I went skiing yesterday with my colleagues Elliot and Arran up at Crystal Mountain here in Washington state. Crystal Mountain is the largest ski area in Washington, and is located about 70 miles south east of Seattle. It has the base at 4,400ft and a summit at 7,012ft. In contrast, for those who know the area a little, Mount Rainier's summit is at 14,411ft.
Prior to yesterday, I had only skied once before (for 3 days in the run up to my sister's wedding on top of the mountain at Courchevel in France). I have also never had any lessons which meant I was relying on the few technique tips I could remember that my sister's husband had given me back in April 2006. As a result, I was finding the green runs at Crystal pretty hard going at first. With my fitness at its current low state, my legs were soon screaming at me for the punishment I was giving them!
But perseverance is key I always find, and before too long I was snow ploughing less, getting up some decent speed and cornering more smoothly. I was still finding the steeper sections hard, and the longer I skied the less power I had in my legs to correct myself when things started to go awry. I definitely fell over more in the later part of the day as a result.
After a total of 4 days skiing in my life, I have decided that I must take lessons the next time I visit a ski slope - I don't want to end up with bad habits that are too ingrained to change. In the meantime, I will enjoy the muscle pain from the exertion, and the dull throbbing of the various bruises I gained from wiping out, knowing that I'm marginally better at skiing today than I was on Saturday.