Bro hits the slopes
yes i went skiing this week at mt hotham.
had been there a few times during the warmer months (once in minus 9!) and decided it was a good place to have a crack at a new skill.
people who know me well may be laughing by now.
because as i child i broke my leg and my right foot is twisted out about 20 degrees from normal.
makes skiing somewhat difficult.
of course the first thing you learn is to 'snowplough' which is creating a reverse 'V' to slow yourself down.
its pretty hard to twist that right leg in when the foot is twisted out so far!
we flew up on monday picked up some gear and settled in and then had a lesson tuesday morning.
had visions of getting some nordic downhill medallist as the instructor but instead got brad the rastafarian from adelaide.
adelaide!!
was a nice guy though and figured me out pretty quickly by simply taking away my poles.
that way i had to learn how to stop/balance using my legs.
no other choice really.
to my suprise we managed to learn the basics and do our first 'run' down from mt hotham summit by the end of what seemed like a very long lesson.
was amazed at how energy sapping and glute/TFL cramping learning was.
was absolutely knackered by the end of it.
its hard mentally to learn the fact that in order to slow down you actually need to lean forward!
had another lesson the next morning : the summit was closed to to bad weather so went to 'the big D' - the kiddies slope.
only fell twice in the 2 days but have to admit to 2 little incidents.
the first was smashing into the safety barrier on the beginners slope day 1: which led to brad taking my poles off me.
day 2 as we were on the kiddies slope the chairlift is set quite low and i mistimed my 'push off' sat too far back and came off the chair somewhat out of control towards a group of small kids screaming 'shit' and madly trying to turn out of their way.
i got the impression skiing is not too difficult to get started but takes years to improve.
sort of like golf except much more likely to break stuff.
spent some time snowshoeing as well and generally mucking around with gear in freezing conditions.
very very impressed with how good the down jackets are.
had a little look at XC skiing but from what i heard will need to spend more time on the slopes before giving this a crack.
which would be a long term aim.
dont have many 'action' shots as the weather on the lesson days was not the best and we were more concentrating on not dying than taking photos.
TOH did take a couple of me using her phone.
view from the room on wednesday: raining with poor visibility.
mt hotham 'summit run' on a clear day
just finished coming down the big D.
i am in the middle brad easily identified by his hair in the red jacket nearby.
snowshoeing!
monday-thursday: skiing, snowshoeing...
friday: 30min easy bike
saturday: 14km flat 75.10
sunday: jacksonia/kokoda trail walk with dogs/TOH
had been there a few times during the warmer months (once in minus 9!) and decided it was a good place to have a crack at a new skill.
people who know me well may be laughing by now.
because as i child i broke my leg and my right foot is twisted out about 20 degrees from normal.
makes skiing somewhat difficult.
of course the first thing you learn is to 'snowplough' which is creating a reverse 'V' to slow yourself down.
its pretty hard to twist that right leg in when the foot is twisted out so far!
we flew up on monday picked up some gear and settled in and then had a lesson tuesday morning.
had visions of getting some nordic downhill medallist as the instructor but instead got brad the rastafarian from adelaide.
adelaide!!
was a nice guy though and figured me out pretty quickly by simply taking away my poles.
that way i had to learn how to stop/balance using my legs.
no other choice really.
to my suprise we managed to learn the basics and do our first 'run' down from mt hotham summit by the end of what seemed like a very long lesson.
was amazed at how energy sapping and glute/TFL cramping learning was.
was absolutely knackered by the end of it.
its hard mentally to learn the fact that in order to slow down you actually need to lean forward!
had another lesson the next morning : the summit was closed to to bad weather so went to 'the big D' - the kiddies slope.
only fell twice in the 2 days but have to admit to 2 little incidents.
the first was smashing into the safety barrier on the beginners slope day 1: which led to brad taking my poles off me.
day 2 as we were on the kiddies slope the chairlift is set quite low and i mistimed my 'push off' sat too far back and came off the chair somewhat out of control towards a group of small kids screaming 'shit' and madly trying to turn out of their way.
i got the impression skiing is not too difficult to get started but takes years to improve.
sort of like golf except much more likely to break stuff.
spent some time snowshoeing as well and generally mucking around with gear in freezing conditions.
very very impressed with how good the down jackets are.
had a little look at XC skiing but from what i heard will need to spend more time on the slopes before giving this a crack.
which would be a long term aim.
dont have many 'action' shots as the weather on the lesson days was not the best and we were more concentrating on not dying than taking photos.
TOH did take a couple of me using her phone.
view from the room on wednesday: raining with poor visibility.
mt hotham 'summit run' on a clear day
just finished coming down the big D.
i am in the middle brad easily identified by his hair in the red jacket nearby.
snowshoeing!
monday-thursday: skiing, snowshoeing...
friday: 30min easy bike
saturday: 14km flat 75.10
sunday: jacksonia/kokoda trail walk with dogs/TOH
posted by undercover brother at 8:57 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home