Snowsprite: Report?
Moderators: SkiDork, spanky, Bubba
Snowsprite: Report?
On how your friend from South America did this weekend?
-
snowsprite
- Post Office
- Posts: 4092
- Joined: Nov 4th, '04, 21:55
- Location: The endless night
- Contact:
lol...Saturday was a TRIP! 
I'm home sick today so I'll give you a nice, long TR before I go take a nap:
This kid was a real trooper, but talk about a slow start. We got geared up at the Ski Club and then went outside to put on our skis. I figured I'd teach him the real basics and have him simply slide down the minor incline to KBL and then either take the flat to snowdon and down to Ram's Head or ride the trail behind KBL to snowshed.
Well, getting down the "minor incline" was no minor undertaking! He had arms and legs all akimbo and was practically sliding into the race netting. Finally some nice young man who happened to speak spanish took pity on us and came and helped out. He explained some basics to my friend (much better than I could have done!) and some of it must have sunk in because he was able to move around and we were finally on our way!
I decided to head toward snowshed and see how he did with that. It was not easy and he kept saying to me "Are you sure?" (meaning: you really think I can do this???) But I persisted in cheerleading and talking him through saying he was doing great & giving pointers. We made it to the mid-section of snowshed and then I stopped to explain to him how we were going to make it down this little hill. He says to me "That's no little hill!"
So I told him that we were going to ski across the slope to a section where there were less people and then do large s-shaped traverses. The one thing I didn't realize is I forgot to tell him how to wedge turn. OOPS! First big wipe-out!
Once he collected himself (and learned that you do NOT try to get up with your skis pointing downhill! ) we proceeded across again. Much better! In a process of advance a few turns then fall, some more snowplowing then fall...we managed to make our way down. I noticed he had a tendency to "duckplow" instead of snowplow. I tried to impress upon him that this does not a good skier make.
Then I decided to maybe go to the Magic Carpet. I can't recall who I saw (was it you, Bob?) who told me that a relative had taken a learner (adult) to the magic carpet. That had not occurred to me b/c I thought it was only for kids. But after hearing that I decided to skate him over to the magic carpet. I personally have never been on it and proceeded to jam my ski pole into the moving section at the top! I'm probably the first experienced skier who has screwed up riding the magic carpet.
Anyway, he did really well over there and managed to get a decent sense of how to wedge turn. So we skated back to snowshed and he impressed me with a really good run down snowshed. He even insisted on riding the chairlift right away...and no problems at all! Not even close to falling getting off the chairlift.
But this is when I began to see the 16 year old boy isssues rear their ugly head. Suddenly removed from the category of "fearful learner," this kid was going to show me how badass he was. Next thing I know, he's flying down snowshed! I'm like "OMG! Holy Shiznit!!!" and I'm straightlining down as fast as i can to catch up w/ him. "CRASH!" and he's down!
As I ski up he's laughing his ass of. I'm like "Are you okay!?!" and he's all cracking up "Yeah, I like to fall!" I think "This is not good."
More runs down bloodshed provide me with additional adrenaline rushes including the last wipe-out in which I confronted a motionless heap that had whipped out-of-control under a rope near the bottom of the slope. "Alvaro," I barely whisper "have you broken something? Can you hear me?" OWWWW!" is the drawn-out reply. "That one hurt!"
"See, I told you to turn more." I snap at him. "You are not listening to me! If you don't turn more you are going to get hurt." As he slowly extricated himself from the tangle, he insisted it was "Some skier fell down in front of me." and "Really, I almost crashed into him...he's lucky I turned so fast to get out of his way!" But he agreed I was right and he said he would ski more slowly and carefully as he did not want to hurt anyone.
We decided to do one more run down bloodshed. This one was better and he promised to follow me down making a series of slow wedge turns to show control. But one time he got ahead of me and fell into deep snow trail right. He said this was "ugly snow." I thought "Not to me!"
It was quite a feat to get him out of there!
It was now about 3:20 and I told him we should go up on the Gondola and see the top. The views were really cool and he wanted to take some photos to show his friends & family back home. So up we went. At the top we were greeted with an arctic blast. It was very windy...and we were a bit unprepared. Also, Token and Zig had been waiting for about 10 min and looked a bit displeased.
But we proceeded to brave the cold and get a few really nice sunset photos. Then Token suggested we take Great Eastern to Highline. I figured the kid could snowplow his way through that. He didn't want to ride the gondola back down. But it was so windy and getting late..I tried to dissuade him. However, there is no dissuading a 16 year old boy. No way he was riding that gondola back down!
What I did not know is they were making snow most of the way down the Great Eastern. What an ordeal! Between getting his goggles cleaned off to freaking out that he was skiing slowly enough and in control, I was fast approaching meltdown status. But we forged on.
Finally we cross Superstar and Token says "You guys go that way and you can catch Highline." I was a little confused, and thought we were supposed to go left a short way down Skylark and then hit Highline. But I was so windblown and exhausted (and trail map-less I discovered) that I took Token's word for it. So we proceeded along and soon what do I see? A sign for Bittersweet and one for Vertigo. GULP! This is bad. sh*t! We missed our turn!! I frantically call Token and I'm like "Uh, we are at the top of a Black Diamond. WTF do I do!?" Token's like "Calm down, I'll send a patroller over to guide you out of this."
Standing at the top of Bittersweet at 4:15 PM being nearly blown over by gusting 30 mph winds and 15 degree temps accompanied by a 16 yr old foreign kid who you just taught to wedge turn and are completely responsible for is bad enough. Having said kid proclaim to you that "I'm going down the Black Diamond. I KNOW I can do this." is nothing short of horrifying.
I proceeded to scold, berate, plead, bargain, and use any other tactic I knew to convince this kid he would die if he attempted one turn. But he was coming precariously close to defying me. And the winds were getting really horrible. Knowing that ski patrol was coming and that I needed to stall a little more--I decided it would be okay to ski down the first 1/4 of the slope...even if just to get out of the horrible winds at top. He did just fine and we were at a much calmer place wind-wise. As I pondered my next steps (basically how to keep him from moving)...I saw a sight that made my heart soar: the ski patrol!
The patrollers came over and to my dismay I saw just how determined this kid was to ski a wind-blown and bumped Bittersweet in the dark as he proceeded to argue with them that he could ski it and he wanted to try. Thankfully, the ski patrollers were bigger than me...and more assertive! They told this kiddo in no uncertain terms that he was to get into the bucket "OR ELSE!" My friend came to his senses and followed their instructions. I proceeded down bittersweet, shaken by the conditions I encountered. It was really crusty, totally bumped, and I was shaky, exhausted, and frozen...but made it down w/out incident. I was more or less just un-nerved by the possibility that he might have skiied on and encountered this. Fortunately, that was not the case.
When I caught up w/my friend they were just helping him out of the sled. Now I was pissed! I was like "NOW do you see why you could not ski down there!" :x He looked a bit sheepish, and apologized but then he said "Don't tell your husband they had to take me down on that sled." LOL! Typical guy.
What I did say is, "Let's tell him you skiied down and see what he does...then we will tell him the truth." He got a real kick out of that...and Token's reaction.
All's well that ends well and thankfully nothing really bad happened. Plus I think our friend learned a valuable lesson to respect the mountain. I learned a lesson too: When skiing w/ a young kid bring backup. I forgot they can be stubborn as hell! And I don't care what anyone says, cel phones can be invaluable on the ski mtn. (big irony: I had just cleaned out my backpack that morning and chukked all the trailmaps because "who needs 'em? I know this mountain inside and out!" )
Our friend had a really great day overall, and it was a fun experience for me to teach someone who has never skiied. It was very rewarding to see the happiness experienced by somebody moving fast on skis for the first time, getting yourself up from a wipeout, success riding the chairlift.
Our friend had so much fun that he wants to come back next year, but he wants to try snowboarding. Token, I'm afraid it's your turn!
Sprite
**Big kudos to the ski patrol for all the crap have to put up with and how graceful they are putting up with it. They deserve much thanks and commendation for their uncompromising professionalism and calm in a tricky situation.
I'm home sick today so I'll give you a nice, long TR before I go take a nap:This kid was a real trooper, but talk about a slow start. We got geared up at the Ski Club and then went outside to put on our skis. I figured I'd teach him the real basics and have him simply slide down the minor incline to KBL and then either take the flat to snowdon and down to Ram's Head or ride the trail behind KBL to snowshed.
Well, getting down the "minor incline" was no minor undertaking! He had arms and legs all akimbo and was practically sliding into the race netting. Finally some nice young man who happened to speak spanish took pity on us and came and helped out. He explained some basics to my friend (much better than I could have done!) and some of it must have sunk in because he was able to move around and we were finally on our way!
I decided to head toward snowshed and see how he did with that. It was not easy and he kept saying to me "Are you sure?" (meaning: you really think I can do this???) But I persisted in cheerleading and talking him through saying he was doing great & giving pointers. We made it to the mid-section of snowshed and then I stopped to explain to him how we were going to make it down this little hill. He says to me "That's no little hill!"
So I told him that we were going to ski across the slope to a section where there were less people and then do large s-shaped traverses. The one thing I didn't realize is I forgot to tell him how to wedge turn. OOPS! First big wipe-out!
Once he collected himself (and learned that you do NOT try to get up with your skis pointing downhill!
) we proceeded across again. Much better! In a process of advance a few turns then fall, some more snowplowing then fall...we managed to make our way down. I noticed he had a tendency to "duckplow" instead of snowplow. I tried to impress upon him that this does not a good skier make.Then I decided to maybe go to the Magic Carpet. I can't recall who I saw (was it you, Bob?) who told me that a relative had taken a learner (adult) to the magic carpet. That had not occurred to me b/c I thought it was only for kids. But after hearing that I decided to skate him over to the magic carpet. I personally have never been on it and proceeded to jam my ski pole into the moving section at the top! I'm probably the first experienced skier who has screwed up riding the magic carpet.
Anyway, he did really well over there and managed to get a decent sense of how to wedge turn. So we skated back to snowshed and he impressed me with a really good run down snowshed. He even insisted on riding the chairlift right away...and no problems at all! Not even close to falling getting off the chairlift.
But this is when I began to see the 16 year old boy isssues rear their ugly head. Suddenly removed from the category of "fearful learner," this kid was going to show me how badass he was. Next thing I know, he's flying down snowshed! I'm like "OMG! Holy Shiznit!!!" and I'm straightlining down as fast as i can to catch up w/ him. "CRASH!" and he's down!
As I ski up he's laughing his ass of. I'm like "Are you okay!?!" and he's all cracking up "Yeah, I like to fall!" I think "This is not good."
More runs down bloodshed provide me with additional adrenaline rushes including the last wipe-out in which I confronted a motionless heap that had whipped out-of-control under a rope near the bottom of the slope. "Alvaro," I barely whisper "have you broken something? Can you hear me?" OWWWW!" is the drawn-out reply. "That one hurt!"
"See, I told you to turn more." I snap at him. "You are not listening to me! If you don't turn more you are going to get hurt." As he slowly extricated himself from the tangle, he insisted it was "Some skier fell down in front of me." and "Really, I almost crashed into him...he's lucky I turned so fast to get out of his way!" But he agreed I was right and he said he would ski more slowly and carefully as he did not want to hurt anyone.
We decided to do one more run down bloodshed. This one was better and he promised to follow me down making a series of slow wedge turns to show control. But one time he got ahead of me and fell into deep snow trail right. He said this was "ugly snow." I thought "Not to me!"
It was quite a feat to get him out of there! It was now about 3:20 and I told him we should go up on the Gondola and see the top. The views were really cool and he wanted to take some photos to show his friends & family back home. So up we went. At the top we were greeted with an arctic blast. It was very windy...and we were a bit unprepared. Also, Token and Zig had been waiting for about 10 min and looked a bit displeased.
But we proceeded to brave the cold and get a few really nice sunset photos. Then Token suggested we take Great Eastern to Highline. I figured the kid could snowplow his way through that. He didn't want to ride the gondola back down. But it was so windy and getting late..I tried to dissuade him. However, there is no dissuading a 16 year old boy. No way he was riding that gondola back down!
What I did not know is they were making snow most of the way down the Great Eastern. What an ordeal! Between getting his goggles cleaned off to freaking out that he was skiing slowly enough and in control, I was fast approaching meltdown status. But we forged on.
Finally we cross Superstar and Token says "You guys go that way and you can catch Highline." I was a little confused, and thought we were supposed to go left a short way down Skylark and then hit Highline. But I was so windblown and exhausted (and trail map-less I discovered) that I took Token's word for it. So we proceeded along and soon what do I see? A sign for Bittersweet and one for Vertigo. GULP! This is bad. sh*t! We missed our turn!! I frantically call Token and I'm like "Uh, we are at the top of a Black Diamond. WTF do I do!?" Token's like "Calm down, I'll send a patroller over to guide you out of this."
Standing at the top of Bittersweet at 4:15 PM being nearly blown over by gusting 30 mph winds and 15 degree temps accompanied by a 16 yr old foreign kid who you just taught to wedge turn and are completely responsible for is bad enough. Having said kid proclaim to you that "I'm going down the Black Diamond. I KNOW I can do this." is nothing short of horrifying.
I proceeded to scold, berate, plead, bargain, and use any other tactic I knew to convince this kid he would die if he attempted one turn. But he was coming precariously close to defying me. And the winds were getting really horrible. Knowing that ski patrol was coming and that I needed to stall a little more--I decided it would be okay to ski down the first 1/4 of the slope...even if just to get out of the horrible winds at top. He did just fine and we were at a much calmer place wind-wise. As I pondered my next steps (basically how to keep him from moving)...I saw a sight that made my heart soar: the ski patrol!
The patrollers came over and to my dismay I saw just how determined this kid was to ski a wind-blown and bumped Bittersweet in the dark as he proceeded to argue with them that he could ski it and he wanted to try. Thankfully, the ski patrollers were bigger than me...and more assertive! They told this kiddo in no uncertain terms that he was to get into the bucket "OR ELSE!" My friend came to his senses and followed their instructions. I proceeded down bittersweet, shaken by the conditions I encountered. It was really crusty, totally bumped, and I was shaky, exhausted, and frozen...but made it down w/out incident. I was more or less just un-nerved by the possibility that he might have skiied on and encountered this. Fortunately, that was not the case.
When I caught up w/my friend they were just helping him out of the sled. Now I was pissed! I was like "NOW do you see why you could not ski down there!" :x He looked a bit sheepish, and apologized but then he said "Don't tell your husband they had to take me down on that sled." LOL! Typical guy.
What I did say is, "Let's tell him you skiied down and see what he does...then we will tell him the truth." He got a real kick out of that...and Token's reaction.All's well that ends well and thankfully nothing really bad happened. Plus I think our friend learned a valuable lesson to respect the mountain. I learned a lesson too: When skiing w/ a young kid bring backup. I forgot they can be stubborn as hell! And I don't care what anyone says, cel phones can be invaluable on the ski mtn. (big irony: I had just cleaned out my backpack that morning and chukked all the trailmaps because "who needs 'em? I know this mountain inside and out!"
)Our friend had a really great day overall, and it was a fun experience for me to teach someone who has never skiied. It was very rewarding to see the happiness experienced by somebody moving fast on skis for the first time, getting yourself up from a wipeout, success riding the chairlift.
Our friend had so much fun that he wants to come back next year, but he wants to try snowboarding. Token, I'm afraid it's your turn!
Sprite
**Big kudos to the ski patrol for all the crap have to put up with and how graceful they are putting up with it. They deserve much thanks and commendation for their uncompromising professionalism and calm in a tricky situation.
I like wine.
Hey, Sprite -- thanks for a great read -- in addition to trail maps, I'd suggest sticking this in your back pack:
Su Código de Responsabilidad
El esquí se puede gozar de muchas maneras. En los centros de esquí uno puede encontrar gente practicando esquí alpino, snowboard, telemark, cross country y variado equipo especializado, como por ejemplo aquel usado por esquiadores lisiados y otros. Sin importar cómo es que Usted decide disfrutar de las pistas, sea siempre cortés con las demás personas. No olvide de que los elementos de riesgo están siempre presentes en el esquí y que el sentido común y la conciencia personal pueden ayudarle a reducirlos. Lea atentamente el código enumerado debajo y comparta con otros esquiadores, la responsabilidad de una gran experiencia.
Su Código de Responsabilidad
El esquí se puede gozar de muchas maneras. En los centros de esquí uno puede encontrar gente practicando esquí alpino, snowboard, telemark, cross country y variado equipo especializado, como por ejemplo aquel usado por esquiadores lisiados y otros. Sin importar cómo es que Usted decide disfrutar de las pistas, sea siempre cortés con las demás personas. No olvide de que los elementos de riesgo están siempre presentes en el esquí y que el sentido común y la conciencia personal pueden ayudarle a reducirlos. Lea atentamente el código enumerado debajo y comparta con otros esquiadores, la responsabilidad de una gran experiencia.
- Mantenga siempre el control y la capacidad de parar o evitar a otras personas y objetos.
Las personas que se encuentren delante suyo tendrán la preferencia. Es su responsabilidad evitarlos.
No puede parar en zonas donde quede obstruyendo el camino o donde no se le pueda ver desde arriba.
Siempre que inicie su descenso o se encuentre emergiendo hacia otra pista, debe mirar hacia arriba y ceder el paso a quienes vengan por la misma.
Siempre utilice dispositivos para prevenir la pérdida de su equipo.
Observe toda la señalética y advertencias. Manténgase fuera de pistas y zonas cerradas.
Antes de usar cualquier medio de elevación, Usted debe tener el conocimiento y la capacidad de subirse, andar y bajarse del mismo con seguridad.
-
Dedo En Mi Chili
- Black Carver
- Posts: 413
- Joined: May 19th, '05, 17:47
- Location: Capitan Crackberry's
- Contact:
Hay carumba....who the hell understands espanol around here????SnowSnake wrote:Hey, Sprite -- thanks for a great read -- in addition to trail maps, I'd suggest sticking this in your back pack:
Su Código de Responsabilidad
El esquí se puede gozar de muchas maneras. En los centros de esquí uno puede encontrar gente practicando esquí alpino, snowboard, telemark, cross country y variado equipo especializado, como por ejemplo aquel usado por esquiadores lisiados y otros. Sin importar cómo es que Usted decide disfrutar de las pistas, sea siempre cortés con las demás personas. No olvide de que los elementos de riesgo están siempre presentes en el esquí y que el sentido común y la conciencia personal pueden ayudarle a reducirlos. Lea atentamente el código enumerado debajo y comparta con otros esquiadores, la responsabilidad de una gran experiencia.CONOZCA EL CÓDIGO. ES SU RESPONSABILIDAD.
- Mantenga siempre el control y la capacidad de parar o evitar a otras personas y objetos.
Las personas que se encuentren delante suyo tendrán la preferencia. Es su responsabilidad evitarlos.
No puede parar en zonas donde quede obstruyendo el camino o donde no se le pueda ver desde arriba.
Siempre que inicie su descenso o se encuentre emergiendo hacia otra pista, debe mirar hacia arriba y ceder el paso a quienes vengan por la misma.
Siempre utilice dispositivos para prevenir la pérdida de su equipo.
Observe toda la señalética y advertencias. Manténgase fuera de pistas y zonas cerradas.
Antes de usar cualquier medio de elevación, Usted debe tener el conocimiento y la capacidad de subirse, andar y bajarse del mismo con seguridad.
la cosa que me gusta más es panochita
-
Dedo En Mi Chili
- Black Carver
- Posts: 413
- Joined: May 19th, '05, 17:47
- Location: Capitan Crackberry's
- Contact:
-
snowsprite
- Post Office
- Posts: 4092
- Joined: Nov 4th, '04, 21:55
- Location: The endless night
- Contact:
Holy trip reports batman. Like mtn man said, where's the cliff notes?snowsprite wrote:lol...Saturday was a TRIP!
This kid was a real trooper, but talk about a slow start. We got geared up at the Ski Club and then went outside to put on our skis. I figured I'd teach him the real basics and have him simply slide down the minor incline to KBL and then either take the flat to snowdon and down to Ram's Head or ride the trail behind KBL to snowshed.
Well, getting down the "minor incline" was no minor undertaking! He had arms and legs all akimbo and was practically sliding into the race netting. Finally some nice young man who happened to speak spanish took pity on us and came and helped out. He explained some basics to my friend (much better than I could have done!) and some of it must have sunk in because he was able to move around and we were finally on our way!
I decided to head toward snowshed and see how he did with that. It was not easy and he kept saying to me "Are you sure?" (meaning: you really think I can do this???) But I persisted in cheerleading and talking him through saying he was doing great & giving pointers. We made it to the mid-section of snowshed and then I stopped to explain to him how we were going to make it down this little hill. He says to me "That's no little hill!"
So I told him that we were going to ski across the slope to a section where there were less people and then do large s-shaped traverses. The one thing I didn't realize is I forgot to tell him how to wedge turn. OOPS! First big wipe-out!
Once he collected himself (and learned that you do NOT try to get up with your skis pointing downhill!
Then I decided to maybe go to the Magic Carpet. I can't recall who I saw (was it you, Bob?) who told me that a relative had taken a learner (adult) to the magic carpet. That had not occurred to me b/c I thought it was only for kids. But after hearing that I decided to skate him over to the magic carpet. I personally have never been on it and proceeded to jam my ski pole into the moving section at the top! I'm probably the first experienced skier who has screwed up riding the magic carpet.
Anyway, he did really well over there and managed to get a decent sense of how to wedge turn. So we skated back to snowshed and he impressed me with a really good run down snowshed. He even insisted on riding the chairlift right away...and no problems at all! Not even close to falling getting off the chairlift.
But this is when I began to see the 16 year old boy isssues rear their ugly head. Suddenly removed from the category of "fearful learner," this kid was going to show me how badass he was. Next thing I know, he's flying down snowshed! I'm like "OMG! Holy Shiznit!!!" and I'm straightlining down as fast as i can to catch up w/ him. "CRASH!" and he's down!
As I ski up he's laughing his ass of. I'm like "Are you okay!?!" and he's all cracking up "Yeah, I like to fall!" I think "This is not good."
More runs down bloodshed provide me with additional adrenaline rushes including the last wipe-out in which I confronted a motionless heap that had whipped out-of-control under a rope near the bottom of the slope. "Alvaro," I barely whisper "have you broken something? Can you hear me?" OWWWW!" is the drawn-out reply. "That one hurt!"
"See, I told you to turn more." I snap at him. "You are not listening to me! If you don't turn more you are going to get hurt." As he slowly extricated himself from the tangle, he insisted it was "Some skier fell down in front of me." and "Really, I almost crashed into him...he's lucky I turned so fast to get out of his way!" But he agreed I was right and he said he would ski more slowly and carefully as he did not want to hurt anyone.
We decided to do one more run down bloodshed. This one was better and he promised to follow me down making a series of slow wedge turns to show control. But one time he got ahead of me and fell into deep snow trail right. He said this was "ugly snow." I thought "Not to me!"
It was now about 3:20 and I told him we should go up on the Gondola and see the top. The views were really cool and he wanted to take some photos to show his friends & family back home. So up we went. At the top we were greeted with an arctic blast. It was very windy...and we were a bit unprepared. Also, Token and Zig had been waiting for about 10 min and looked a bit displeased.
But we proceeded to brave the cold and get a few really nice sunset photos. Then Token suggested we take Great Eastern to Highline. I figured the kid could snowplow his way through that. He didn't want to ride the gondola back down. But it was so windy and getting late..I tried to dissuade him. However, there is no dissuading a 16 year old boy. No way he was riding that gondola back down!
What I did not know is they were making snow most of the way down the Great Eastern. What an ordeal! Between getting his goggles cleaned off to freaking out that he was skiing slowly enough and in control, I was fast approaching meltdown status. But we forged on.
Finally we cross Superstar and Token says "You guys go that way and you can catch Highline." I was a little confused, and thought we were supposed to go left a short way down Skylark and then hit Highline. But I was so windblown and exhausted (and trail map-less I discovered) that I took Token's word for it. So we proceeded along and soon what do I see? A sign for Bittersweet and one for Vertigo. GULP! This is bad. sh*t! We missed our turn!! I frantically call Token and I'm like "Uh, we are at the top of a Black Diamond. WTF do I do!?" Token's like "Calm down, I'll send a patroller over to guide you out of this."
Standing at the top of Bittersweet at 4:15 PM being nearly blown over by gusting 30 mph winds and 15 degree temps accompanied by a 16 yr old foreign kid who you just taught to wedge turn and are completely responsible for is bad enough. Having said kid proclaim to you that "I'm going down the Black Diamond. I KNOW I can do this." is nothing short of horrifying.
I proceeded to scold, berate, plead, bargain, and use any other tactic I knew to convince this kid he would die if he attempted one turn. But he was coming precariously close to defying me. And the winds were getting really horrible. Knowing that ski patrol was coming and that I needed to stall a little more--I decided it would be okay to ski down the first 1/4 of the slope...even if just to get out of the horrible winds at top. He did just fine and we were at a much calmer place wind-wise. As I pondered my next steps (basically how to keep him from moving)...I saw a sight that made my heart soar: the ski patrol!
The patrollers came over and to my dismay I saw just how determined this kid was to ski a wind-blown and bumped Bittersweet in the dark as he proceeded to argue with them that he could ski it and he wanted to try. Thankfully, the ski patrollers were bigger than me...and more assertive! They told this kiddo in no uncertain terms that he was to get into the bucket "OR ELSE!" My friend came to his senses and followed their instructions. I proceeded down bittersweet, shaken by the conditions I encountered. It was really crusty, totally bumped, and I was shaky, exhausted, and frozen...but made it down w/out incident. I was more or less just un-nerved by the possibility that he might have skiied on and encountered this. Fortunately, that was not the case.
When I caught up w/my friend they were just helping him out of the sled. Now I was pissed! I was like "NOW do you see why you could not ski down there!" :x He looked a bit sheepish, and apologized but then he said "Don't tell your husband they had to take me down on that sled." LOL! Typical guy.
All's well that ends well and thankfully nothing really bad happened. Plus I think our friend learned a valuable lesson to respect the mountain. I learned a lesson too: When skiing w/ a young kid bring backup. I forgot they can be stubborn as hell! And I don't care what anyone says, cel phones can be invaluable on the ski mtn. (big irony: I had just cleaned out my backpack that morning and chukked all the trailmaps because "who needs 'em? I know this mountain inside and out!"
Our friend had a really great day overall, and it was a fun experience for me to teach someone who has never skiied. It was very rewarding to see the happiness experienced by somebody moving fast on skis for the first time, getting yourself up from a wipeout, success riding the chairlift.
Our friend had so much fun that he wants to come back next year, but he wants to try snowboarding. Token, I'm afraid it's your turn!
Sprite
**Big kudos to the ski patrol for all the crap have to put up with and how graceful they are putting up with it. They deserve much thanks and commendation for their uncompromising professionalism and calm in a tricky situation.
Never argue with idiots. They will bring you down to their level, then overwhelm you with their experience.
"I have noticed that when you post, you often say more about yourself than the topic you chose to speak about." -The Suit
"I have noticed that when you post, you often say more about yourself than the topic you chose to speak about." -The Suit
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Humpty Dumpty
- Post Office
- Posts: 4785
- Joined: Nov 11th, '04, 00:28
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Cliff notes: Sprite took a friend from Central America skiing for the first time. He was having a tough time with falling down and all until he got on a lift with Sprite. After one lift ride with Sprite, he was flying down the slopes trying to get away! :) By days end, they took a ride up the gondola to see some nice views and when presented the options of either skiing down a black diamond trail or riding the gondola back down with Sprite, this first time skier chose the black diamond! :)spanky wrote:Holy trip reports batman. Like mtn man said, where's the cliff notes?
(Sprite, you know I"m just bustin, but couldn't resist ;) )
The poster formerly know as §