I've been skiing for most of my life. I started when I was seven, maybe six. It was at a small ski resort called The Summit at Snowqualmie in Washington state. I can't remember exactly my fist few times skiing. But I have memories of standing on the conveyor belt for the bunny slope, surrounded by the clear tube, inching upward. Having the "pizza slice" and "french fries" positions drilled into me. Being in the same ski class as my sister, slowly learning greens and then blues. I remember going down my first green--it was the steepest slope in the world to me.
I might be on a tangent, but I've got a point, I promise. The last place I was skiing before moving here was in Zermatt, two years prior. On our second to last day there, I got stuck on a hill. I can't remember the exact moment when I froze, but I remember later struggling to get down the mountain. The next day, the rest of my family went skiing without me. I didn't want to go.
If there's one defining flaw with my skiing, it's my confidence. I've heard it time and time again. I know it's the truth. But that doesn't make it go away. After getting stuck on something, I struggle to get back on the mountain. I freeze on easy greens and avoid blues.
So last time I had been skiing, I had had an rough experience. When I discovered we would be literally moving to a town with a prominent ski resort, I was anxious. I didn't want to feel like I was being forced onto the slopes every day. For me, moving to a ski town was another pressure forced on me, in addition to making friends and starting at a new school and every other worry.
Alright, first, a little background. For those of you who don't know, this is what the Park City ski runs look like. I've only ever skied on the left side of the map, the Park City side, not the Canyons side. That is to say, the parts of the map to the left of the Quicksilver Gondola.
Ok, back to my story. So the first day skiing here was great. I did mostly greens and one blue (Treasure Hallow). The next day, however, it got cloudy. That made me unreasonably nervous, and I got stuck on a green (the bottom of Homerun). That didn't help me and my confidence issues.
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| Me at the top of Prospector, my first black diamond of this season. |
This year has been a rollercoaster of my relationship with skiing. At one point, I never wanted to ski again. But a week or so ago, one of my friends made me (well, encouraged me to) go down a moderately steep but very short hill. I refused to do it the first two times. But the third time I did part of it. The fourth time, I made it all the way down from the very top.
That very small instance made me think of all the skiing of done this winter--in my life, really. I'm not the most adventurous person, sure. But I have to learn to stop making that my excuse. Don't refuse to do something. Start small. Start with a little bit of the hill. Make your way to the top. Because it feels great to ski down :).
