Blue Slopes are Steep

I think the majority of the people who may stumble across this page may not agree with the title, but that’s not going to stop me from using it. I’m back from this season’s ski trip, which increases the total number of days I have spent on a slope to five (5). :) That’s not so bad, now is it?

Well the adventure started on Sunday, March 5th. I had paid for a “Learn to Ski” lesson at the lovely The Canyons resort in Park City, Utah. Unfortunately, since I flew in on Saturday night I missed being able to see the Great Salt Lake from the plane, which was a bit disappointing. Anyway, I quickly remembered how painful and torturous ski boots are, how bulky and heavy skis are, and how handy boyfriends become when it comes to lugging this stuff around. I was the first one there for the lesson, but it was with a mother and two sons from Marietta, GA. Randomly, Mary (the mom) had gone to U.Va.

The lesson started out easy enough. I won’t bore you with the details, but I will mention that I rode a J-bar, which was … interesting. Aaron had come to visit me around lunchtime and he took his turn at the J-bar as well, then he decided to screw it and he just skated uphill. I guess some people just don’t like it.

On Monday, Aaron graciously “volunteered” (was guilt tripped?) into being my instructor for things like turning and stopping. I stuck to the one green slope (The Meadows/Meadows Way). The day started with me losing my chap stick and narrowly avoiding losing my cell phone, and the day ended with me losing my ski (twice). Still, I have to say that progress was made.

On Tuesday, I would have to say “the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak.” I didn’t have steel to make it strong, so I had to slug through another day of clunky boots. I was thinking MAYBE I’d go try one of the blue slopes, but that decision was made for me after lunch. I found out abruptly that there was no nice green slope from the lodge we ate at, which I think was a conspiracy by Aaron to get me to go down a blue slope. Hell, there were like 10 black ones to choose from as well. The so called “easiest” route to the base camp freaked me the hell out (right around the intersection of Zap and Eclipse). Let’s just say I had to do a shit ton of turning for about an hour before I finally made it off the mountain. Oh, and I had to scream a bit too. I mean a lot. Poor Aaron.

But I’m alive! Yay!