Skiing is fun: haven't skied in 15 years and I still got it

Thursday Dec. 9th
Chrystal Mountain
Weather: Snowing, 24 degrees F.

For the past 15 years I have been a snowboarder, rode a board for the first time in 3rd grade, got my own board when I was 12, and have been "knuckle dragging" ever since.  But last year I went snowboarding with friends who are skiers and for the first time saw the benefits of two planks: Traversing.  At Chrystal Mountain there is lots of great terrain that is not immediately lift accessible, a significant amount requires traversing in order to get some fresh tracks.  And traversing on a snowboard sucks, it sucks bad.  No poles, no way to side step, and if you lose your speed your looking at a post holeing experience through the snow.  So this year I vowed to try Skiing.

Lucky for me a good friend is head of rental at a ski shop and is able to hook me up with ski and board rentals.  So last Thursday I got my hands on some skis (and a board in case I was sucking at the skiing), and drove towards the mountain.  We got dressed and awkwardly walked outside; wearing size 13 ski boots makes the prospect of walking much more difficult. I stepped into the bindings with apprehension, and made my first skate stroke on skis in 15 years.  "Well that works just like I remember" I thought to myself.  I had been banking on the fact that I had played Hockey through high school, and hoped that those skills would transfer well to the skis.  We rode the lift and Whitey gave me some tips on the basics.  As the top of the lift approached, that feeling of apprehension boiled in my gut; "must not fall getting off the lift" I thought. This is the ultimate Gaper move, casing the landing off the lift, and the last thing I wanted was to look like a gaper.

Can you say "pow-pow"?

I kept my tips up, and slid down the ramp, and linked a turn into a hockey stop, "yeah buddy" Whitey replied, "your going to do fine today".  With that challenge out of the way, we made our way downhill.  Initially I had no idea what to do with the poles, I kept using them like a kayak paddle and using a low-brace against the mountain instead of planting and turning, I was leaning back too much, and I nearly lost control, but managed to get to the second lift to get higher up the mountain. No crashes yet.

Whitey had been very supportive, and I think surprised that I hadn't had a major wipeout yet. By the end of my second run I was starting to get it back in my head I was always thinking, "plant, turn. plant, turn. plant turn", and so on. After I had gotten in three runs, Whitey and Mason took off to ski some of the goods, and ditched me to run the greens and blues solo.  They way I looked at it was; I'm sure I've ditched others in the past, so how can I get mad", plus the snow conditions were primo, snow had fallen all night, and it was continuing to fall.

The rest of the day I made friends on the lift, and skied the runs that didn't push my comfort level too much. By the time lunch rolled around I was straight-lining the greens and firing off some hand dragging carves, even getting air off of a few hips, and going into the trees for some pow.  This skiing thing is way fun.

Around lunch I met back up with the gang and we skied together for a few runs before eating, and then a few runs after lunch before they ditched me again to run the goods.  The weather was great, never too cold, about 30-23 F. all day long, with minimal wind and decent visibility.

Having too much fun

I did manage to crash once, but it was slow motion in some deep powder, I popped out of my binding and went over the handle bars. All-in-all the day was a major success except for getting stuck in the snow when we tried to pull over to take a piss on our way home.

When I got home my legs were in major discomfort, whenever I sat or laid down, I felt like I had Restless Leg Syndrome, the muscles felt like they were crawling, and felt like they had bugs on them.  I still managed to sleep 13 hours that night.  The next day I caught myself looking at the price of ski boots, not a good sign.