There are articles all over the place discussing the proper “procedure” for the first day on snow. Lots of no-pole skiing…make sure to not get carried away and go to fast…incorporate drills for technique…BORING!
Our first day of skiing this year took place at the base of Stowe. Snowmaking crews had managed to put together a nice patch at the base area, with a ribbon of white a ways up one of the trails. With skate skis on it was myself, Mia, Astrid, James, and Jorgen who did a little slogging about 10 minutes up the climb. We looked back to see that the other two skiers that day, Jonah and Lorenzo, hadn’t made it past the first chairlift post: they had immediately pulled out an avalanche shovel and begun construction of a jump.
There they stayed, hard at work creating a booter to give them the first 360s of the season. And we didn’t linger on the uphill much longer either. Our first day on skis was primarily spent catching air, flinging snow, and sliding around on stomachs.
It was a lot of fun. As Jonah put it, “This is probably one of the best ways to get used to skis again. Lots of movement, challenging terrain, and skill development.” (or something like that).
I think it’s great that we can embrace snow for what it is sometimes, such as a few hundred meters of lumpy, crusty, icy crud. We are happy to let loose a bit and eschew the traditional dull, ritualistic grind of skiing kilometers in a line without our poles under coach scrutiny. And we just may be better, more fulfilled skiers for it!
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