Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Youth Group Ski Night

On Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 several members of our small, but GREAT youth group went skiing at Camp Fortune. Sorry, no pictures, but if you'll let your imagination run wild, I think you'll have some great mental pictures of your own as you read on. . . : )

After picking up my charges in my van, we headed for the hill. With the transit strike still ongoing, I wasn't sure what the traffic would be like, but was willing to take the chance. Another van load was leaving from another location slightly later than me, and we all hoped we'd be able to beat the traffic.

One concerned parent pointed out to me that we'd be stuck in traffic for hours, but I like to live dangerously (at times) so we were going to give it a try.

Turns out that the traffic was actually quite light at 3:30 pm, for which we were thankful. We arrived at the hill by 4:30 with no issues. PTL.

Now, I just don't like to GO skiing. I have to prepare using a check list as follows:

  • Skis

  • Boots

  • Helmet

  • Goggles

  • Neck toque

  • Good hat for under the helmet

  • Proper socks x's 2

  • Two pair of good mittens

  • Good snow pants and coat

  • Long underware

  • Credit card

  • Snack food

  • Water.

Others on the other hand, aren't so thorough. Take Abigail for instance. She forgot good socks, wore only a light shirt under a ski coat, and didn't have good mittens. She didn't fare that well on the hill. I found her inside the chalet massaging her frozen feet for a long time.

But, we must move on.

We got our lift tickets, and rentals for those who needed them, and then we were off to the hill. You should know that I'm fairly new to skiing. I only started 3 years ago. I do like skiing, however, except for one part. The chair lift. Standing in line isn't easy for me. Moving slowly with others to a moving object that can cut your legs off isn't something I relish. And that chair lift has caused me some problems over time. I've often missed the timing of the lift and the chair clipped my legs forcing me to sit down a bit faster than I'd like.

This happened to several of us as we took the lifts. I won't get into details, but I understand Wilma B. had a hard time getting on the chairlift, and her daughter was just mortified as she watched. Denied she was her daughter and everything. : )

Another part of skiing I don't like is that little, sharp, steep hill at the end of the lift where you get off. I think the hill owners make this part super steep on purpose. And if you aren't careful, it can be dangerous. Hannah B found that out the hard way.

Three of us were talking on the chair lift and all of a sudden realized that we were at the top and needed to get off. Well, Hannah forgot one of the cardinal rules of chair lifting [which I've forgotten as well BTW]: Make sure your skis are well in FRONT of you as you prepare to disembark.

Hannah forgot that. Her left leg got caught under the chair lift and she was left to be dragged for 3 metres or so screaming to the attendants to STOP THE LIFT. She managed to recover at the end, and we all ended up jumping off the lift as it began to turn around for its return trip down the hill.

Ah, then we were ready to ski. We all took the green hills first to get reacquainted with our boots, skis and polls. Some then moved on to the blue hills, and others to black diamond ones [which I'll talk about in a moment].

Hannah B was still learning and did quite well. She had difficulty with one green hill which was much steeper than she liked. I helped coach her down, which she was very thankful for. Then there is her brother, Ben. He doesn't believe in turning as he skis. More of a kamikaze skier type. Straight down each and every hill. Not easy to watch. We'll have to convince him to learn how to turn before he does some serious damage to himself, eh Ben !!

Getting back to those black diamond hills. Several of us decided to try a black diamond hill during this ski time. Chris and Abigail went first, and Shawn and I stuck to the blue hill. They liked the hill, so Shawn and I reluctantly decided to give it a try too.

You need to know that I've only done one black diamond in my short skiing career and that was not by choice. A "former" friend of mine, Kevin G, decided to teach me how to ski using a black diamond as the classroom. Not a pretty sight. [He's still my friend, but I don't look fondly on that time].

But with a couple of years under my belt, I thought, why not. So did Shawn. I went first. I did ok. Shawn……not so. I was half way down the hill, when I saw a ski come whipping by me at 60 miles an hours, with no leg or other body parts attached. If you were standing in front of it, it would have gone right through you.

A second later there was this huge ball of snow, with hands and feet protruding at all angles. A human snowball was the best way to describe it. Into the trees Shawn went. We all stopped, held our breath and then my son yelled out. Shawn, are you ok? Thankfully he responded yes…..

Then Chris asked, "Did it hurt?"……the feeble response came back, Yes.

We were just glad that Shawn was unhurt. He ended up sliding down most of that hill, and he and I didn't try that one again. We did do another black diamond, but it wasn't nearly as bad.

The weather was perfect, the skiing good, and the company always pleasurable. We hope to go again sometime, and we'll be better prepared for those black diamonds, eh Shawn!!!

Oh, Finally, some other Kodak moments for your minds:

  1. Abigail running over my skis and then doing a face plant in the snow. Very embarrassing for her. : )

  2. Chris falling right after he got off the ski lift. No one around him, no big hill, on a flat surface, and then, wompfffff [you have to imagine the sound effect].....he just falls.

  3. Megan going down the hill to race me and falling right in front of me.

  4. Hannah yelling at the top of her lungs, "How do you stop!"
Until next time. . . .

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