101 Update
#79- Learn to ski-COMPLETED 02/24/07
I had anticipated completing this item in about a month when Evan and I take our anniversary trip to Park City, Utah but we decided to take a day trip to Sugar Mountain which is just outside Boone, NC. We snagged a few other friends and made the 3 hours drive up and arrived around lunchtime for an afternoon session. It was 53 degrees outside but there was still some man-made snow and a ton of people! The parking lots were full of cars and SUV’s and church buses. I was starting to get nervous as I saw the throngs of people waiting for me to bust my butt. Brent and I took a ski lesson (see I’m not the only one that didn’t know how to ski!) while Brew and Evan hit the slopes.
Our instructor was Chris and I think he was from Switzerland. There were 8 of us total, including a family of 4 whose 5 year old daughter put us all to shame. The class was really basic, but I have concluded that skiing is pretty basic; slide, turn, and stop…that’s all you really need to know. Oh and how to get up when you fall, which is a chore in and of itself. I went down the bunny slope a few times and felt pretty confident, I only fell once but that’s only because I wanted to practice getting up 
So we were off, 40 minutes of instruction later and Chris said we could take on any mountain, ok I will start with the easiest one. We had to wait about 10 minutes or so to get on the lift, which was a nice ride considering I had been on my feet for a couple of hours. The view was nice and I chatted with Evan about how excited I was to start skiing and I felt good about my lesson. We dismount the lift and I am staring at the trail, it doesn’t look too bad but I take my time down. Nice and smooth no problem…until I see quite a dip in front of me. Not the site I wanted to see, an icey slope below and everyone was sliding on the way down. I really don’t like falling, that’s why I didn’t like snowboard that much. I stood at the top for what seemed like an hour, Evan trying to coax me down, me shaking my head like a little kid that doesn’t want to jump in the water. Finally I do it, I ski down, lose control and fall quite ungracefully. As I am trying to pick myself up while not falling again, some chic plows into me which makes me even more pissed off. I am not liking this and am contemplating the return policy on out Utah trip. But I finally get up and am determined to make it down the rest of the hill, which I do and even stop at the bottom before hitting a bunch of people in line.
I was not happy with the first run but know I had to keep at it…so we got back in line. The second run was much better, I figured out a way down without falling and even kinda enjoyed myself. By the third time, I was pumped! Ok so I’m not ready for a Black Diamond yet but I am certainly excited about our trip now!
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