Sunday a group of us headed to Discovery Ski Area west of Anaconda, MT to hit the slopes. Now even though I use the lingo, “hit the slopes” I am no pro skier, quite the opposite. Sunday marked my 5th time skiing in two years. My first time ever was just last year and I’ve still got a lot to learn. I need to lean forward more and not be so scared to pick up speed. Currently I like to take things slow down the mountains so that if I do run into any trees it will cause the least amount of damage possible. I’ve haven’t progressed from the green runs. For those of you who don’t know how it works from easiest to hardest it’s the bunny hill, green runs, blue runs, black diamonds, and double black diamonds. I have no idea if you can get really difficult runs and have triple black diamonds, quadruple black diamonds, and so on, like I said I’m no expert more of a novice.
So on Sunday I was quite happy to continue my time on the green runs. My roommate came along with us and she hadn’t skied since her first go at it in 8th grade so four of us warmed up with her on the bunny hill. Being as scared as I am of this sport and the fact I hadn’t done it since November I was quite happy to warm up on the bunny hill. It allowed me to remember what the heck my body is supposed to do on those ski things.
Next we moved onto the green run called “Goldbug”, which I have to say I’m quite proud of my roommate cause my first time skiing I never even made it to the run. It was all bunny hill for me. We did several rides up the chairlift and runs down Goldbug. And I have to say it was probably the first time I’ve been skiing that I actually felt comfortable and felt like I had the hang of it. I did not fall at all getting of the chair lift (yay fist pump!) I also did not fall at all while gliding down Goldbug and felt I was turning better. Granted I was going slower than anyone else but again that speed thing and crashing into a tree terrifies me. Maybe I should get a helmet.
Then as my roommate and I are comfortably navigating Goldbug for the third or fourth time I’m not really sure we changed things up a bit. One of our friends who has become all star black diamond skier this season and was graciously hanging back on the green run with us this day pointed to a spot in Goldbug where the run splits and you can go a different way. He asked if we wanted to try something different. Sure, why not. We followed him along this new path and seconds later I was wondering if I could go back uphill and get back to Goldbug. (Don’t ski uphill though we had story on KXLF’s website today about a 78 year old man who was arrested for going uphill on a ski slope in Wyoming. Apparently it is not safe skiing.) I figured getting back uphill would be impossible so I knew I just had to deal with this ridiculously steep hill in front of me. The only way off the mountain was now down this. It was so steep you don’t even see a hill you pretty much just see the land drop off and you have to ski down this almost vertical wall of snow. (Pro-skiers may say I’m exaggerating but this is what it looked like to me)
We pushed off and down we went only to discover that not only was this the steepest thing ever it was also un groomed, meaning when you ski down it your ski’s are covered in snow and so are your legs about halfway up your calf. You weren’t just gliding on the top of a surface you had to push your way through piles of snow. I felt like how my car must feel on the roads of Butte after a snow storm since the town doesn’t do anything to the roads and you just have to drive through it. But anyways this is where my day of not falling went awry. Every turn through the inches of snow caused me to fall. My roommate was falling at a similar rate and our friend was just laughing at us and not quite understanding how we couldn’t get down this. He told me it was just like the green run but un groomed. To which I replied, “I like groomed.” Who knew something you prefer in people and dogs you could prefer in ski slopes too. He also told me that people fly all over the world to ski in “powder like this.” I told him I was going to save a lot of money not doing that. I finally did make a few turns without falling but I was really wishing I had a sled and could just get down that way. So maybe the title of this blog should actually be “I attempted to ski down a black diamond and didn’t know it.”
That experience was in fact just hilarious so the day was not ruined. Then Monday my roommate is looking at the trails on Discovery’s website and informs me that we skied down a black diamond. Remember that area where Goldbug splits? Yep, that trail off the green is a black diamond. No wonder we were falling at every turn. We completely skipped that blue step in there. Oh well no one was hurt and it was just the source of many giggles.
2nd and 3rd photos courtesy of my roommate and her camera.
No comments:
Post a Comment