I went in thinking "I have no idea what I am doing!" And that was right, I had absolutely no idea what to do or what to expect. It all started with the chair lift. Everything was going fine until then. Well, before that there wasn't exactly much that could have gone wrong. I mean I had the right gear, I had warm clothes on, and I had made it down the hill to where the chair lift starts at. So everything was going okay. On the skis, I can not move very fast. However, the machine that you have to slide the card in that allows you to go on the slope, that thing expects you to be a speed demon. As soon as I swiped the card the turnstile flipped around and knocked me in the butt to push me through. That was not very nice, but I managed not to fall, so it was okay. Then the chair lift... Getting on was not a problem because all you really have to do is stand there and the chair will know you down right into the seat by hitting the back of your knees. But getting off the chair lift is a different story. Not only do you have to stand up and get your balance but you have to move forward too, so the chair does not plow you over. The chair stops for no one! So as you can imagine I actually managed to stand up and get my balance but I didn't move forward quite fast enough because the chair hit me and pushed me into my sister. Some how though, she managed not to fall and only I ate snow.
Next was the task of getting to the slope we wanted to go down. This, that would probably take a normal Norwegian 20 seconds to complete, took me about 10 minutes. When I started to go my ski wouldn't really turn and I really didn't know how to make it turn so I ended up hugging a tree. I felt like I was in a bad cliched movie. But hugging a tree makes you feel so much safer. But as soon as you let go you are scared out of your mind again. My host sister and father tried to teach me techniques and tell me what I was supposed to do. They made it sound so easy, probably because they were born skiing. I fell about 10 times just getting to the top of the slope. Then once we finally got to the slope, I figured out what they called a "beginners slope" I called "the death to Becca slope". I was scared out of my mind. Because with the slopes there are certain parts that look like you are just going to plummet off the side of the earth. It sounds crazy that you are supposed to actually go down those without falling to your doom. (Okay, maybe I am being a little dramatic, but not by much.) Anyway, I fell a lot and I was scared out of my mind! My sister told me "Oh, don't fall that only makes it worse, you get more tired and more discouraged every time you fall." The only problem was, I wasn't trying to fall... It took a little over an hour to go down that slope. The only thing that kept me going down that slope was knowing that when I got down I could go inside and sit down. Otherwise I think he slope would have taken closer to 2 hours. The worst part is, when you are skiing, and trying so hard to just keep your balance. Then, these little 3 and 4 year old Norwegian kids just go skiing circles around you while you roll into the forest.
Then, for about the 10 minutes I was inside my host sister and father went down 2 slopes. Then my host dad asked "So, are you ready for another one?" At this point I was not very happy. My knees hurt, my back hurt, my butt was sore, my shoulders hurt, and I had the worst headache. I was not up for another slope. But I figured, I did not come all the way out here to just sit in a ski rental area. So back on the chair lift we went.
I actually made it on and off the chair lift without falling. I was just happy about that. Then the view form the top of the slope was just amazing. The moon was bright and the sun was just setting.
Then on the way to the slope I only fell once and it took only about 2 minutes! So I was getting really excited. Then, once we got to the slope I was doing so much better. This slope only took about 15 minutes to get down. And five of those minutes was because I was waiting for a little kid to get out of the middle of the slope because I didn't want to run into her. But I made it down the slope with only three falls. I was very happy. And one of the falls was really fun. I was trying to stop, but I couldn't turn fast enough so kind of went off a little jump and landed right in the middle of a pile of soft, deep snow. It was fun to fall, but it was a pain to try and get out of it. Then on my next, and final, fall on of my skis turned while the other didn't so I did a somersault and skidded about 15 meter on my butt backwards until I managed to stop. But, the rest of the way down the slope and to the car I didn't fall at all and I actually managed to do more than 5 turns without falling. I was very happy after the last slope. I am glad I didn't stop after the first one, then I would have left discouraged and never wanting to go on slalom again. But now, I am knid of, sort of, maybe looking forward to going back again.
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| Oh yes! That is me, the speed demon! |
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