Conquering Cruiser

It was exciting to see more people in my ski group last Thursday. I joined Allison from Ontario and Katie from Australia who both work for the ski resort. Our ski instructor Andrew was from Great Britain and he was there to help us improve our skiing.

I found out that not only do resort employees get free lift passes in Sun Peaks, they also get free lessons depending on availability of instructors. Talk about having perks on the job. It was Allison and Katie’s day off and following our ski lesson, they had the entire day just to practice what they’ve learned on the slopes. Everyone should be as lucky!

While writing this, I realize that it’s been a year almost to the day when I first skied Cruiser, and what a difference a year makes. It’s funny how I read back on my old blog post and revisit the circumstances attached to writing it—the frustration and impatience to improve in skiing, the excitement of moving up to Level 4, the terrified thoughts that cycled in my head as I looked down Cruiser, and the painful tumbles that ensued which were probably more blows to the ego than to the body.

Back then, I thought, I’d never go down that hated run again. But that’s exactly what I did during my last ski lesson, and I did it twice minus the falls. I felt almost as proud as I did when I was promoted to Level 4.

While I did like skiing last winter, I found that I felt more dread than fun when skiing down runs that weren’t in my comfort zone. In comparison, there’s more enthusiasm, motivation and anticipation in general for skiing this time around. And I found out that the secret formula has to be a combination of expert coaching and mileage on your skis to get to that point.

I’m happy that I kept a blog about my skiing exploits. It makes it much easier to track progress and also helps me appreciate how much I’ve learned.

Speaking of learning, the three of us had different skills we needed to hone during the lesson. Andrew worked with Allison in improving her stance (i.e. leaning forward while skiing), with Katie in upper body and lower body separation, and with me in improving my turns (i.e. standing tall in the middle of the turn and bending from the waist). We got quite a bit of skiing done, starting with 5 Mile, and on to Cruiser, Exhibition, OSV and another run on Cruiser to cement what we’ve learned.

“That was the fastest you’ve skied today,” said Andrew as I reached the bottom of Cruiser. Indeed it was, and I didn’t fall either. That, for me, was my reward.

As the days get longer and we transition into warmer weather, I am going to cram in as much skiing as I can before winter bids adieu.

To book your ski lesson, contact Sports School at 250-578-5505.