This weekend was an absolutely gorgeous weekend to have a skiing adventure. Saturday was sunny and the temperatures reached 40 degrees! The warm temperatures meant that we didn’t have to wear bulky layers so it was easier to move around. This weekend was my 9th time going skiing. I’ve been numbering them in my head so that I can keep track of my progress and see how long it takes me to move to the next level.
I started the day without my helmet because I thought that I might just stick with the bunny hill. I usually wear a helmet but the ease of the green trails, and the warm day prompted me to forego it initially. My favorite easy trail wasn’t open so my options were either the bunny hill or I needed to get brave and level up and ski down the intermediate trails. I went down one of the two intermediate trails at our local ski area the week before when I took a lesson, but I was still pretty intimidated by the steepness of those two trails.
This particular skiing trip was special because two of my best friends came out for the weekend to visit and came skiing with me. My friend Jen occasionally snowboards, and my friend Andrea is a beginner like me and actually started skiing last weekend with me. My daughter also joined us for the skiing trip and ended up hanging out with a couple of her friends who were there.
I decided to face my fears and try to tackle the intermediate trails again this week. I know I have the technical ability to do it but I just freak myself out so much when I see how steep the mountain looks. However, the ski mountain we have been going to is a smaller mountain with less difficult trails than other places. I know that even if I’m doing a blue trail here, that it would be more like a green trail at a different ski mountain so if I even minimally want to do a green trail at another mountain, I need to master the blue trails here.
I decided to face my fears and up the chairlift I went to the top of the mountain. I ended up doing one of the trails 3 times and got down the mountain successfully without falling! It was slow going but it was still a lot faster than last week. I felt more confident about doing it and the trails were groomed this time around so I was more sure of my feet under me because I recognized the consistency of the snow. I also went on the other intermediate trail which is the one I fell and hurt myself on earlier in the season. I also was able to get down that trail with no problem simply by going slow.
It was my favorite and most successful ski trip yet!
How do you feel about skiing on different types of terrain and steepness? Do you ever feel intimidated by a trail?
