Skiing was one of the things on my ‘To Do” list until last Saturday and now it has jumped to another list ‘To Do it again’. Right now it’s a list topper on the second list. We were already late planning about skiing at the end of the season and we cancelled our plans when we enquired many skiing places just to find they are closed for the season. Unwillingly we had to postpone the plan by another a year but then my phone rang.
“Are you ready for skiing?” friend on the other side asked me.
“What a joke?” I exclaimed. “Don’t tell me now, that you called me in morning and told me to get ready.”
“Ya. So what are you doing now?” he asked.
“Just got up at 11 O clock and having my tea and bread. Its weekend and I am spending as it is supposed to.” I answered.
“OK just now Kaushal called. He enquired for the skiing place and they are open. In fact these are last 2 days for this season” he told.
“How far it is? And till when it’s open?” I asked just for more info.
“Its 2 hrs drive from here and they are open till 10 PM. So get ready. We will start at 2.” He cut it short.
“OK.” I said keeping phone aside.
We started at 2:10 and drive couple of hrs on highways and local roads before we reached at skiing place. It was Alpine valley resort at the neighboring state of Wisconsin (http://www.alpinevalleyresort.com/index2.php). Checking at the packages and the equipments we finally decided on those and rented skis. When I put on those ski boots it was the same feeling as if I am waking on moon (though that’s also in my ‘To Do’ list). It was around 5-7 KG of weight and it was so stiff that I can hardly bend at my ankles. We did some initial photo shoots for our skiing portfolios and then headed towards mission impossible. After I learned some basics from my friends I achieved a milestone of being able to stand with skis on my feet. I went up with the lift and then started my first expedition of the day. After managing to come to the slope properly it was all automatic and against my will. I couldn’t control my self and the skis, no matter what tactics I was trying. I fell umpteen times with my legs twisting and curling along my body and I swear I was never before in those haphazard shapes in my life.
Getting up from the ground level was exactly the same difficult as it was easy to fall down. The first slope ride I did was almost sitting on the skis and falling at least 3-4 times till I came at the bottom of the slope. I thought of giving up but then saw a small kid doing skiing excellently with his sister and I later came to know that his sister was just 6 yrs and he was mere 4 yrs age. Shame on me. Again I went for 2nd ride and now the guy there told me some tricks to bend knees inside to slow down and those sort of things and I found that once you started skiing you will just forget all those tricks and its just a panic situation. It’s almost the same feeling when you are on roller coaster with the difference here you are doing it alone and there’s nothing to hold. I suddenly felt that there’s something wrong with earth and it has suddenly increased its gravitational pull exponentially.
Since it’s an end of the season the snow had turned into ice and when we hit against it, it was serious business. I became firm believer of the idiom ‘try and try until you succeed’ when I managed skiing the whole slope without falling at all. Difficult part now was to put sudden brakes once you are at the bottom and this part I never did correctly. If I want to apply brakes or stop I have to fall down there and there was no way. Hopefully in my next expedition I will succeed at this. Even after taking complete day rest on Sunday, I didn’t felt like coming to office on Monday so I availed a sick leave. It was wonderful experience and we enjoyed a lot with snaps and videos. Seeing at the videos now I feel like: “Yes I can do it….”
Here are some snaps to share.
“Are you ready for skiing?” friend on the other side asked me.
“What a joke?” I exclaimed. “Don’t tell me now, that you called me in morning and told me to get ready.”
“Ya. So what are you doing now?” he asked.
“Just got up at 11 O clock and having my tea and bread. Its weekend and I am spending as it is supposed to.” I answered.
“OK just now Kaushal called. He enquired for the skiing place and they are open. In fact these are last 2 days for this season” he told.
“How far it is? And till when it’s open?” I asked just for more info.
“Its 2 hrs drive from here and they are open till 10 PM. So get ready. We will start at 2.” He cut it short.
“OK.” I said keeping phone aside.
We started at 2:10 and drive couple of hrs on highways and local roads before we reached at skiing place. It was Alpine valley resort at the neighboring state of Wisconsin (http://www.alpinevalleyresort.com/index2.php). Checking at the packages and the equipments we finally decided on those and rented skis. When I put on those ski boots it was the same feeling as if I am waking on moon (though that’s also in my ‘To Do’ list). It was around 5-7 KG of weight and it was so stiff that I can hardly bend at my ankles. We did some initial photo shoots for our skiing portfolios and then headed towards mission impossible. After I learned some basics from my friends I achieved a milestone of being able to stand with skis on my feet. I went up with the lift and then started my first expedition of the day. After managing to come to the slope properly it was all automatic and against my will. I couldn’t control my self and the skis, no matter what tactics I was trying. I fell umpteen times with my legs twisting and curling along my body and I swear I was never before in those haphazard shapes in my life.
Getting up from the ground level was exactly the same difficult as it was easy to fall down. The first slope ride I did was almost sitting on the skis and falling at least 3-4 times till I came at the bottom of the slope. I thought of giving up but then saw a small kid doing skiing excellently with his sister and I later came to know that his sister was just 6 yrs and he was mere 4 yrs age. Shame on me. Again I went for 2nd ride and now the guy there told me some tricks to bend knees inside to slow down and those sort of things and I found that once you started skiing you will just forget all those tricks and its just a panic situation. It’s almost the same feeling when you are on roller coaster with the difference here you are doing it alone and there’s nothing to hold. I suddenly felt that there’s something wrong with earth and it has suddenly increased its gravitational pull exponentially.
Since it’s an end of the season the snow had turned into ice and when we hit against it, it was serious business. I became firm believer of the idiom ‘try and try until you succeed’ when I managed skiing the whole slope without falling at all. Difficult part now was to put sudden brakes once you are at the bottom and this part I never did correctly. If I want to apply brakes or stop I have to fall down there and there was no way. Hopefully in my next expedition I will succeed at this. Even after taking complete day rest on Sunday, I didn’t felt like coming to office on Monday so I availed a sick leave. It was wonderful experience and we enjoyed a lot with snaps and videos. Seeing at the videos now I feel like: “Yes I can do it….”
Here are some snaps to share.
On the way to Alpine valley resort
My legs tangling around me 
My first milestone achieved
See I am struggling there and this kid is enjoying skiing with both hands free
We, sharing a moment
Mission Accomplished
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