And I was a boy....

My first time skiing I was five years old. I don't remember much about the experience, except that I never could get the hang of the whole pizza slice. Plus the whole "put you weight on your left foot to turn right" concept was way beyond the comprehension of my 5-year-old brain. I remember a few runs, but mostly I remember being on the ground. A lot. I also remember my older brother going down the hill backwards watching me and trying to teach me how to ski. I know know he was just trying to help, but at the time I thought he was emphasizing how bad I was at this whole skiing thing. He could go the whole way down backwards and I could barely go 100 yards facing the right way. I went once again when I was six, and then I retired and hung up the skis for a few years.

Fast forward to age 12, and suddenly I had a bit more coordination and athletic ability. And after a few times skiing with my brother, I was able to do fairly well. That was the start of a long recreational skiing career, one which is still going strong. I don't know if I ever thanked my brothers for teaching me how to ski, and then continually forcing me out of my comfort zone so I could improve, but I owe them for allowing me to have a wonderful hobby which I can share with my family.

Since picking up the traditional alpine skiing, I have added snowboarding and telemark skiing to my repertoire. The Christmas season is one I look forward to all year long because to me it means spending time with my brothers on the slopes enjoying one another's company, the beauty of the snowcapped mountains, and the challenge of the hill. Recently, my brothers kids have started to ski and snowboard as well, so now we have one more generation in on the tradition. The only downside to this is that my sister and her kids live in rather far away and have never been able to join us.

You might be wondering what this is all about. If everything goes well, tomorrow I will be headed to Colorado for a weekend of skiing with my oldest brother and some of his coworkers. I didn't get to ski much during the Christmas season last year (more on that in a future post) and so I have an itch to get out there and feel the wind rushing past me. I am looking forward to the weekend, and Friday morning can't get here soon enough.