Flachau ski resort – photo by Leo seta on Flickr CC

Dreaming of Skiing Again 

In my post, Confessions of a Cold Weather Hater, I explained that I’ve had a very strong aversion to cold ever since I lived in an unheated house in Kyoto, Japan for six years. Winters there were near 0C and my body could not seem to keep it’s core temperature up with no indoor heating assistance.

Eventually I ended up with an extremely bad case of bronchitis, which haunts me to this day. Ever since, I’ve given up cold climates entirely and have been happily roaming around the tropics.

all bundled up in winter

But, as I went on to explain in my post, I really must get over my cold aversion at some point. You see, I plan to travel around the whole world. Clearly I’m going to be visiting many cold countries during my journeys. So I’d better just get over it and learn to enjoy cold weather again.

Besides, there are many cold-weather activities that I love participating in, or at least used to.

One of those is skiing. I used to love skiing. I took up the sport when I was in high school in western Pennsylvania with my family.

I’m not quite sure how it came about, but one year my dad suddenly decided our family was going skiing. His decision must have evolved partly from the fact that we lived just 1-1/2 hour’s drive from two of Pennsylvania’s best ski areas: Seven Springs Resort and Blue Knob Mountain.

Initially, my dad took us all skiing a few times to try it. My two brothers, my dad and I all loved it immediately. My mom was the only one who declined from even trying to hit the slopes. She preferred to stay inside the ski lodge sitting by the huge stone fireplace, reading, browsing the shops and soaking in the hot tub.

‘A Wimp’ is what I called her at the time. I was much more athletic and adventurous than her, so I couldn’t understand how anyone in their right mind would choose to skip the amazing opportunity to ski in snow in the gorgeous mountains. (Little did I know I was to turn into a major ‘Cold Wimp’ later in life, too!)

Since we all (but one) loved skiing, my dad bought us ski sets and season passes to Seven Springs for Christmas that year. Then off our family went each weekend to ski. We spent the next few winters skiing as much as possible at the two resorts, while my mom enjoyed lounging inside the toasty lodge. We had many memorable family ski weekends.

My brothers were much more dare-devilish than I was. They quickly took to weaving around tightly-packed moguls and racing straight downhill at break neck speed. They took a lot of tumbles, but just got back up grinning and raced on.

I was much more cautious. I took time to slowly learn how to maneuver the skiis, to turn gracefully and to stop on command. I always tried to keep my speed under control so that I wasn’t racing maniacally downhill. I did not enjoy feeling out of control.

Over time I gradually became more skillful, sped downhill faster and even challenged the moguls. It was great fun. Anytime I felt cold or exhausted I just dashed into the lodge to warm up, eat and rest. Since I could get inside easily the frigid weather never bothered me too much.

One weekend I joined a school ski trip. I don’t recall why, but it was a night-time ski session and my first time to ski at night.

That weekend presented us with extremely harsh weather conditions. There wasn’t enough snow to cover the slopes properly so the resort turned on its snow making machines. At the tops of tall poles scattered about the mountainsides, water was sprayed out in a fine mist into the freezing air. It instantly turned to ice and fell to the ground to cover the thin snow and bare patches.

The artificial snow was a terrible consistency – nothing at all like soft fluffy natural snow. It was more like hard grainy ice with a very different slipperiness to it. The bare patches of earth sitting randomly around the slopes created real hazards for skiers. If you hit one, your skis came to an instant halt, jolting your body to the ground without warning.

The freezing artificial mist flying around and the darkness made it very difficult to see. I found it rather terrifying flying downhill when I could barely see in front of me, especially knowing that bare patches lurked amongst the slopes.

On top of that, a bitter wind rendered the slopes utterly freezing.

Within an hour I was so miserably cold that I abandoned the slopes in preference for the warm cozy lodge. In one fell swoop I’d turned into my mother, ‘The Wimp’!

That was my first and last night ski session. I utterly hated it. But I did continue enjoying family daytime ski weekends. And I also came to appreciate the comforts of the toasty lodge on days when the weather was particularly cold or windy. I called myself ‘A Half Wimp’.

After I graduated from high school and went off to university, my participation in our great family skiing holidays came to a quick halt. Sadly, I never got much chance to ski after that either.

Nowadays, how I’d love to go skiing again! When I finally do get myself to Europe (hopefully next year) I must make a point of skiing in the Alps. After all, Europe has many of the best ski resorts, lodges and slopes in the world. I’d love to experience European skiing, both inside the lodges (wimp style) and out on the glorious slopes.

I won’t be doing any family skiing holidays in Europe, though. By the time I get to Europe, my dad will be pushing 80. Although he’s still quite healthy and fit, taking daily 2-hour hikes most days of the year, he’s no longer into traveling. I could never convince him to fly to Europe, for any reason.

One of my brothers lives in flat, sunny Florida. He gave up skiing decades ago. My other brother still lives in Pennsylvania. He’s a contractor, house builder and renovator. So the last thing he wants to do in his free time is participate in more physical exertion. He much prefers to relax, socialize and take it easy after his exhausting work days.

My mom, she’s still ‘A Wimp’ when it comes to athletic pursuits. However, I must congratulate her on taking up thai chi, which she enjoys faithfully twice a week. Go mom!

So when I finally go skiing in the European Alps, it looks like it will just be me hitting the slopes. Anyone want to join me?

 QUESTIONS:

 Where do you recommend skiing in Europe?

 Which months have the best ski conditions there?

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 You might also enjoy:

Maybe It’s Time for me to Leave SE Asia?

Confessions of a Cold Weather Hater

Dreaming of Viewing the Northern Lights

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