Ski Lesson Day 2

Saturday, January 24
9:30 am and on the mild side, cloudy, and the snow is crusty and hard, especially on the plowed road.
We were told to practice this weekend and it would be smart to go out with a group so that we could offer constructive criticism on our form. Beth planned to check out Wendell State Forest so a few of us met there.

We gear up and Beth casually mentions that we'll have a hill first to get to where we're going. She wasn't kidding. A long plowed hill that felt icy and fast. I lost count of how any times I fell, some of them hard, but it took me probably 20 minutes to get to the bottom. Beth told me to stop sitting down but when I started to panic, that seemed like the best way to stop. It's analogous to me jumping off the back of Mary's bike when we were kids because we were going too fast and I got scared. Then I hit my chin. Here I hit my butt. . . and my knee, pulled my arm back, and my knee made strange feelings and sounds when I struggled to stand up. Why I couldn't get up as easily as yesterday was frustrating since I had to do it at least as many times as yesterday. Oh, I think because then we were in deeper snow and here it was a plowed road which lent no support.

The others had all made it down and were out of sight. Beth and I agreed that I'd stay on level ground to practice my drills or I'd play on the hilly road again and would call her cell if I got hurt. She headed off to the group and I did the glide, transfer, glide drill, making my own tracks for about 45 minutes and started to feel a little confident on the turn move I worked on. Then I moved to the road and skied up and down the relatively flat parts and then incrementally on the hill. I jogged up as Beth showed me yesterday and eventually began to feel better about the wedge and the snowplow that actually stopped me. . . I felt a smile of satisfaction.

The group came back eventually and then Beth, me, Coquette and the dogs took another loop through the woods. I fell and was struggling to get up again when some woman came by and complained that we were taking up the whole trail. Beth had something to say and I said I was learning how to get up. She kind of stared like she couldn't understand the concept. After she skied off, Beth gave her the Italian up-yours which was pretty funny, while she told us her philosophy of how to talk with people in a productive and respectful way. We continued on to find yet another curving down hill that I had to be coaxed down. I did a little better as did Coquette. She said she's done downhill since she was a kid. When we headed back Beth said, "Now you can say you've done backcountry." I'm trying to picture us carrying packs and hauling sleds as we ski. Al said I'll be a human Percheron and refrained from calling me a human ass.