Slippery Slope

My youngest brother and his step-daughter are in town this weekend from Atlanta and Columbus, respectively, for a couple of days of skiing. The trip is a reward to the step-daughter, who will graduate from OSU in March.

I started skiing fairly late in life (42, I believe) when our son started and I wanted to accompany him. I never became very proficient, but got so that I could enjoy some of the blue (intermediate) runs, if conditions weren’t too icy. Since he graduated from high school (2000), however, I have hardly skied at all, and I’ve lost most of my mojo.

Fortunately, my brother is almost a beginner, and we spent yesterday on the Daisy hill at Stevens Pass. I rented skis instead of taking my old boneshakers, since I wanted to try the new parabolic skis that have become popular. As advertised, they made turns and other maneuvers much easier, and I started to feel a little more confident by the end of the day. Here we are posing fashionably at the beginning of a run (Click to enlarge:

Today we’re headed up to Crystal Mountain, down close to Mt. Rainier, for another go. It looks like a much nicer day, perhaps better for photography.

2 Comments

  1. beatriz:

    Great shots; love the one in which thy bro is looking, um, special…

  2. I was about the same age when I skied for the first time. As a dedicated avoider of all kinds of structured physical recreation, I was surprised to find on a school trip that I really enjoyed it. Even after (especially after?) an accidental careen down a terrifying red run during which I knew that I was going to die.