How does one manage getting away in the middle of school year for a few days of skiing? One homeschools and makes a deal with her teen that he will do tons of work before and after skiing and hopes that he will make a true effort to keep his word. He did in previous years, which eases my doubts about the wisdom of my decision of having so much unproductive fun when one ought to be working his butt off. More guilt comes from the fact that it is only two of us going, Kenneth and I, since my hubby does not ski. Fortunately he loves his job so it is not like we are abandoning him to torture. What is more, I am sure he will enjoy the house to himself without me nagging and Kenny talking back.
Now saying that I ski is a bit of an overstatement. I do cross country skiing but this is only my third season on downhill skis. I thought I would never like it so I never even tried skiing but then Kenneth expressed interest in learning and at the time I did not feel comfortable about him hitting the slopes all by himself so we took lessons together. Well, let me correct that: we started taking lessons together. While he was told to skip levels and advance faster, I chose to repeat the lessons in vain hopes that my body will respond to what my mind perceived as a good skiing technique. I am still working on it.
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| I can only hope Heavenly is as beautiful as this |
Soon I had to stop worrying about Kenneth skiing by himself. I just cannot do the slopes he does and it would be unfair to have him stay with me on my bunny slopes. So we go our own ways for a couple of hours and then meet to do some runs together. He is the sole reason I am even attempting black diamonds. In his exploits he finds ones that seem to him like I can manage them and takes me there. I don't want him to see what a chicken I am (yes, I want my son to be impressed with his mom) so I agree to join him as long as he makes sure that the slope is not too steep (on my scale, not his) and not too icy. A number of times I seriously considered killing him over his choices especially that there was no other way down but to just go for it. So I would, cursing him all the way only to realize, once I made it, that it was actually quite thrilling and maybe I could the same run again.
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| What I love about these skis is that they seem to do all the work for me |
Eventually I realized that even though I am far from being brave and graceful on slopes, I really like skiing. Last year, at the end of the season, I took advantage of a big sale and invested in a pair of sweet skis and boots. Renting costs add up easily and I knew we would be skiing a lot.
In previous years we went to Northstar and I loved it. It felt familiar and and cozy; I knew which trails I could manage easily, which were more difficult but doable on good days. But this year we are heading for Heavenly in South Lake Tahoe. That means new and exciting challenges for Kenneth and new scares for me. I can just see myself lying there and calling Kenny on the cell phone screaming, "I have fallen and I can't get up".
I will try posting since we are supposed to have wireless there, which Kenneth will really need for his school work (and not chatting with friends).
My other resolution is to try to do some runs and body weight training since I don't consider downhill skiing, at least the way I do it, any kind of real exercise. I might even consider going barefoot for a minute or two.
