This morning me, Erin, Kelly, and our trusty suburban that we named "Totonka" headed to Anchorage to do our "Bones and Fur " program for some kids at Begich middle school. They all became detectives as they explored the characteristics of the skull that their group was given. Using only clues such as: what the animal's teeth looked like, the position on the eyes, a sample of fur and some rubber scat were they able to figure out what their animal was. I think I had as much fun as the kids did. After grabbing a bite to eat we hit the Seward Highway and headed back in the direction of the center. I however, was not going back to the center, I was going to conquer the hills of Alyeska. Now, being a country girl from Ohio, the closest I ever got to "carving" down a mountain was strapping on my brothers plastic Walmart snowboard and sliding down the hills in our yard. This was going to be interesting. My coach would be Jeremy, a fellow employee at the center and avid skier. Kelly and Erin dropped me off and I geared up for the event. It was overwhelming just to look up at the mighty mountain. I rented some skis and boots and was ready for the bunny hill.
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| Just got my boots ( I didn't know how to turn the pic.) |
I fell twice on my first time down it and getting back up is quite a challenge. My first thought was "this is going to be a looooong afternoon." After a few more times and some tips from my coach I was doing alot better and feeling more comfortable on the skis. I was ready to try something different. We made our way to one of the lifts. Those things seem to speed up when you go to get on and off of them. When I went to get off of the lift I fell once again but laughed it off.
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| After I fell getting off of the lift |
The hill didn't look that bad, I could handle it. thats what I thought until I got towards the end of it. There it was, this huge hill that I was certain if I headed down I'd go like 90 miles an hour down (not really, it would have just felt like it to me though). I fell, alot. It felt like it took days to inch my way down this summit which, in reality was "fun easy slope" for all of the pro skiers and snowboarders whizzing past me.
I finally made it to the end! We concluded the afternoon by taking the tram up to the summit.
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| The tram |
The view was breathtaking! I couldn't believe that I was seeing it with my own eyes.
So for my first time skiing I didn't do too horrible. I would go again in a heart beat and I look forward to the day that I can gracefully go down the trails. I just can never seen myself going down from the summit!
