Skiing the Slopes

My friend, Atusa, and I somehow just discovered that we both use to ski when we were little. I think she always knew I did since my mom was a super skier but I did not know she did too. So we decided that we were going to go skiing over winter break even though it has been 10 years since either of us have gone. We put it off all break until the last thursday of break we finally decided to go.

We went to Afton Alps which is about a 45 minute drive, but it is worth it with all the different slopes. I decided to wear my moms snow suit that good skiers wear. So I thought I was going to look stupid wearing this super nice ski outfit while I tumble down the easy hills.

 

We started on the bunny hill since we were both scared because we have not gone in so long. We did it twice to be safe. Sure enough it was just like riding a bike; it was muscle memory. Next we went down a bigger slope that was just fine. For the next slope, we watched people go down a hill right under the chair lift and thought it looked easy. So we started going down but it was super steep and narrow. Apparently the people we watched were pros that made it look easy. Later that day when we went back the slope was blocked off. Apparently it wasn't even suppose to be a slope...

Later we journeyed over to what was called the highlands, and I mean journeyed. Even with a map it was hard to figure out where we were suppose to go. You can look at the map below later with all the black arrows but it was hard to know where you were. We stood in this open hilly plain area trying to figure out where we were suppose to go. Then I saw these two guys snowboard past us and go through this sewer tunnel thing. I looked at Atusa with big eyes and said "Lets go in there!" I started skiing away hearing Atusa yelling, "NO!" in the distance. Eventually she followed.

The hills in the highlands were a lot more fun because they were longer with multiple choices of which way to go. We started going down one hill that we thought was a medium difficulty hill just like the other ones all around us but it wasn't. About half way down the hill, it looked like the hill was disappearing and you were coming to a drop off. That's because you were. We stopped at the top of this "drop off" looking down and then looking back to see if we could somehow get out of it. There was no getting out. We had to proceed. If you look at the map below, I think we went down the black diamond called "Heather's Highlands". If you look at it, it just looks like it curves right? Nope that is them trying to draw a sharp decline.

The weatherman for that day said there was going to be a 20 degree drop and we started feeling it so we decided to go in the the lodge at the top of the hill to warm up. After that we hit a couple more slopes and called it a day. I am glad I went out there and did it. I hope I can continue to go every year.

There was a couple times I started thinking about my mom since skiing was her passion. I wish I could go skiing with her so she could teach me how to be better. When I was in kindergarden she worked at Buck Hill so I would go around skiing with her since I only had half days at school. Sometimes I ended up by myself because my mom would go so fast and I couldn't keep up. Here is a picture of her from when she went skiing in March with her dad. As you can see she is wearing the ski suit.