New New New

This week has been a week of new things; all of which, as far as I can recall, have been for the good. I know that doesn’t sound like me.

In another step towards experiencing the perfect Canadian life style, we brought a big fat North American car.  Back home we drive a fairly ordinary Ford Focus: functional and simple, with its 1.6 litre engine. So our Dodge Caravan with a 3.3L engine and more gadgets than you can figure how to work is quite a big step up. The minivan gobbles up skis, buggies, bags of shopping, all with plenty of space to spare; as well as drinking Gas, but that doesn’t matter because it is so cheap.  The car is so much better than our Focus, that we are already trying to work out how we can get it home. Charlie has taken to affectionately calling it ‘New Car’ and doing a little dance before getting in. Becky is grateful of the large armrests and handholds she can grip whilst I get used to the size and new road position; exclaiming watch out every time I get within two feet of the kerb.

After examining my skies one of the instructors was amazed I could even make it down a slope in one piece.  It turns out the ‘Beasts’ I purchased from eBay, not knowing the first thing about skies, are more for the expert skier – too long, too stiff in the tail, way too stiff in the nose, all in all too aggressive for a mere beginner such as myself. Happy to blame my poor performance on the Beasts I promptly purchased a new pair, meeting the recommendation of the instructors and more suited to my style. I shit you not, I have been absolutely amazed at how easy it is to ski in my new Blizzard F600s.  They don’t fight me and try to throw me over at every turn; they actually help me glide through my turns and provide me with a soft springy kiss as I exit them. Yeah New Skis!!!

Good job I replaced them too; with just one more week of instruction before my three day assessment I don’t have long left to master skiing. As well as the new skis we had a private  one to one lesson on Friday [having picked up my new skis on Thursday], a few pointers from the head instructor combined with my new skis, have transformed the way I ski.  Hopefully I am close to the desired standard.

New to skiing? Take lessons. I’m not just saying that as a prospective instructor.  I have firmly started to believe that with good instruction, learning to ski can be so much easier than making do with You Tube or having a bored instructor at a snowdome. Last week we went right back to basics, learning how to snow plough correctly, and how to teach a complete beginner how to go from never skiing to skiing parallel. I learnt so many things that I think I was already supposed to know. Because I learnt how to balance in the most basic way, I can even ski on one leg now; in that slightly patronising way that instructors do.

I have a new speed record of 84Mph, although I not sure I believe the app.  Whilst I feel like I am skiing scarily fast at times, I don’t quite think I have reached that near-death speed. Because I am too tight to pay for a complex app, I only have a very basic one; it doesn’t provide a run speed profile or record for how long you were at you max speed.  Mostly my max speed seems to be in the low 50s. So until I hit 84Mph again I will take it as an anomaly. But chasing speed is addictive; with me striving to override my desire for self preservation this could be a dangerous combination. 

I hadn’t crashed properly for a while until today; I was practising doing things my mind didn’t want to do and took quite a fast backward tumble.  It’s good to be reminded of my mortality and the need to further improve my skiing.  I have noticed that I seem to crash more when I am by myself; I am not quite sure of the reason why.  Let’s hope my new quest to override my self-preservation only extends to skiing.

The temperature here has been a funny old thing.  In our first week we were faced with bone chilling -20˚C; last week people were exclaiming spring had arrived early as we got to +7. On Wednesday I found myself skiing in just a baselayer, until the sun went in and I got very cold, very quickly. A good lesson learnt in a nice safe way. Is it a coincidence that locals were exclaiming it was the worst start to a ski season in 30 years when I was in Val D’Isere?  However despite the spring-like temperatures, my right hand seems to get very cold indeed [probably as a result of my old injury] at a mere -5 it is quite painful; this has lead me to make yet another new purchase.  After doing much research I have bought a set of mittens which were described on a review website [outdoorgearlab.com] as ‘quite simply, ideal for people who get very cold hands’.  As the temperatures have dipped again and we once again have a fairytale covering of snow all over, I hope this turns out to be true.

On Sunday I decided to use my new found knowledge of how to teach skiing to completely overwhelm my wife with tips and instructions; causing her to have her own mini-breakdown. I think I need to work on my teaching style. I am sure there is a rule about not teaching your spouse and or siblings how to do anything. I placated her by buying her a new set of skis too.  The event was reminiscent of my dad teaching my mum how to drive many years ago; that day ended with my mum throwing the car keys across of the car park at Sherwood Forest.

Charlie is embracing her new found Canadian identity:

Pancakes & Maple Syrup

Anyone for Ice Hockey?

As well as new material goods, this new year has really been a new beginning: a new start. Whether it is temporary or not, I do seem to have found new happiness in my life. This is making me appreciate what I have anew.