Relearning to Ski

When Denisa and I moved to Maine, one of the things we both looked forward to was a chance to ski as a family. We have a local hill in our town that provides the chance to ski for a low cost, and it could be a lot of fun. (Full disclosure: Denisa looked forward to this more than I did. She’s always been a much better skier.) Of course, Denisa was also pregnant with DC when we came here, so that plan was postponed a bit. Once Denisa could ski, we were left with the question of who could watch DC. I took one for the team and stayed home with her. When MC came along, we did the same thing.

So the bottom line is that Denisa, TRC, and DC have all had the chance to get plenty of skiing in over the last 8 years (well, 4 years or so for DC), and I’ve gotten . . . 3 or 4 times in? Something like that. Nothing that’s going to turn me into a better skier, that’s for sure.

However, MC is two, and she’s old enough to learn how to ski, which means that we can once again all head over to the ski hill to go as a family. And so we did, over winter break. We get there, and TRC and DC are totally in their element. Denisa is going over the basics with MC, and I did my best to remember what I was doing.

The biggest problem is that the mechanism to get to the top of the bunny hill is the worst possible thing: the rope tow.

I hate the rope tow. It’s hard to get on and off, it’s merciless, and you’re left flailing away on the beginner hill, looking like an idiot.

Or is that just me?

Once I was at the top of the bunny hill, I could ski down just fine. Getting there? I was like a drunk turtle. The rope tow just kept going and going, and there I was, standing beside it, trying in vain to get on without falling down or sliding backward. It didn’t help, of course, that the tow is on a slope, and so as soon as you walk up to it, you feel like you’re going to just start skiing the wrong way down the hill.

At last I fell over, and then I couldn’t get back up. My legs were cramping, and it was all I could do to crawl off out of the way of the more experienced four and five year olds who were going up with no problem whatsoever.

Fun times at the ski hill, no doubt.

It did get better, and I left having had a positive experience, but I’m going to do my best to not have to go back to that rope tow anytime soon. Meanwhile, TRC and DC were skiing in circles around me. Backward. Forward. Sitting on their skis. One legged. Upside down. (Well, maybe not that one.) It was nice to see they all could do it so well, but it’s going to take a while before I’m out there with them . . .