Skiing in Madriver :)

Finally, the day had come when we could experience this winter hobby of Skiing !!After a lot of discussions we finally took off to Mad river OH to ski. We reached this place at around 11:30 in the morning and went straight to the rental office to get the skiing equipment. We were asked to pickup the skiing shoes of our size first. Skiing shoes were so heavy. You really need to make an effort to walk using those shoes. It was as though we were walking on space. Then we got the skiing equipment and went to the spot to get our skiing lessions. Oh BTW, this we includes myself, Vidhya and Gampa.

The instructor started giving us skiing lessons.We were asked to practice skiing with just one ski first and then with both. We were taught to walk up the slope using duck walk. From there we were asked to practice skiing down the slope. Certain tips were given as to how to maintain the balance and stuff. I was pretty good at this practice session. I could see Vidhya and Gampa falling in front of me and struggling so hard to get up. I was quite proud as I somehow managed not to fall for which I repented later. There was a skiing slope next to us. You need to take the skiing lift to go up the slope and from there ski downhill. Our instructor asked us to spend some more time practicing before going upslope. But we insisted on taking us to the ski lift so that we could ski on the slope where everybody else were skiing. We went on the ski lift and I started to skii down this big slope and there I fell in the middle of the slope. It was so hard to remove the shoes and get up. Somehow managed to get up and started skiing down and again I fell. I fell three times before I could reach down the slope. Now I understood how important it is to fall during the practice sessions. I thought I should give up skiing now and then just sit there and watch others doing it. It was lunch time and we took a break to go have something.

After a lot of encouragement/advise from my friends who were by now able to skii much better than me, I started to ski again on the big slope. I went up the hill again some 5-6 time and fell again and again each time. But this time it was a little easier to get up and skii again. Though I could skii only for a brief period without falling, it was great to skii way down with the chill wind blowing against you. After so many falls my leg started aching and I thought I should stop now before I hurt myself. My friends were now expert. They were doing it so good and without falling. I did'nt want to try anymore so I was quietly sitting an watching others ski. It was evening by then. So we decide end it there and go for tubing on the way.It felt like heaven to remove those skiing shoes and to walk normally. After tubing for 3-4 times, it was time to get back home with all those body aches.

So overall, Skiing is great until you get a hang of it. It is defintely fun once you know how to Ski.

If I get a chance, I would defeintely love to go for it again and try to skii better. Afterall this was my first time :) . Though I was not so good at it, I still enjoyed it :)

~Cheers~

Prabha