big progress. I could do it without falling too much, and I learned a few new paths along Mary's Ridge and around the Superior lift line that I know I could do on my own.
This skiing thing, I tell ya. I think I might be hooked.
There are many many people in the world of alpine skiing who refuse unabashedly to ever wait for or ski with anyone slower than they are. Understandable, sort of, and fine for them. But these are not the people to ski with in the same way that they would not be the people to bike with, or hike with, or boat with. I tend to think of them as the ones who'd hike right past a dying man on the way to a summit because it's the guy's own fault for not being strong enough or whatever. Understandable, but pretty shitty.
Lucky for me, at least so far, this does not apply to my ski partners of yesterday. They took me around a hill I'd become familiar with--on the groomers anyway--and showed me places I'd never seen while taking my skiing (in scope if not in skill) to the next level.
All along the backside, between the Pine Creek and Superior chairs, we dropped off path and into open slopes and treed slopes and gullies and groves and all the other parts of the mountain I'd not been brave or skilled enough to enter. And while I started out with no small amount of anxiety about it, by the end of the day I'd made a transformation. I moved from understanding why people love skiing to understanding why people can become addicted to skiing.
It's a whole new world in the trees, especially when there's a good 5" of new powder on the slopes and turning is easier and falling doesn't hurt so much. And fall I did, at least a dozen times. But every time I got right back up and attacked the same line I'd been on when I dumped.
I'm sure my moves were not so graceful, but I think by the end of the day I'd made big progress. I could do it without falling too much, and I learned a few new paths along Mary's Ridge and around the Superior lift line that I know I could do on my own.
This skiing thing, I tell ya. I think I might be hooked.
1 comment:
Jackass,
I liked this article. It reminded me to say thanks for all the times that you and Eric sacrificed your rides to wait up for me.
As you saw, besides my brain setbacks, your waiting up and encouraging me to try is what made it so that when we were three hours into riding Fisher-Williams, it was my fat ass that pulled up behind you.
Knowing the guys you ski with, it won't be long before you'll be waiting up for the slower skier.
Tony
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