Apres Skiing
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2010
1
57
81
Trip End
Mar 04, 2011
Where I stayed
Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
I went skiing with Kirsten a girl I met in the hostel. I stuck around on the baby slope trying to pit into practice all the advice my ski instructor had given me at the weekend. I was really enjoying it and felt like I got it and was happy on the slope. I was even starting to get a little bored. After talking to Sue (my aunt) I decided to head on out of Queenstown back to Wellington to get work. If I am going to compete that strongly for work I may as well do it for a decent job. I wasn't overkeen on working for Subway especially if I was going to have to go in there everyday to get it!
The next time I went skiing I signed up for Intermediate lessons and a lift pass. I was fine in the morning on the baby slope although it was pretty cold as it had started to snow. The snow was so much more sticky as new powder if felt completely different to ski on. It carried on snowwing the entire way through my lesson which meant that it was difficult to see the camber of the slope as you went down. It was definately stretching my abilities which I thought was good as I wanted to get the most out of the lesson as possible and I didn't want the chair lift to become this massive issue in my head. I was fine the first two times up but on the last one someone stood on my ski which tipped me over just infront of the lift. So I lay down flat and let it pass about an inch above my head. The lifties were like 'good reaction' I mean what were they expecting me to do? Wait for the thing to hit me square in the face...I think they were just relieved that I hadn't been hit as they were too slow to actually stop the lift. I managed to get on the next one around without the lift being stoped which is something I suppose.
The final run down something snapped. I hadn't been comfortable whatsoever on the previous two runs but had kept it together. This time however I just lost my nerve I ended up drifting to the right of the slope as my left leg is massively stronger than my right and couldn't bring myself to attempt to turn left for fear of flying down the slope at the steepest part. In the end I ended up so far right I was starting to head down another run...no idea what it was but it was significantly steeper than the one I was on and I had no space to turn by the time I realised. I took my skis off and walked down to the bottom of the steep bit. It took all my nerve to put them back on after getting so scared I had had to take them off. I managed to get down to the bottom but I was counting the minutes down until I could get off the mountain. I saw the instuctor and she said I was a good skier and wasn't doing anything wrong in fact was quite a good skier the only thing holding me back was fear and not allowing myself to do it properly even though I could. She suggested a private lesson to get my nerve back but I am not sure I want to spend a fortune on getting good at a sport I am not sure I even like! I do however enjoy the vibe of skiing and I was fine later in the day with the baby slope again and could even put into practice trying to go parallel. I think I will definately go again but would like to go down with someone...solo skiing is scarier and more boring than going with friends.
I went up the Gondola my last day which was another trial but managed to conquer the fear. I particularly dislike swinging off the ground where I can see just how far up I am so cable cars, chair lifts and gondolas are not my favorite. This trip however I have just refused to let that stop me. I keep pushing until I really can't make myself go any further ...skiing being a case in point. I didn't really enjoy the ride down but the view was worth it. I was glad to be getting out of Queenstown though. I decided to go to Christchurch by bus then onto Wellington even though it was the same price as hanging around in Queenstown for another four days. It is a very young town and a massive party spot which is cool when you go drinking after skiing like Tuesday. Not so good when someone wakes you up at 3am and starts stroking your arm saying 'hey blondie'!! I have no idea why guys do that! Do they really expect a girl who has just been woken up in the middle of the night by a stranger to be anything other than freaked out and annoyed??!!
Comments
looks stunning!!!