Skiing

Last saturday (12 Jan) I invited myself to go along on a skiing trip. It was a group from church, Molly, Richard, Valda, Nigel, Jen, and me. We drove about an hour north(ish) to Feldberg. It was a nice drive and we didn't really see snow until we got to the village. Jen commented on the way home about how interesting it was that the snow literally tapered off on the hillside.

The Ski resorts are a bit different here. It's interesting because it seems to me that people are more serious about their winter sports, but it also seems to be more of a social event or party. There were definitely more people at this resort than I saw when I went snowboarding in Oregon and at least two or three more places to eat.

At the beginning of the day, I thought I would try to snowboard since I actually knew how to do it, but could not get up the lift (it's a t-bar that just pulls you along, but you can't put any weight on it or you will fall and you have to work to keep your board or skis going straight so you don't fall over), which was not designed with snowboarders or beginners in mind. After several attempts and a lot of frustration, I decided to see if the equipment shop would trade my snowboarding things for ski equipment. The guy was very nice and abliging. I, then found Jen and asked her to teach me how to ski. She did a very nice job showing me what to do and was encouraging while I experimented.

I finally caught up with the rest of the group and tried out my abilities. Everyone was very patient and encouraging, especially Richard and Valda who took a special interest in making sure I figured out the particulars. Richard was very adamant that I lean forward, which I was very determined not to do. It actually helped and made sense once I became a bit more comfortable. And Valda did not hold the fact that I ran into her against me. I can snowplow, but not very quickly. I prefer to dig my skis in sideways, but haven't quite reached the skill where I can do it without faalling over sometimes.

Anyway, I had a great time and am looking forward to going again, at some point. If you want to see me look silly skiing, you can go to this web address... http://picasaweb.google.com/richard2718/Feldburg/photo#5154685507455274146 I am most impressed by the fact that Richard is skiing as he is filming me. The funniest thing is that he wanted to get me falling over, but he stops filming just before I fell. You can see me about to biff it in the last shot.