Black ice stretched our Syracuse to Speculator drive from two hours to four. As we crawled along behind a trail of cars we saw an overturned cable van and a truck that was wedged into a wall of trees. We were lucky to have escaped - it was slow going and almost dark by the time we arrived. We were there to ski (men) and snowboard (women) and we awoke early the next morning, bought ski pants and headed over to Oak mountain for our "intro to" classes.
Confidence was high as we suited up. The Dodo was a second timer, she first snowboarded during a Japan trip. She looked the part.
Yiquan had never been on skis in his life. He described himself as "tall and uncoordinated" though I wasn't sure if that was the truth or typical Singaporean low bar setting.
Sijia didn't say much one way or the other but prior to the trip had ordered a trio of buttpads for herself, her cousin and her brother. They looked like bike shorts with armor sewed in. All three wore them under their ski pants and were later glad they had.
Yiquan and I took our first run slowly. He struggled a bit at first but after a few hours had progressed a lot. Our teacher was very hands on - riding to the top of the mountain and down with us over and over. The hardest thing to learn for a right handed person is to turn to the right. I struggled with that as well - no different than trying to ice skate clockwise - it feels awkward.
We spent about 3 hours falling, getting back up, trying again. I took videos of the two snowboarders. The next day, everyone said they wanted to try it again in the future. Sijia is taking a job in Paris this May so perhaps we'll meet up for another go in the Alps or Pyrenees next winter.
Yiquan had never been on skis in his life. He described himself as "tall and uncoordinated" though I wasn't sure if that was the truth or typical Singaporean low bar setting.
Sijia didn't say much one way or the other but prior to the trip had ordered a trio of buttpads for herself, her cousin and her brother. They looked like bike shorts with armor sewed in. All three wore them under their ski pants and were later glad they had.
Our package included lessons on the bunny slope, though this was a much steeper bunny slope than many I've seen. From the top looking down it was a bit scary. In order to get the "intro" package I pretended to be a beginner and joined my beginner pal for our lessons. We started at the bottom of the hill and learned the snowplow, the left turn, the right turn and moved up the mountain a few feet at a time until the teacher was satisfied we could take the T-bar up to the top.
The snowboarders had a 16 year old girl teaching them, apropos for the sport, I think. They also started at the bottom of the hill, strapped themselves into their boards and were taught the basics. Snowboarding is more difficult and learning to stop is tricky so I expected their progress up the mountain to be slower.
We spent about 3 hours falling, getting back up, trying again. I took videos of the two snowboarders. The next day, everyone said they wanted to try it again in the future. Sijia is taking a job in Paris this May so perhaps we'll meet up for another go in the Alps or Pyrenees next winter.
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