Learning to ski.....pleasure or pain?

Linda, lost in a dream of learning to ski....fearlessly...

Well.....I would be lying through my teeth if I told you it is an entirely pleasant experience, learning how to ski downhill at this age.... It is however certainly not a lie to tell you that all though at times, I am terrified, with knees as shaky as a minor earthquake and muscles so exhausted from all the breaking that they can barely carry me any longer, the good moments, the crisp, fresh air, warm rays of sunshine on my face and the minor beginners triumphs make up for it all.


We are so fortunate as we have skiing slopes all around us here and the one we go to has a perfect beginners slope, color blue, and another one so Chris won't get too bored, color black, and in the morning, there are almost no people around! On top of this, the ski pass is less than half price versus the fancy, hip and massive skiing resorts that most people go to around here ;))


Truth be told....I probably look so silly when I ski that if this was 10 years ago, I would have cared too much about the risk of having people laughing at me to ever take on this challenge, but now, frankly speaking, I just don't give a toss. Everyone was once a beginner and for sure it is also easier to learn when you are a child. My problem is that patience is not my strength....not at all actually and all though it is entirely unrealistic, a part of me hoped I would already be flying down red slopes by now, looking fierce, feeling fearless, the beginner label completely washed off, but in reality, it's more of a "2 steps forward, 1 step back development" I am going through. The step back representing moments, like today, where the confidence is really building up and I feel as if I'm ready to master the steepest part of that blue slope where I am always breaking all the way down to flatter grounds in sheer terror, just to in the next second, loose my balance for the fragment of a second because of some tiny distraction and down I tumble. Oh well.....one day, with lots of practice and equal portions of patience ;))

Here, some photo evidence of our past two weekends of skiing/snowboarding....

My teacher and me, last weekend! My 3rd time on skis... Feels so great to have someone monitoring and helping!

She taught me a trick to avoid using my shoulders too much when turning

A freezing -16 degrees upon our arrival today....

.....but the sun came out and very quickly warmed us up!

Lovely Greta and I, enjoying the sun

Chris, as happy as a clam!

♥

Paolo and Chris, taking a break after taking on the black pist for...I guess the 5th time or so?

Chris on his board....looking just like it should (and looking like I wish I could look in my wildest and most unrealistic imagination;))

xox