An unexpected ski trip

I didn’t plan anything for my spring break, namely because I had no money, and I also decided it would be an ideal time for me to relax and clean up my apartment.  So when my friend Kim, called asking if I was interested in going for a ski-trip, I was very excited.   Spring break this year was in the first week of March, and it really wasn’t spring at all.  It was very cold and grey and it snowed all throughout the week.  Thus it was also ideal for a skiing trip, because the snow on the mountains was fresh and soft.

We went to Wilmot mountain, which is not far from Chicago. It took us about 2 hours to drive there.  Wilmot is more of a hill than a mountain, but it was good enough for my needs.  Afterall it was my first time skiing.  Booking for a lesson, was a very good idea, since I had no idea how to do anything with those large skies, in that snow.  I was also lucky because there weren’t a lot of people at the resort, and I had a one on one lesson.  The instructor was very patient with me, and very helpful.  His wife happens to work at Loyola.  I had never met her though, Loyola being such a big school.

I did quite well and the instructor was happy with my progress.  Both he and my friend remarked, that for a first timer I was doing quite well.  This encouraged me to be ambitious and try the real hill, not just the bunny hills.  Here I started quite well, although I must admit that I never mastered really the turning technique, so instead of criss-crossing slowly down the hill, as one is supposed to do, I just went down straight.  This obviously makes you go down faster, and the incline is steeper.  It was quite fun, and up to this point my skiing technique was described as ‘pro’ by my friend.

Halfway through my descent, though, when I started accelerating a bit too much, I realized that another thing I hadn’t mastered so well, was slowing down.  I tried to position my feet in the way I was told, but it didn’t really work and I started panicking.  The next thing I know is that I’m flying in mid-air.  To be fair the whole experience was quite exhilarating.  In my life I flew a number of times, and most of the times I fell on hard surfaces.  Falling on the fresh and soft snow was quite comforting. 

Obviously I’m not saying that one should fall as much as possible on snow.  I was lucky that there was a heavy snowfall, and that the snow hadn’t been tread upon that much.  Otherwise the story would have been completely different.  I might have needed to use my medical insurance for the first time here in the US.  So although the falling bit was also very nice, it is not advisable in most circumstances.

This did not dishearten me, and I did try to go down the hill a number of times more.  I was improving, but I did fall a good number of times too.  The worst thing about falling was that every time I fell, my boots would snap out of the skis.  This in itself is a good thing, and is a safety precaution, because ifd it doesn’t snap out, your ankle might snap.  The bad thing is, that if this happens to you in the middle of the slope, putting your boot back into the ski is not that easy.  You have to battle with the slope to avoid sliding down, and you have to make sure that there is no snow in the place where your boot needs to clip on, and trust me there’s snow everywhere.  At one point in time it took me and my friend about half an hour to get my boots back into the ski.

Anyway all in all, it was a great adventure.  I had fun, and now I can cross it off from my bucket list.  Although I intend to attempt skiing other times in the future too.  One thing I didn’t realize whilst on the mountain is how much exercise it involves.  In fact I spent the whole week after I came back sore.  Definitely though, I repeat it was worth it!!

Photos: My friend took a number of photos/video but I haven't seen them yet.