Monday, March 13, 2006

Snow Bunny

The sun was out as we got on the lift and though it was a little cold, it was a gorgeous day. Since it was so early, there weren’t many people on the slopes yet and we basically had the first two runs to ourselves. He was snowboarding and I was skiing and we kept up with each other pretty well. At one point he had gotten ahead of me and had stopped to wait as I came down the hill. He was kneeling on the snow with his board behind him as I came skiing towards him at a pretty good clip. Because I’ve been skiing for 24 years, I’m pretty confident in a few skills, one of them being my ability to stop.

I shouldn’t be so confident.

I was about two feet from him when I caught an edge and wiped out. Hard.

It’s funny because though it happened quickly, I saw it all go down in slow motion. My left ski crossed over my right in a manner that I haven’t seen since I was about seven years old. Knowing what was about to happen, I ditched my poles. As I tried to correct my left ski, I bent forward too much and knew there was no recovering. I threw my hands in front of me to catch myself as I went face first in the snow. I heard the binding give way as I hit the snow and I could feel my right ski leave my foot. And the most sexy part? I'm certain I made a primitive sort of grunting noise as I crashed.

When I managed to pull myself up, he was inches from my face with a look of concern on his. My sunglasses were all cocked-eye as I looked up and started laughing. As soon as he saw that I was ok he started laughing too. I looked around at the yard sale on the side of the mountain: pole over here, ski over there, another pole over here, another ski attached to the leg which was bent behind me. Thankfully, no one else was around to witness my style and grace. Once we un-pretzeled (what? It’s a word.) my legs we sat on the hill and laughed our asses off. Nothing really hurt but I knew it would eventually. Once we had collected my belongings from the 15 foot radius to which they had been scattered, we headed down to the lift again. Once on the lift, we started laughing about it again. I pointed out that I hadn’t taken a spill on some Black Double-Diamond run but rather a timid Blue that eventually turned into a Green. I laughed so hard that I gave myself a stomach ache.

I woke up this morning and as per any ski trip, the second day is always worse than the first for sore muscles. My quads were killing me and my calves were sore as well. As I stepped into the shower I noticed several bruises on my legs. I think I pulled a thigh/groin muscle (wait…girl’s have groin muscles, right?) because that was screaming as I got dressed. I started laughing again as I had flashbacks of the Great Wipeout of 2006. As I laughed I noticed a sharp pain in my rib cage. I think I pulled something there as well but I can’t be certain it was from the fall…it might have been from all the laughing.

Who wants a KC ski lesson? You may not learn much but I guarantee you’ll laugh.

12 comments:

Sass said...

Ha ha ha ha. I hope he laughed at you and the two of you made snow angels after he made sure you were okay. I also hope he ordered an expensive bottle of wine for you at dinner and you knocked over your wine glass.

;-)

Holla atcha girl.

BB said...

That is why Apres Ski was invented.

Laura said...

Roger that, Beckibee.

Okie said...

I do. Looks like it'll have to wait 'till next year, though. Unless there's still snow in May.

KC said...

Sass - no snow angels...just butt prints in the snow. :)
Becki - you speak the truth.
La - and you do too.
Okie - I'll see if there's any availability next winter...these classes fill up quickly.

Whinger said...

I feel that no ski trip is a success unless I've had a hard fall. Otherwise, I'm not going fast enough.

Cheryl said...

I'd take one of your lessons. I bet you could at least get me off the lift...

JillWrites said...

i don't think i'll be skiing, but i'd love to sip a warm butterscotch schnapps mixed with something else delicious and laugh along with you. i'll make sure yours is kept warm until you're done, though, because i'm cool like that.

KC said...

Whinger - Ditto.
Cheryl - I could get you off the lift but I can't guarantee that we would be in a heap on the ground once you were off. :)
Jill - You are cool like that. And also? I did have a warm alcoholic drink at the end of the day as he did his last run - would have been more fun if you had been there.

Kyahgirl said...

I laughed at this. Skiing is one thing I'm pretty sure I do really well too. Never fails, as soon as I start thinking like that I have spectacular wipeouts!

Its a little known law of the universe.

wv-I just had to share: bimmho

dasi said...

Ok, so the last time I "skiied" (and it is in parentheses because I'm not sure if it is considered skiing if you are on your ass 90% of the time) was almost 20 years ago. I had a blast with the drinking and the guys (me, a girlfriend and 8 guy friends when we were 17 - GOD, I miss those days...!) but for the life of me, I could not figure out how to stand up again once I fell. Which was every time I tried to move, so I didn't get very far. Basically, I am impressed by anyone who can move more than 20 feet on skis, whether they wind up falling or not.

KC said...

Kyahgirl - Stupid laws of the universe...they don't make me look very cool.
Dasi - Not only can I move 20ft on skis but I can also disperse the skis 20ft from my crumbled body. I'm a sight to behold, really.