Falling in Style - a First Time Skiing Experience

I must admit at (nearly) 26 years old I have NEVER been skiing before – until Saturday.  A pretty embarrassing confession considering the amount of cold weather destinations I have traveled to, I mean come on Park City, Utah last March, what better place to ski?  So yes, on a whim Friday afternoon my roommate text me and asked if I wanted to go night skiing – for me go big or go home I thought because I had always told myself I would get a lesson on my first time, unfortunately this was not an option for the twilight ski at Perfect North Slopes in Lawrenceburg, IN.

So on Saturday evening, one of the coldest nights yet, we made the hour and fifteen minute trek down interstate 75 to ski.  The slopes looked awesome as we drove into the parking lot all lit up for the evening and the place was buzzing because it was college night, great.  I was pretty nervous as I stood in line to pay and asked the girl, taking my money, a lot of questions – she kind of chuckled as she looked at my ID - embarrassing but oh well.  Once I was fitting my boots and picked up my skis and poles I was ready to go, sort of.  I have to say, at first try I felt pretty awkward gliding around, and was far more of an upper body workout than I anticipated.  I was so confused on where I needed to go; green, blue, black – which is it.  I had always known black diamond was the hardest so I figured the green was my best bet.  I tried to make my way to ‘my’ slopes titled: “Call Back, Rehearsal, Cat Walk and Broadway” – which took me quite a while to figure out how to get my skis to move properly, I looked like a toddler learning to walk.  I did the first two test runs – “Rehearsal and Call back”, pretty successfully.  So I figured I was not a bad beginner – so my friends and I trudged up to the chair lift for my first run.

Now here is where it gets interesting – the chair lift, such a weird feeling – you could see everything and everyone, included all the beginners (me in a few minutes) whipping out completely and it looked pretty painful.  So as the lift made its way to the stopping point I got a little tangled in my roommate and was too far back in my seat – so I was that girl, yep I slipped backward (hitting my head) and caused a 5 person pile up.  Again so embarrassing, especially when the person helping me up was a 10-year old boy, it hurt my pride but only a little.  Once I finally was able to stand, I was a little intimidated looking down the hill.  As I stood surveying which area was the best and least steep I figured I would give it a shot.  What an exhilarating, yet uncontrollable feeling – I made it all the way day without falling and was able to stop.  The next 2 runs were not as successful as I nearly ran into the fence – my fall was what stopped me.  So I decided to head back to the starter hills to get more comfortable.  One more shot down the larger hill before giving up and finally I was able to make it down without falling and I had much more control. By about the fifth run I was feeling more confident but very tired.  In total I think we did 8 runs with only 4 falls (1 being the 5 person pile up) but who’s counting.  Too bad it’s already February because I am hooked and can’t wait to go back.  My muscles on the other hand are telling me to give it some time.

What was your first skiing experience like?