January - Cross Country Ski Lessons

My skipants and I had an argument tonight. What are those things made out of? I've had these pants for years, and I swear they never fit. When I went on a ski vacation 5 years ago, I was 20 pounds heavier. I don't remember them being uncomfortable at the time. How in the world did I manage to wear those things for a week? Then, I lost 40+ pounds, wore the pants and am pretty sure they still didn't fit. Gained 20 pounds back, and you guessed it - they didn't fit!!! So, tonight I skied with my pants unbuttoned and my fly down. One good spill, and those things were going to split right up my butt. :)

Alright, onto my January adventure. I got all my equipment and went outside and was waiting for my lesson to start. Well, the only problem was that I couldn't figure out how to snap my foot into the dang ski! This shouldn't have been difficult. I have x-country skied before, but every year during that first moment I always have trouble getting the ski on. It took about 5 minutes, and some sympathetic guy to come over and give me some help. Lord help me. If I couldn't even get the ski on, what was the lesson going to look like?

The lesson started, and it was fine. The teacher was a major geek. He made silly little comments that weren't that funny. But whatever, I was still standing on my 2 skis! That was a major accomplishment. He showed us various moves, and we practiced.

Then came the hill. I stayed in the track and made it down the hill and back up again. I was very impressed with myself. However, going back the other way was a completely different story. This time the instructor wanted us to stay out of the track, and wanted us to snowplow down the hill. Should be easy right? I've downhill skied before, and that's all I ever did was snowplow because I was deathly afraid of the mountain. Well wouldn't you know? I couldn't do it. These skis are so much lighter, and I was flying!!! The instructor was next to me and yelling, "Bend your knees! Turn! Snowplow! FALL!!!!" Coming into sight was a lovely orange cone. It was my destiny to hit it and take the instructor down with me. BAM!!!!! Snow up my back, skis all twisted, orange cone went flying! I'm surprised I didn't take out innocent children and trees! People came over and asked if I was alright. It must have looked way worse than it felt. I jumped right back up, and felt fine. In fact, it was the best fall I've ever had (and even better - my skipants didn't split. Haha.)! However, I stayed away from the hill for the rest of the night. Stupid hill. You win.

All in all I had a blast out there! I plan on doing it a few more times this January, and even possibly longer into the winter.

Lessons learned for this evening:

1. My skpants have a mind of their own.

2. Don't kill the instructor.

3. Hills aren't my friend.

4. I had a blast and that's all that matters!