I Can Ski!...I Can Ski!...I Can Ski!

This post has been a hard one for me to put together but I can not control the excitement any longer! The reason why it has been so hard is because 1) I have been waiting for other pictures that were taken by Wasatch Adaptive and 2) I don't know how to "really express" the emotions that I felt as I was going down the mountain once again!

Saturday morning, as I headed up the canyon, I felt like I was back in college, on the team bus, eyes closed, and envisioning what athletic performance I was about to do. I began to get a little nervous and I began to panic thinking that I was going to basically suck and be eating the snow all day. No one, or at least this one, does not want to or like to fail. The fear that I will not be successful at something, scares me to absolute death! I am just way too competitive!

I made my way to the Snowbird Center and found the room that we were all to meet in and ONCE AGAIN, I was the only female participant! I guess it is to be expected. The ratio of male to female is typically 4 to 1. Then it gets even slimmer when you add the "active female" component so what do ya do?!?

We received some instruction and out we went! Let me say once again, how THANKFUL I am to still have my upper body strength! Such the work out!
Ok...so there is one ski on the bottom of the chair and your poles act as balance mechanisms as well as your main "feet" skis. Having skied before, it made more sense and the principles are the same. You have to remember to look up and ahead, keep your shoulders straight, and don't do the "death grip" on your poles...the more graceful the better. I have never been good at verbally explaining or verbally giving direction when it comes to the fundamentals of sports...you just have to do it or to see it being done so......
Here I am with Dave, my ski instructor, who was awesome and hilarious! Not only did he teach me how to ski, but he also shared with me some "Snowbird secrets". He also told me why "Hells Gate" had been given that name...back when the miners lived in the canyon, the Mormon pioneers would not go past that part of the canyon because that was were the "drinkers and prostitutes" lived. Hence the name "Hells Gate"... Funny huh?!?

...see the concentration in my face...

The better I got, the longer his safety rope got and the faster that I went, the easier it got :)

I was very worried about how I would get on the chair lift but not a problem with some help...

One of the other instructors became my picture taker so thank goodness for her! I am waiting for Wasatch Adaptive to send me over some of the pictures that they had taken that are more action packed! But honestly and not to brag...ok...I am going to brag...I killed it! I caught on so quick and just did it! I loved the fact that my nose almost froze off because I was going down the hill so fast. I loved the fact that as I was cutting right, I caught ice, and had to balance on one ski just like the good old days and I did not crash and become a rolling snowball! Aaaaaand I only went down, as in crashed, ONCE! It just all made sense and it reminded me that I can do anything that I want to, even if it's a little bit different and with a little more thought! The feeling of freedom was..........! Am I going to drop my life to become some great skiier? No. But does it now mean that I can do it? Yes and now the fact that I'm not doing it is more a choice than a restriction :)We went up on the tram and it was so windy once we got up to the top that I got my photo and got right back on to head down! :) he he he

By that time, Jenny was at the Cliff Lodge so we met up and headed up to our room...
Funny story...In our room, the bathroom was not a roll-in shower. No big deal. I have learned that you just call house keeping to have them bring up a shower bench and so that's what we did. A few minutes later we heard the infamous "house keeping knock", opened the door, and they handed Jenny a small plastic baggy and once we looked it over, we discovered that it was actually a shower cap! We had to call back to once again request a shower bench not a shower cap?!? It was more one of those "had to be there" moments but we had a good laugh about it! :)

I had a great weekend and as soon as I get the other pictures, I will post them but I am still happy for the ones that I got with my camera. Now that I know what I am actually doing when it comes to skiing, I will take full advantage of it next season. Maybe now that I can benefit a bit from the snow, I won't dislike it so bad!

Now I can only wait for the warm summer to come since I am going to try water skiing with the same company who provided the snow skiing lessons. I can hardly wait!