Sunday, February 04, 2007

Addicted to the white powder.

So you've never skied? Why do it? Why come to the mountains? A typical day at my office........



Whereas snow shoeing puts you in touch with the majesty of nature and is very cleansing, skiing well is definitely a WOW thing.(photos to come but on other camera so you get snowshoeing)


But what is it like skiing? Just joyful. If you've never done it the following is as close I can come to explaining what it is like. Picture this ........

Pause at the top, look down into the future. White blanket before you. Ski pivot point on the run edge means the full weight of the skis is directly on your feet - feel the nothingness now under your tips as they hang into space.

Pick the line. Future is down. Then a breath and tip ever so forward, the weight now sliding, gliding across your feet from toes to heels.

Delight in momentary nothingness and stomach loss.

Feel your body falling as acceleration kicks in... swish...thrust hits you without transition, sunwarmth instantaneously replaced by icy chill over your face. Initial thrust moves you so fast your eyes and brain can not process the information of where you have been as you go over the drop.

Pole plant...tap..turn legs, skis bite...crunch...rise up, fall down the mountain with your chest forward, legs working left, body from waist up facing down the valley.

Pole plant...bang...right turn, steeper now.....oh yeah.....snow lump, get it, go airborne, knees soft under you taking the hit, turning it your advantage, turn in the air left, chest falling down the mountain. Bang, bang, bang, turn, turn, turn, legs driving as you race downwards the speed making you always look further and further ahead in anticipation.

Enter one with the snow. Crazy fun, massive grin across your face. Ooohhhh yeah :) Destiny continues.........


POWDER DAYS.........

The delights of a great day on the slopes above can at least be described. Words struggle to communicate how much better it is to ski powder, to sit back on the tail of the skis and just glide down making fresh tracks across the blanket white, effortlessly making the soft S shape behind you. Doing so in complete, caressing all embracing silence.

Or gliding straight down in thigh high feather-like snow.

Or pressing down on a snow clump to lose some speed.

Or busting into a clump, smashing it to pieces to kill your speed.

Or bouncing left and right, going with the flow on the natural buoyancy and as you rise up changing the angle of your edges still covered in snow so that on re-entry you come down and move in the opposite direction.

How to do it?
To make all this possible all you need to do is pick up plates in a restaurant over breakfast and dinner most days, so you can get a staff pass, staff accommodation and meals. The money is $9/hr but cost of living is low at $6/day. Drinks are expensive at $5/6 a beer. Food is restaurant buffet intermixed with local Japanese food.

Life is real simple - what is the snow like? When can I ski it?

Did I say it is addictive? Gloriously so.

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