So we were heading to Holiday Valley. All my skiing friends have been there at least once in their skiing lives. It is not a difficult drive for us from Ohio ~ only about a 4.5-5 hour drive. Depending on how many potty breaks or coffee runs you need. Oh, and who is leading the pack in which car.
Excitement was building as we got closer to the resort. The kids were getting into a frenzy of giddiness. The boys couldn't wait to head to "The Wall". There was some smack-down kind of talk before we left on the trip. There is another family that has all boys. Five boys. They are our neighbors and close friends. The boys are also daredevils! So of course, there was a little talk about who could do what on what particular run - you know, like dogs marking their territory.
We arrived and I was a little excited, but more nervous. I felt my life flashing before my very eyes. I was going to go off of a black diamond wall and never be found again.
Rest assured, my dear friends AND my husband swore an oath of protection to not lead me down a wretched path of destruction. I mean, I could get down the bunny hill ok. I could get on and off the ski lift ok. These bigger areas? Not so sure.
People. Get these things in writing. With a lawyers letterhead.
After we got there and the wild frenzy of unpacking was just about over, we took it all out again to get ready to go out because OH MY GOODNESS!!! There is only five hours to ski!!!!! WE ARE GOING TO MISS THE BEST SKIING EVER!
One little tidbit of information you might like to know is that the weather was a bit warmer and rainier than usual. What I know now, as I learned then, is that the snow (man made) ends up turning into the consistency of sand. Can you imagine skiing through sand? Me either.
Enter Cindy's Run. Sounds innocent enough, doesn't it? Personally, I think of cute little Cindy Brady, or maybe Cindy Loo Who. Pigtails, cutie pie... I'm sure I'll never be able to look at a "Cindy" the same way again. The fellow on the left ~ my "friend", assured me that this run was a blue square (intermediate skier) but we were just going to cut through the top area where you get off the ski lift and viola! The green dot area is right there. Please interpret that as "pansy run". I'm ok with that.
My only consolation is that he is an ER doctor and when I needed to be swept up, at least that would be free.
So off we go! Ready or not!
I have to say that I was a bit nervous because the chair lifts were the kind that you have to have an engineers degree to get on and off of. You slide onto the seat then pull the bar down with the option of resting your feet/ski's on a foot rest. When you get closer to the top there are warning signs that you're about to be ejected off of the chair, so get your keester ready.
I managed to get off the lift ok without having to stop the whole ski lift! No crashes! Yea!
Then I saw it. My doom. Everyone else was zipping down the little chute area we needed to go down to make that sharp left turn. Let me give you a mental picture. You know in your toilet how the bowl is all nice and large at the top then, when you flush, it gets smaller and smaller until whoosh! the goods go out via a nice tiny area. That was what I had to do. Navigate me and my ski's in a short zig zag pattern. And if I missed that sharp left turn? Guess where I was going! Stinkin' Terra Haute, Indiana! Courtesy of "The Wall".
Let's just say that I pointed my ski's down with the hopes that I was going to stop before going over. Mentally I had decided that I was simply going to sit on my butt and crash if I couldn't stop. I think I was sweating something fierce. Off I went and crash I did.
I ended up crashing toward the left and then I had to wallow around awhile before I could get back to the vertical position again. It was pretty, but I had just mastered the worst part and everything else was going to be a breeze. Until Mark realized that Cindy' Run doesn't actually come out at the pansy runs...
Now I was in an internal panic. You guys, seriously, I am not lying when I tell you that I seriously thought about having the "meat wagon" guys come and get me voluntarily before I had to be scraped up. However, I do have a semblance of pride. You know the Proverb, "pride comes before the fall"? I was all over that one.
Everyone else, except Lori, headed off down the hill with rapturous joy. She stayed with me and encouraged me that all was going to be ok! Meanwhile, I was having a flashback of my high school experience. Three days later I was going to get down that mountain side.
I'll leave you with this picture while I keep this post from becoming so long that it gets on the black list of items to not be read.
Tammy
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