Skiing - Dec-25-2005

Best way to enjoy christmas - go out for a winter game. And what winter game is comparable to skiing. My first day at skiing will be marked as 25-Dec-2005.
An hour drive from my home Snoqualimie is beautiful ski mountain.

Sumeet, Basav and I reached there by 8:30am. We were in full doubt if the skiing would be open. It was christmas day and we were afraid that everything will be closed. At such an early hour, it was all deserted and our suspicion increased. But, rental shop was open and we were delighted to know that rest of the day would be spent skiing.



After putting on ski shoes, we felt as if we were doing moon walk. They
were really heavy. At end of day when we took off the shoes, it was real relaxing. But snow shoes are must and I can imagine our sports shoes would have got all wet in snow.



The sight of snow covered mountain was inspiring.

Sumeet gave basic introductory lecture on how to walk and get comfortable with skies. We had enrolled for ski class which was supposed to begin at 9:30am. We used available time to play with skies on. In the class we were among the bright students who picked up pretty fast. Walking with skies on, making wedge to stop ourselves, we were picking it up fast. At the end of class at 12:00pm, Michael, our instructor, said we are ready to go up the mountain and ski down.

My first round down the slope - I started nicely talking big that i shall not fall at all. Uptil now i had not fallen and was determined to prove people wrong that you have to fall to learn ski. I started confidently. But after some moments, i gained speed and my wedge shaped art was not working. I tried tunring and started going all towards right. On right side it was all icy and was leading down to some houses and roads. I was continuosly heading towards right. Some mexicans were making snow man and i was about to hit their creation. Aah, finally I could control my speed and managed to stop just before hitting the snow man. Aah, what a relief it was. I took as an oppurtunity to take the snap of snow man. And after that i slide down in controlled way.

My second and third trip down the mountain was great. I did not fall at all. With this positive note, I took a break and had my lunch.

Post lunch I again tried skiing 7-8 times. I fell in these roundss. But i was picking up confidence and able to take good turns. I am waiting for my second and third classes in coming weeks.