From Skating to Skiing

I had always wanted to try skiing out but growing up in the Chicago land area and spending all my time (and money) playing hockey did not allow for it.  Lucky for me, in college I got a chance.  You see, I met this wonderful woman who eventually agreed to marry and had been skiing most of her life.  So,  when given the chance to try it out over break one time, well, how could I say no?

Imagine if you will, learning to ski from (little did you know at the time) your future father-in-law…  One would think this was scary, but for some reason it did not bother me really. I had met them before and felt comfortable with them. Especially if my wife (then girlfriend) would defend me if necessary.  Anyway, I didn’t know it at the time, but apparently going skiing with this family and how you present yourself doing it is a form of test.  SPOILER ALERT: I passed.  Ok, the first step after arriving in Massachusetts was traveling up to  Grammie’s house in NH.  I got to meet a ton of family on this trip.  Next was heading to King Pine to learn to ski.

King Pine seems to be the traditional place for most of the family to learn to Ski so I felt good about it.  I will have to write all about the hill itself later but let’s just say it is very family friendly and an excellent place to learn.  So, go through the rental, figure out how to get the gear on and head to the bunny slope.  First thing I am told?  Of course how to walk in skis.  It was a bit awkward at first compared to my ice skates but I got around without causing too much embarrassment. Now to learn to walk up the hill. No lift for you, first you have go to walk a little.  So, side stepping my way up a little to a respectable height.  Now comes the fun part..

My Father-in-law (with my wife and future Mother-in-law watching) tells me he would like me to push my legs out and in, while I go down the slope.  This is to show control.  So, without a full demonstration, I naturally think of how a person would do it in skates. That is point your toes out and then try to point them back in.  C-cuts for those who are familiar.  So, I go ahead and do this, 3 times until I get to the flats.  It was REALLY hard.  I then turn around and start back up to where they are standing.  On the way, I see my wife laying down in the snow laughing her rear end off and my Mother-in-law trying not to laugh while my Father-in-law is also very amused.  When I arrive up, he says to me “You’re very flexible, but what I wanted you to do was just push the heel`s out and back in”.  I mentioned that sounded easier and he heartily agreed! (BTW, for some background, at this point in my life I was very flexible.  Being a goalie and playing 5-7 nights a week made that work.  I am told I used to be able to do the splits, but I never witnessed it myself)  Anyway, that was probably the most fun I gave them the whole trip.

Before the end of the trip, I was doing the Greens and Blues without too much issue. I only face planted one time when I managed to lose a ski and and put my foot in the snow after I lost it.  My wife made sure I was OK and once she realized I just had the wind knocked out of me, she laughed a ton. She had been ice skating with me several times and was looking forward to me being on her turf!  Of course the lesson I learned from that was if you lose a ski, don’t put your foot down.  Instead, ski on 1 ski as far as you can and control your fall.  There was only one issue with that though. My ski was still up the hill above me.  Luckily my Mother-in-law was nice enough to bring it to me and explain to me the errors of my ways.  Next time, do the controlled fall quickly so you don’t have to trudge up the hill for your ski if there are not nice people to bring it to you.

I couldn’t find a picture from the first day, but this gives you an idea of where I started from.

All in all, I was hooked on skiing pretty much after that experience.  Good thing too considering the family I have joined but more on that later.