Musings of a Wench

Snow Sports

Only in Calgary can you still be skiing well into what the rest of North American thinks of as spring. We went for some last day riding at Lake Louise yesterday, as Vince had two free passes, so I bought myself one from someone at work for $20 and we headed for the mountains.
Of course, Louise sucks and we had to wait for an hour and a half at the base because they only had the gondola running and it was broken. Really annoying. (The chairlifts from base were closed because dude, last day of the season. No snow left at the base.) But eventually we got up, and the snow was fucking fantastic. Spring powder! First tracks! Soft slush, and painless landings! My second day of doing moguls (on a board, no less) and not dying! Only falling down a few hundred times! Exclamation mark ski day!

But seriously, it was a good day, even with Vince along. The riding was really good, and all for the price of gas plus $10 each for a whole day of lovely spring skiing.

It's been a good year for riding, actually. We certainly didn't go out as much as last year, when we went out something like 15 times including 2 ski weekends with his family at different resorts. This year, we've been to Louise once, Fernie once, COP night skiing twice, Nakiska once, Sunshine four times, and we have a free day at Sunshine to use up in the next few weeks. (Sunshine closes on May 22nd this year. I told you this part of the world is weird.) I've become much better this year - doing mainly groomed black and blue runs, learning how to go fast (lean forwards, not backwards - who knew?). A few weeks ago at Sunshine John taught me how to do moguls, which are not really designed for a board. It's "easy" for skiers, but it's kind of counter intuitive on a snowboard. All those quick tight turns... Yesterday I spent much of the day on black mogul runs practicing, and I have to say, I think I did pretty damn good for my second day.

Of course, I hurt like crazy today.

And I also learned how to ski. It was SO MUCH EASIER to learn than snowboarding. Wow. By my third run I was paralleling. I spent my first four hours on a snowboard falling and hurting myself. Badly. And crying, did I mention the crying? Skiing was like, "wheee, is this what I was so scared of? ha!" Now, in fairness, I did take ski lessons for a four day week each year from 1991-93, which I was awful at, and whined incessantly about, according to my mother. It was with school, so there wasn't much choice. But I was dreadful at it, so it was cool to pick up the basics so quickly.

I also got some good equipment this year. "Bought" a pair of ski boots from the university's ski sale, for a total cost of $0. (They were probably two year's ago models, but they fit, were crack free and were pretty nice boots.) John got me some cross country skis for $20 at a garage sale this weekend. I have an excellent board with step in bindings that I really like. Did I mention I also have steeltoe hiking boots? (I bought those for a summer job I had a few years ago.) My god, I've become outdoorsy!

And I like it. Hmm, the aliens really have taken over my body...

posted by Morgan @ 8:36 a.m.