Skiing FTW

Last weekend, I went skiing for the first time. It was easily one of the most fun things I've ever done.

Now, as someone who isn't exactly know for what you would call "balance, grace and coordination," I was reasonably nervous about sliding down mountains while trying to remain upright.

Nevertheless, I've always wanted to try skiing, and I live in the north now. The place we went (Liberty Ski Resort) was only an hour or so from Rachel's house, so we took a day trip.

It's not exactly inexpensive, especially for someone like me, who completely lacked everything winter-related you might need to go skiing. I had to buy gloves, socks, snow pants and an actual winter coat. Buying all of that ended up costing a little more than $300, but, like I said, I live in the north now.

Five feet of snow from three blizzards later, my snow pants have come in VERY handy -- as has my legit winter coat.

So we get to the mountain, and for $82 you get a First Class package that includes a beginner's lesson (yes please), your lift ticket and equipment rental. Ticket and rental usually costs around $90, so this is a great deal.

The lesson was extremely helpful, obviously. The instructor was funny and seemed like a really good guy. He taught us right off the bat how to do things without the ski poles. In hindsight, THANK GOD, because I would have tried to depend on them.

Honestly, I was having a hell of time during the lesson. I had trouble with my balance, turning, staying upright, walking -- you name it, I was having trouble with it. As it turns out, the problem was the lack of speed. For the lesson, they barely take you up the beginner slope. You never slide more than 15 or 20 feet. I was just having a really hard time.

At the end of the lesson, the instructor takes the class up the ski lift to the top of the beginner slope. Almost by accident, I was the first one down the slope from the class. Now, I'd like to say that's because I was a star student, and I knew exactly what I was doing.

What actually happened was I started going down hill, gathered some decent speed and couldn't stop by myself -- so I just went with it. As I was going down the slope, I tried to turn, and all of a sudden everything clicked. Turning, balancing, controlling your movements -- everything is easier when you have some speed down the slope. Don't get me wrong, I still fell down once, but the theory of what you're supposed to do is MUCH easier to put into practice when you're going faster.

Great time all around. Rachel and I are going again tomorrow! I'd also say it's a safe bet we may become regulars next year. There are only a few weeks left in this season, but next year, we'll probably be frequenting the slopes much more often!

Here are a couple pictures. Excuse the poor quality on the first one as it was taken on my Blackberry.

This is the beginner slope. It wasn't really that cloudy and dark at all. Just a poor job by me remembering to take my camera out of my bag before I locked everything up.

We had our lesson on the right of the lift, and then we actually skied on the left of the lift. I probably will NOT be venturing away from this slope when we go tomorrow either...haha. Still learning how to do things!

Here's a picture of Rachel and I with Jackie (I work with her) and Jackie's friend (whose name I unfortunately cannot remember, as usual).

Jackie was nice enough to humor me on the beginner slope since I was in no way prepared to try anything more difficult.

This picture was taken at the top of the beginner slope. After the picture, I started my way down and almost immediately fell. So, you know, good job by me. :-)