Possibly a Wee Bit Obsessed

I am possibly a wee bit obsessed about learning how to ski.

Remember how I threw myself down a blue slope and thought I was going to be picked up by ski patrol? And how I did actually get picked up by ski patrol, just four hours before I thought they would come for me?

Because I am a determined kind of woman, the next step is to obviously get more ski gear, then plan a trip to go back and do it again.

Over January, Hubby and I acquired our own ski boots and more ski clothes. It felt a little odd to be throwing money at something we didn't really know how to do well, (or for me, how to do it at all!) but alas, we had heard that the trick to skiing was to be 'comfortable' in the boots. How exactly would one be 'comfortable' with all this plastic tight against my feet was a mystery to us, but alas, we did it anyway. I can now say that the most expensive pair of shoes I own is my ski boots. My most expensive pants are my ski pants. Just to get my money's worth, we had to go back.

So we did this past weekend. It took us forever to get to Tahoe- Hubby had to install chains on his own, which he insisted on doing, so I didn't really feel badly for him. However, we got stuck on the interstate because they had CLOSED it. CLOSED IT! We essentially made peace with the fact that we were going to stay overnight in the car. (Because we are both determined people, the idea of turning around to spend the night somewhere, and possibly miss the reopening of the interstate was not, is not, an option.)

When we got to the condo, we couldn't find it! All that deep, deep snow covered everything. As Zoe said, "All that deep, deep snow, all that snow had to go!" (She loves, loves The Cat in a Hat Comes Back, because, she is our little cat Z!) It took us, actually, just Hubby, nearly an hour, of running around in four feet of snow, to find the right building, the lock box, and to get us in. We had to carry the kids in- remember that four feet of snow? Oh dear, carrying kids who weigh so much, at altitude, while freezing was really hard work...

This time though, instead of going to Squaw, we went to Tahoe Donner, which was a really good choice for many reasons. Squaw is a great place if you know what you are doing, if you don't know what you are doing, all those black diamond slopes are not enjoyable. Some friends of ours, avid skiers, had made the recommendation to Tahoe Donner, and they were absolutely right. The kiddie area was adjacent to the lifts, and it was less fancy, which suited us just fine.

Aidan and Zoe took lessons, but Hubby and I decided to just practice. The idea was to practice coming down the hill, but somehow, we were much more hazardous at getting off the lift. Hubby fell there once, and took me down with him. I accidentally tried to jump off (?!) the lift, and totally ate it. I also stuck my poles in the snow as I was getting off (?!) and ate it again. I ate it again, once more, when I rode it with Aidan, and our skis got all tangled up (?!), oh, and that time, the next chair came and hit my butt. (I now have a very nice bruise to remind me of my folly.) Seriously.


As for skiing, I got better at it. I even got good enough to take Zoe down a green slope, albeit Tahoe Donner green slope (so it was probably actually flat...), and a very short one at that. She had cried and cried when we got off the little magic carpet ride, because she couldn't get her skis in place. "Mommy! I wanna take off my skis and walk down!" (WHAT?! There was no way I was going to let her do that! It would kill her confidence in skiing! It would kill MY confidence in skiing!) We did make it down, as we made "ice pizza." And if I may say so, it was a very nice wedge of ice pizza.

Aidan, on the other hand, was ready to go down black diamonds. He was flying!

Hubby was so excited to take me down Tahoe Donner's "One Mile Run". I was rather concerned about it- because my last run-in with something called "Run" was a complete disaster! Anyway, after he scoped it out, I was going to try it on the second day... however, with so much snow, they had closed it.

Looks like we will have to go back!