EEK!!!

I found myself saying eek, and worse, a lot this week.  Mostly this was related to the skiing; as things seemed to step up a notch in terms of terrain.

I had an amazing instructor, who really helped me this week, but whose favourite saying is “steep & deep”.  We were very lucky to get plenty of the deep as we were blessed with some good powder days.  However, this just encouraged the instructor to throw the lesson plan out of the window. Wait there are no windows: in the air, in the trees, off a cliff. Instead we mostly went in search of the steep; this I did not feel so lucky about: Eek. 

It turns out steep and deep is usually found on off-piste black double diamond runs.  If you don’t know much about how North Americans classify their runs, all you need to know is that most Black DD routes have a sign at the top stating ‘Warning, Extreme Danger....’. They are generally in avalanche zones, very steep, have plenty of rocks and trees, and maybe the odd cliff. F***ing EEK!!!

Needless to say these runs significantly tested my ability to override thoughts of self preservation.  I found myself completely and utterly outside of my comfort zone; something which appears to make me completely forget all that I have been told about how to ski. The result of which is generally an uncontrolled, ever accelerating form of falling that inevitably ends up with me ejecting from my skis and tumbling down the slope.  But hey; its powder so always a soft landing, and at least you can’t see the rocks. Eek, ouch, eek, arrghh. I wonder why I can’t follow simple instructions, such as; ‘always look down the mountain’ when challenged by terrain?  I’ve never had great control of my body, but it generally does roughly what I ask.  

My skiing boundaries were definitely extended this week; I’m not ashamed to say at times I was pretty petrified, particularly moments before we literally dropped in to a Black DD.  On the plus side, regular black piste runs now seem pretty tame in comparison, and I seem to have more body control when skiing them. So maybe the lesson plan didn’t actually go out of the window, and the instructor is actually a genius: I am a better skier now. Will I go in search of my own ‘eek’ moments when I am skiing after my course?  Hell yeah. I want to be able to actually ‘ski’ them and there is immense pleasure from making it to the bottom alive.

As well as having a good instructor I was in with a good group of kids this week. Some of whom I have skied with before and have begun to get on with quite well. The kids were more than happy to wait patiently at the bottom of the sketchy runs as I tumbled down, probably much to their amusement. But more than that, one of them was always on hand to help me put a ski back on when I was sinking knee deep in powder, or had words of encouragement and cheered when I made it down with something close to skiing – even if shouts of ‘Andy the snowman’ were how I was first greeted. The kids seem to have some respect for the fact that I am following them down Black DDs with almost no skiing experience. I couldn’t have asked for a better group and now have a genuine respect, almost verging on camaraderie with the kids. Eek, I’m getting old and sentimental.

I also learnt: that ‘New Car’ has a huge blind spot; eek drive carefully.  It rains in Canada, which promptly freezes turning roads in to ice rinks; eek watch out for the lorry drivers who appear to not notice.  Chimneys don’t work too well when they are very cold; eek watch out for the smoke filling the house. A cougar [which I have learnt are more dangerous than bears] stalked a man on his way home from work, a couple of streets away from us; flipping eek.

The week ahead sees me taking my Level 1 instructors’ assessment Tue-Thur – eeekk.  This seems to have come round very quickly; I just about feel ready.  But only time will tell if I can go from never having skied to being a ski instructor within a year. Pass or fail I have had a great time, learnt a lot about and improved my skiing, learnt than skiing is fun and met some great people. 

This week’s eek moments have brought some happiness, and I am a better skier for them; but mostly it was a week I was glad to survive.  Bring on the assessment!!!