I’ve been skiing today, had another lesson, 5 hours long this time! I’ll write some more in a bit, prob after food.

[5 hours later]

Here it is.

I woke up today at 4am… far bloody too early. Couldn’t get back to sleep on my own so I had a banana (AKA, sleep food) and watched a crappy movie. Back to sleep again but it ment that I woke up at 8:15am, 15 minutes before the lifts opened.

More bananas (slow burning energy) later, I was in my thermals and waterproofs and off to the Gondella. This was my mistake last time, but I could actually ski it now with some sucess, although I did fall once. The lift trip up on Jersey Cream Express was a nice icey wind blast for your face and ears, a nice stinging and burning sensation if ever there was one, and it turns your skin red as peppers. So much so in fact that when I went into the shop to ask about a mask I was offered one before I opened my mouth.

I went and found some ski instructors for a lesson. I was told today that I was out of begginers and into inters. Apparently they actually graded on 6 levels. I and II are basics, you should be going down green runs, turning and stopping by the end, and can be picked up in an afternoon. Level III, which is what I was going into today, involves blue runs, more advanced cornering (focusing on posture as well as technique), more rapid stops and blue runs. I would also not be by myself this time (classmates were 2 middle aged lasses).

Yes, blue runs, I was heading down them. Infact I would be going down a blue run straight away (Wishbone). The main goal of that run was keeping your torso facing roughly down the line of the hill (i.e. the way the ball would roll down it). The best way to remember this is to try and keep the zip on your jacket facing that way. This helps keep your wieght heading downhil (something I have a big problem with). We were also taught to bend our knees moreso. Infact at one point we were going downhil with the poles behind our knees and holding them between our legs, and none of us fell. I zipped my coat right up for the lift back, and grabbed a slice of pizza during the break, served by my mate Nicky.

Second run (again on Wishbone) was done without poles for balence purposes. This time we were under instructions to keep our hands glued to our knees to help our possition (leaning forward, not sitting back). This proved quite tough for me as, since I’m a tall bloke, I find this quite hard. Tall people were not made to bend more than is required from a car door or during sex. Anyway, didn’t fall more than twice on that run. Lunch, on staff discount, in Glacer Creek lodge. Chilli is nice at $3.75.

Run 3 was on Easy Out, which was seeming easier, asside from the bottom bit where your on as steep a terrain as any, nearly took out one of my classmates when I was going a bit quick off a turn (yet another problem).

Run 4 was down the Nintendo Terrain Park! At the moment there are only like 2 rails, but its still a blue run at least and probably a black. Falls were becoming a problem now since I was getting tired and as a result its harder to sequence all the new knowledge together (for those of you thinking “practice then”, remember I’d been skiing near constantly since I learned it). Still, I lived.

Last run of the day was down Jersey Cream. We had the whole run to ourselves as the instructor gleefully announced. Me, getting somewhat tired of being presented with ever more suicidal hills to throw myself down quietly muttered that there might be a reason for that. Anyway, after crashing through moguls and loosing my skis a record of 3 times in one run me and the instructor both decided that we were all getting a bit tired and seeing as the rest of the lesson would be pedestrian over ground we had already done I may as well take Excelerator and Excalibur back to Base II (close to home). Never have I been so glad to see that chairlift!

Skip 5 hours forward, my thighs are hurting since I’m using a lot of muscels that you do not normally use when not strapping 2 bits of fancy wood to your feet with uncomfortable boots and complicated bindings and then throwing yourself down a hill. I’m also more tired than I realised on the hill by a long shot.

Anyway… I’ve been rambling. Pandora.com is keeping me musically happy and I’ve got my job orientation at 8:30 tommorow.