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View Full Version : Gotta love it....learning from kids....



smootharc
01-24-2006, 08:22 AM
Last Sunday at MRG was, to put it mildly, brutally challenging despite the blue bird skies. The whole water saturated mountain had firmed up overnight into an absolute ice palace. The single was closed due to it scaring grown men into weeping for their mommies. But my two little guys soldiered on for their day long lessons, and didn't want to quit at 2:30 as the sun dropped behind the ridge. My littlest, who REALLY didn't want to stop, responded to my "hey, just ski down to the ticket building" with skiing down there, walking on skis across some frozen gravel/sand, and stepping up on to the deck between the ticket and rental buildings. He then started shuffling across the deck until I caught up, picked him up, and, again, carried him, skis on, to the car.

I rarely don't have at least a little fun sliding on snow, and Sunday was close. Worked on my "relaxation in the face of fear" turns, vowed to keep my edges sharper, and found a few soft ribbons at the edge of trails. Actually, it was a good day to work on techniques that you sometimes don't get to work on, so not a bust. In a supreme Ullr irony, Birdland was the scariest place of all.

I think I need to be more of a kid, sometimes. My visions that day were that some of the little ones taking lessons weren't going to make it back to their parents. They all did, and tomorrow's generation of "ski anywhere skiers" gets created.