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I'm back from Vail in one piece and I don't know when I've ever had a more enjoyable or more exhausting time. This was my first time on snow skis so I took three full days of ski school. It's amazing at the attrition rate in ski school; we started with five students, had three left the next morning and I was in the only one left at the end of the day. Old guys rule! I started at level four on the third morning and we hit the icy slopes of the green runs. We went down "expresso", took a break then back up the chairlift. The next run down was pretty trecherous and I'm pretty sure it was a black diamond. There were bare patches of grass that had to be missed so I had to ski very aggressively and consequently my left ski popped out of it's binding. I didn't fall (then) but just stuck there midway thru the turn. The ski popped off five times going down the run and by the time I got down to the bottom at the lift, I had lost my new group. I thought I had heard the instructor, a soft spoken Bulgarian girl, say we were going to take chairlift 4 so that's what I did. I got to "Mountain Top" (over 11,000 ft) and they were not there. There was a ski patrol lady there that helped me fix my ski. I told her what had happened and she got on the radio to the school, asked me where I needed to go then we started out on the four mile series of runs. She helped me refine my form but there was no pressure to be perfect. I relaxed and totally enjoyed the trip and pretty well perfected parallel turns and stops. If I had it to do over again I would have taken the third day off to give my quads some relief and ski again the fourth day but nobody told me that tidbit of wisdom until day three. Fortunately our house had a hot tub and that was an absolute life saver. I hate to think what I would have felt like, skiing for five hours or more three days straight, if I had not had strong leg muscles and been in good shape; getting that physical at two miles above sea level makes your lungs scream for oxygen.
I think skiing is a lot like golf in that there are a lot of things you have to remember to do almost simultaneously. Form is everything in both sports and if it's not right you can't just fake it. At the end of day two, we were skiing a nice long blue run back to the Eagles Nest; the view was breathtaking and we were in a sweet spot with almost no snowboarders. I suddenly realized that I was making perfect parallel turns without even thinking about my form. It was at that moment that the light went on and I noted to myself "this is fun!". For me, snow skiing could be much more addictive than golf. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pix of me skiing but the images in my mind are clear and mentally refreshing as I come back to the real world. I had heard so much hype about skiing and yes it is true, you do think "Oh God, I'm going to die right here!" but I've never been one to let fear hold me back from anything. Heck, I'm not planning on getting out alive anyway so I'm going to live life the way I want. I've been told "It's just the exact opposite of water skiing". That's not true; it's different but not opposite and I think that being good at one helps you at the other. I can tell you this: falling while barefooting on water is much more painful than any of the falls I took on the ski slope. I didn't do any double black diamonds ...but there's always next year!
-------------------- Ricky Jackson Signs Now 614 Russell Parkway Warner Robins, GA (478) 923-7722 signpimp50@hotmail.com
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Issac Newton Posts: 3528 | From: Warner Robins, GA | Registered: Oct 2004
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Sounds like you had a blast. When I went skiing last month a lady slammed into going about 30 mph and I was standing still. I think she messed up my knee because it hasn't felt right since. Are you gonna be around the shop today? I may stop by.
-------------------- Jamie Whitley 55 Calhoun St Reynolds, GA (478)951.2475 Posts: 51 | From: Reynolds, Georgia | Registered: Feb 2006
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Hey Jamie, Yeah I've got a ton of stuff to do today; come on by. I know what you mean about getting slammed into; I had to be on the constant lookout for other skiers but mainly the snowboarders.
-------------------- Ricky Jackson Signs Now 614 Russell Parkway Warner Robins, GA (478) 923-7722 signpimp50@hotmail.com
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Issac Newton Posts: 3528 | From: Warner Robins, GA | Registered: Oct 2004
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Welcome home, Ricky! Sounds like you had a great time. Now that you're back to the real world...you can breathe easier in Georgia! Judy
-------------------- Judy Pate Signs By Judy Albany, Georgia USA 229-435-6824
Live simply...Love generously...Care deeply...Speak kindly...Leave the rest to God. Posts: 2621 | From: Albany,GA,USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Glad you had a great Time in our Wonderful State Ricky. Was a little surprised when you said you had to dodge the Grass. I thought they had a better base in Vail this time of year especially with all the snow that's been flying. Skiing is definitely addicting. Schedule a Trip next year and we'll take you up to the Top of the Continental Divide at Monarch. That Veiw always reminds me whos Boss.
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I hear ya Bill. I heard some guys saying they "Kicked the mountains azzzz". I told em I just made funny faces and called it a few names, LOL. BTW, I thought I had seen dirty cars before. ...I was wrong!
-------------------- Ricky Jackson Signs Now 614 Russell Parkway Warner Robins, GA (478) 923-7722 signpimp50@hotmail.com
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Issac Newton Posts: 3528 | From: Warner Robins, GA | Registered: Oct 2004
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You got more guts than me, Ricky! I went cross country skiing years ago, & that was back in the old days. They said not to worry, you could not fall on your face...I did!
-------------------- The Word in Signs Bobbie Rochow Jamestown, PA 16134
724-927-6471
thewordinsigns@alltel.net Posts: 3485 | From: Jamestown, PA 16134 | Registered: Oct 2002
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duuuude...you should have snowboarded instead...much shorter learning curve and much more comfortable on the feet. glad you had a great time...now get back to work!
-------------------- Karyn Bush Simply Not Ordinary, LLC Bartlett, NH 603-383-9955 www.snosigns.com info@snosigns.com Posts: 3516 | From: Bartlett, NH USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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Well Ricky.... glad to hear you had fun... next year, let me know ahead of time and my wife and I will head out there and meet y'all for a few days of skiing...
I'll tell you about when I learned... I went with several of my friends, a couple of who lived up north in Yankeeland for most of their life. They talked me into going up to Beech Mountain, up in North Carolina...
I told them on the way up there how the weekend was going to unfold. I explained that since I am fairly proficient at water skiing, wakeboarding, kneeboarding, kiteboarding, etc... that I was going to catch on really quickly, and to expect this: my confidence level would very soon out-pace my experience and skill...
Sure enough, it was easy to do, after a couple runs, no snowplowing for me, I was zig-zagging back and forth, letting her open up on the straight stretches, enjoying the speed, listening to the wind... man, it was awesome....
That when my friends said, Dude, come ski this Black Diamond, it's really not that bad, it's more like Green run....
YEAH. I started coming down at a pretty good pace, then realized it was really icy and I wasn't slowing down much cutting back and forth and the wind was starting to whistle pretty good... I panicked and decided to attempt the snowplow... this where everything went into slow motion..
I saw my skis slowly approach each other but when they reached the snowplow position, they kept going and slightly crossed in the front... this happened right when I passed from the icy part through a small patch of softer snow, and they decided it was as good a time as any to stop, since that's what the rider was trying to do anyway.
Well, I wasn't ready. I continued on, while my tips resolutely stayed put, lodged in the snow. I don't know how far they bent up, as I changed to a steep angle of attack, but finally, one boot popped out of the ski, and the other ski tip lost it's grip and popped out of the snow. The slow motion then stopped and everything went into fast forward.
A millisecond later, my face impacted with the hard icy snow and I slid for about 20 feet to a stop... Most of my body was thankful for the sandpaper like icy surface, as it prevented me from continuing on down the Black Diamond at a high rate of speed; my face however, was not.
As I lay on the slope, trying to figure out if I was indeed alive or if those were angels zipping by me at 60 mph, I finally collected my breath, senses, gear, and body parts, put my skis on and continued down the hill, with my confidence and skill level perfectly matched...
And that's why I look like I do, I used to be pretty.
[ February 13, 2007, 12:30 AM: Message edited by: Jon Jantz ]
-------------------- Jon Jantz Snappysign.com jjantz21@gmail.com http://www.allcw.com Posts: 3395 | From: Atmore, AL | Registered: Nov 2005
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You know Ricky.. it's you and the rest of those two-planker wankers always on your constant lookout "watching for us boarders"... instead of gettin' on down out of the way... that creates the danger...to hell with traction, it's all about balance & momentum
quote:Originally posted by William DeBekker: . Was a little surprised when you said you had to dodge the Grass.
Maybe he's talking about those packs of snowboarders & their mid-sloap sessions.
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I was going to do snowboarding but got talked out of it but I'm going to do that next year.
Jon, I can totally relate to what you felt going down the black! There were several times I felt like I was "in control" by the skin of my teeth. I thought about next year I may just pay someone a couplelagrand and have them beat the crap outta me with a 2x4 and call it done, LOL.
-------------------- Ricky Jackson Signs Now 614 Russell Parkway Warner Robins, GA (478) 923-7722 signpimp50@hotmail.com
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Issac Newton Posts: 3528 | From: Warner Robins, GA | Registered: Oct 2004
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I started at level four on the third morning and we hit the icy slopes of the green runs. We went down "expresso", took a break then back up the chairlift. The next run down was pretty trecherous and I'm pretty sure it was a black diamond. There were bare patches of grass that had to be missed so I had to ski very aggressively and consequently my left ski popped out of it's binding. I didn't fall (then) but just stuck there midway thru the turn. The ski popped off five times going down the run and by the time I got down to the bottom at the lift, I had lost my new group. I thought I had heard the instructor, a soft spoken Bulgarian girl, say we were going to take chairlift 4 so that's what I did. I got to "Mountain Top" (over 11,000 ft) and they were not there. There was a ski patrol lady there that helped me fix my ski. I told her what had happened and she got on the radio to the school, asked me where I needed to go then we started out on the four mile series of runs. She helped me refine my form but there was no pressure to be perfect. I relaxed and totally enjoyed the trip and pretty well perfected parallel turns and stops. If I had it to do over again I would have taken the third day off to give my quads some relief and ski again the fourth day but nobody told me that tidbit of wisdom until day three. Fortunately our house had a hot tub and that was an absolute life saver. I hate to think what I would have felt like, skiing for five hours or more three days straight, if I had not had strong leg muscles and been in good shape; getting that physical at two miles above sea level makes your lungs scream for oxygen. 
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