una_dogger
Well-known member
<begin random musing>
I did something this winter that I *vowed* I would never do....I forsake the crowds, the noise, the artificial structures....and I learned to downhill ski.
I am now an addict, trying to get every last fix I can before the snow is gone for another year.
I used to look at open slopes on mountainsides in horror ...oh the injustice and the disregard for nature! Now I just want to find a steeper and longer one to carve my way down.
I feared that spending the winter on a chairlift would surely cause me to lose fitness...now I have gained so much new strength through skiing that I am trailrunning again, something I haven't been able to build back after a back injury in Winter 2005.
Similar to the personal journey and challenge I feel when climbing a tough peak or trekking long miles, skiing presented for me, a new opportunity to challenge myself -- physically and mentally. With every run, I wanted to get better. With every run, I coached myself to be more precise, more a part of the mountain and snow and air. Soon I couldn't stop myself. Every week I'd watch the weather and secretly plan a ski trip. I knew MichaelJ would be easy to convince.
I skied the bunny slope, then the greens, then the blues, then the blacks, and now the easy glades. I went from easy mountains to hard mountains and back to easy mountains again--always seeking the best conditions, from packed powder to deep fresh ungroomed wonder-snow. From skied-off bare ice headwalls to granular pellets to mashed potato mush. It was always different. Always fun, as hard or as easy as I wanted it to be.
To answer a question I was asked yesterday, "Yes, David, I do call myself a skier now"!
<end random musing>
I did something this winter that I *vowed* I would never do....I forsake the crowds, the noise, the artificial structures....and I learned to downhill ski.
I am now an addict, trying to get every last fix I can before the snow is gone for another year.
I used to look at open slopes on mountainsides in horror ...oh the injustice and the disregard for nature! Now I just want to find a steeper and longer one to carve my way down.
I feared that spending the winter on a chairlift would surely cause me to lose fitness...now I have gained so much new strength through skiing that I am trailrunning again, something I haven't been able to build back after a back injury in Winter 2005.
Similar to the personal journey and challenge I feel when climbing a tough peak or trekking long miles, skiing presented for me, a new opportunity to challenge myself -- physically and mentally. With every run, I wanted to get better. With every run, I coached myself to be more precise, more a part of the mountain and snow and air. Soon I couldn't stop myself. Every week I'd watch the weather and secretly plan a ski trip. I knew MichaelJ would be easy to convince.
I skied the bunny slope, then the greens, then the blues, then the blacks, and now the easy glades. I went from easy mountains to hard mountains and back to easy mountains again--always seeking the best conditions, from packed powder to deep fresh ungroomed wonder-snow. From skied-off bare ice headwalls to granular pellets to mashed potato mush. It was always different. Always fun, as hard or as easy as I wanted it to be.
To answer a question I was asked yesterday, "Yes, David, I do call myself a skier now"!
<end random musing>
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