Since I moved to Tennessee, I’ve wanted to go try out skiing – mainly because it’s relatively close to where I live, so it alwayed seemed like a good thing to try while I’m in the area. Well, yesterday, I tried skiing for the first time…
I went to Ober Gatlinburg with a couple of co-workers. I haven’t heard great things about Ober, but it took less than an hour to get there and we all had free passes for the ski lift because of a Hardee’s promotion earlier in the week. My friends let me borrow the basic items that I’d need (other than the skis themselves) so the whole trip really only cost $13 for skis…although I did buy a pair of goggles while I was there, but I could have done without them.
The overall ski experience was interesting. I’ve never waterskied, so this was my first time on skis period. After falling down the “ski school” slope a couple of times, my friends decided it was time we all take the ski lift up to a long, but easy run. I didn’t think I was ready for that, but eventually I went anyway. Those ski lifts are harder to exit than I would have thought – in fact, I never was able to successfully exit the thing without falling (I could slide away, but never got very far).
As far as skiing down the mountain, well, when the snow was fresh (it was snowing a lot while we were there), I could control my speed pretty well in general. I still fell a lot, but it was usually because I hit a steeper area and I’d lose my balance when I sped up too much. I never really figured out how to turn with the skis, I did figure out how to wobble a bit so I could shift my weight slightly to turn just a little, but never got the hang of doing a regular turn.
As the night went on, I think the slopes got more icy. It certainly got pretty chilly, but by the last run I made, I could barely control the ski speed even though I was doing the same thing I did before. So my last run was relatively fast, but a bit more painful since I kept falling faster and pretty repeatedly.
Today, I’m totally sore. I kept falling in the same position, so I banged up one side pretty good (but I was never going very fast so no lasting injuries or anything)…some good bruises though. I wish I got the hang of skiing and I’m sure it’s just like a friend was telling me – I just had to let go when I started going faster and just go with it. The problem is that I’m not a big adrenaline junkie – so I don’t want to go fast or feel that out of control, so I never could quite let go and I’m pretty positive that is what made me fall so much once I started going at a good pace (because I know I kept leaning back too far and my skis came out from under me). Overall, I’m glad I went since I’ve wanted to try skiing, but I don’t think I’ll be going back. Skiing just isn’t for me, but it was certainly an interesting experience.