I know I’ve been quiet recently, that’s because I’ve been
away skiing. This was my third and I
can finally admit that for much of the time I didn’t enjoy the previous two. This was nothing to do with the people I went
with, they couldn’t have been nicer or more encouraging, they were the reason I
enjoyed any of the time at all. No it’s the sheer frustration at being the only
person on the piste who couldn’t get this skiing thing down.
I’m very much aware this is a #FirstWorldProblem. Oh poor me I can’t do that thing that costs a
bomb and most people in the world won’t even get a chance to try – boo
feckin-hoo right? I expect no sympathy. This
time though, finally, I feel I got somewhere and it was in large part due to
the resort, my instructor and (again) the people I went with so I wanted to pay
them their dues.
Resort
Val Thornes is AWESOME (some accommodation leaves more than a little to
be desired but that’s another story) however it does come with a price
tag. I believe one time we paid £12 for
a portion of chips and £18 for a ham and cheese omelette. That said the skiing was second to none with
slow winding greens from the top of the mountain all the way down. Some of these have flatter sections you need
to get some speed up for, otherwise you find yourself waddling over the planes
but for newbie’s it was a great confidence boost. There were also some fairly challenging
blues, a good amount of reds and blacks, ski jumps, a ski cross (which I
attempted!) and snow playgrounds. Basically
its skier’s heaven no matter what your experience.
Instructor
I went with Prosneige working with Greg whom I honestly can’t say enough
good things about. Greg asked about my
previous ski instructor experience (not great) and listened to what I wanted to
get out of the lessons (confidence on blues, not to die). He found something positive to say several
times over the three mornings we had together saying everything from ‘you tighten your boots like a professional’ to eventually
‘you did that piste really well your right turns are perfect’. By the end of the first day I was feeling better about the week ahead. I
trusted him (and it wasn’t just cos he was a cutie pie) so when he said
parallel down this section I did. He
seemed to know how to push me to do better but not so much that I felt
completely terrified of the mountain side.
There were points when I was skiing downhill naturally and instead of
thinking ‘shoulder, over, shift weight onto other leg, crouch down’ I was
thinking ‘I’m skiing! I’m skiing, look at me Greg I’m skiing’ – very 6 year old
girl I know but that’s what getting better regresses me to.
People
Ah the people. Picking the guys
you ski with is very important and I got a great bunch. R with her hip flask of alcohol, which gave
me the dutch courage to try the snow cross and J & B listening to my
ramblings about how fast I was going when they could have probably done the run
backwards, blindfolded and on one ski faster.
K following me with her go pro (thanks for catching all the falls as
well as the good bits) and my long suffering C who deals with my whinging on a
daily basis (though now it has changed from ‘I’m crap at skiing’ to ‘ can we go
back again before the season ends?
Ski holidays are the place for stories, new drinking games, lemming
style falls and a whole heap of fun. If you have the means, I highly recommend you
giving it a try.
2 comments
Love the post! I love skiing! It looked like it was a fun vacation!
<3 Liz
makeup-fashion-lifestyle.blogspot.com
Thanks has such a great time too!
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